What’s the Best Instagram Image Size 2019? Complete Guide

What’s the best Instagram image size?

Find all the Instagram dimensions:

• Photo, graphic, and video Instagram post size, and infographic.
• Instagram Stories size for image and video.
• Instagram Story highlights cover size.
• Instagram ad sizes, and infographic.
• IGTV video specs and sizes, plus IGTV cover images.
• “The Savvy Marketer’s Guide to IGTV” infographic.

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What Are the Instagram Image Sizes for 2019?

In addition to upgrading the paltry 640 pixel square to a more robust 1080 on July 6, 2015, Instagram also added support for non-square images on August 26, 2015.

The optimal sizes are 1080 pixels wide by 566 pixels to 1350 pixels high.

The maximum Instagram resolution is 1080 pixels wide.

Un-square shapes were added for Instagram ads.

You can post a landscape image in a 1.91 to 1 aspect ratio, which is exactly the same as a Facebook link preview image. So there’s cross-platform compatibility with IG and Facebook ads.

But I don’t recommend the landscape for marketers, as it takes up less than half the space you could snag with a portrait image!

If you have a landscape photo or graphic that you don’t want to crop to a square, consider using one of the many apps that add a border top and bottom to take up more space in the feed.

If you do post a wide (or tall) image, be aware that it will be cropped to a square on your image gallery (profile page).

The portrait image gives you the most bang for your buck in the Instagram stream.

Stick with the 1080 pixel width, and go up to 1350 pixels tall. If your photo is larger, no worries – Instagram will reduce it when you post.

Try not to post smaller, though, as your image will lose quality when viewed on most devices, especially retina screens.

The Instagram portrait aspect ratio (or proportion) is the same as an 8 x 10 portrait photo!

You’ll find the aspect ratio 4:5 or 8:10 offered as a cropping option in your photo editing app – or you can crop right in the IG app.

 

Why Is My Instagram Photo Post NOT 1080 Pixels Wide?

When you share a photo on Instagram, whether you’re using Instagram for iOS or Android, it posts at the best quality resolution possible (up to 1080 pixels wide).

There are a few reasons you may be seeing lower resolution photos on Instagram:

• Photos between 320 x 320 and 1080 x 1080 pixels will post at their original resolution.
• You may need to update to the most recent version of the Instagram mobile app.
• The desktop version of Instagram only displays up to 640 px images.
• Your phone might not take and/or support high resolution photos.

NOTE: If you share a photo at a lower resolution than 320 pixels wide, it’ll be enlarged to 320. Please don’t even think of posting such a low rez photo!

If you share a photo at a higher resolution, it’ll be sized down to 1080.

Sizing down is always better than sizing up!

Why You Might Want an Even Larger Instagram Photo Size

I love the Instagram editing tools. Even when I do photo edits in Photoshop, I might add Lux or Saturation in Instagram. Awesome tools!

If you have Save Original Photos set to ON in your Instagram settings, your edited photo is saved at its full resolution to your device’s photo library.

If you want to use the photo to make prints, a picture book, or something else where you need a high resolution… post your Instagram images as large as needed for the later use.

Social media photos are constantly enlarging. Post 1080px square if possible – even larger if you want to ensure you can reuse the image at top quality next year! Who knows, the size may increase again by then.

How Do I Choose a Portrait or Landscape Photo on Instagram?

In early June 2019, Instagram started messing with where you change your photo shape. For about a week, you chose portrait or landscape on the screen after you selected your photo.

I was not a fan, because you could no longer determine which frame you shot would work best when cropped. You had to decide from the squares.

If you didn’t like the way it cropped, you had to return and choose another.

I’m guessing they got a lot of flak on this and did an about-face.

Directly below are the current instructions as of August 15. I’m leaving the previous instructions in case they switch again, or you have a different version of the app.

Select a photo or video from your phone or tablet’s photo library. Stay on this screen. To share it as a portrait or landscape instead of a square:

1. Tap the crop icon at the left to switch from a square to a portrait or landscape.
2. You can pinch the screen to adjust the exact shape. Cropping in the same shape must be done on the Edit screen.
3. Tap Next to filter or edit.
4. Tap Next to post.

If you do NOT see the crop icon when choosing your photo:

After selecting a photo or video from your phone or tablet’s photo library, you will be immediately sent to the Filter screen.

To post as a portrait or landscape instead of a square:

1. Tap the crop icon at the top to switch from a square to a portrait or landscape.
2. You can touch the screen to move the photo and adjust how it fits within the frame.
3. Choose to apply a filter or edit.
4. Tap Next to post.

In version 1, to change the proportion you must do so before tapping Next. In version 2, you change the overall shape (or aspect ratio) of the photo on the Filter or Edit panel.

Also note that the white bars you see down the sides of a portrait photo while you’re editing it will NOT remain after it’s posted. This is just to fit the image into the editing area. It will actually post even larger – to the full width of the feed.

NOTE: You must have Instagram app version 7.5 or later to post unsquare photos as well as see them. Users with older versions of the app will see your image cropped to a square.

Additionally, unsquare images will appear as a center-cropped square in your profile grid (see image at left).

Many people are sticking with the square, and it’s still a powerful shape. 

The taller image gives you a better Pinterest presence (where tall mages rule) without having to create a separate graphic. In fact, Pinterest has experimented with showing ALL Pins at the same 8×10 aspect ratio in the home feed!

Pinterest now seems to be more accepting of less-tall images that make cross-posting content from IG to Pinterest easier.

What size are Instagram Stories?

Whether you’re posting a photo, graphic, or video to your Story, it’ll take up the full mobile screen.

The recommended size is 1080 x 1920 pixels, or any 9:16 proportion.

Instagram Story highlight size: If you’re making graphics, the 1080 x 1920 pixel size is ideal. When you go to customize your cover you’ll be able to zoom in on the area of your photo that you want highlighted in the circle.

If you’re uploading a photo, almost any size or shape will work BUT it’s going to be cropped in the Instagram app to a long skinny rectangle smack dab in the middle.

If that chops off half your face or some other important feature, simply use the 9:16 crop template in any photo editing app (even iPhone Photos) before adding it to your Story. The exact pixel size isn’t critical, but the shape or aspect ratio is.

If you’re planning to add a video to your Instagram Story, you’ll make your life a lot easier if you shoot it in a vertical format, holding your phone upright. Then it should look just right when you add it to your Story.

Note that videos added to Stories are limited to 15 second clips! As of 2019, Instagram will cut longer videos into 15 second bits.

You’ll want to keep Story videos relatively short though. Post longer videos to IGTV – details after the section on ad sizes.

Instagram Ad Sizes 2019

If you have an Instagram business account, you can advertise on Instagram, and even easily promote a post right within the Instagram app.

According to the Instagram official website, sixty percent of people discover new products on this platform, and there are around 25 million business profiles with 2 million active advertisers on Instagram.

About 200 million Instagram users visit business profiles per day. Isn’t it impressive that studies on Instagram marketing found that 72% of users purchased items they discovered via Instagram content!

Reach more of your audience with Instagram ads! Below are sizes and specs for the 5 types of Instagram ads.

1 | Instagram image ad size and specs

The Image Ad is the most widely used advertising type for both Instagram and Facebook.

As Instagram is a photo-sharing social media platform,  it’s essential to share visually pleasing content.

Instagram crops your image to a square when it is displayed on the feed, but you can also add it as a landscape or portrait image.

Here are some specifications of Instagram image ads:

• Caption: up to 2,200 characters
• Image format: .jpg or .png
• Max. file size: 30 MB
• Square (1:1 aspect ratio):
  600×600 pixels (minimum)
  1936×1936 pixels (maximum)
• Landscape (1.91:1 aspect ratio):
  600×315 pixels (minimum)
  1936×1936 pixels (maximum)
• Portrait (4:5 aspect ratio):
  600×750 pixels (minimum)
  1936×1936 pixels (maximum)

2 | Instagram video ad size and specs

Video Ads let you introduce your brand or offers with a video or GIF.

Instagram videos start to play when the application opens. The moving nature of video ads helps to catch user attention as they scroll their Instagram feeds.

Time spent watching videos on Instagram was up more than 75% year-over-year in 2019.

Here are the basic specifications:

• File Size – up to 4GB
• Length – 120 seconds
• Caption Length – 2200 characters
• Aspect Ratio:
  Square – 1:1
  Landscape – 1.91:1
  Portrait – 4:5

3 | Instagram Stories ad size and specs

Stories are one of the popular features on Instagram.

Instagram Stories are similar to Snapchat in that they allows users, and brands, to share self-destructing photos and videos. They draw attention to your brand with Stories Highlights, which will stay on your profile until you remove them.

On Instagram Stories, you can post recorded videos, photos, live videos, boomerangs, text and music. You can also add stickers such as your location, user tags, the temperature and hashtags.

Here are the Stories specs:

• Format: Full-screen vertical ad (9:16)
• File types: .jpg or .png
• Photo content: visible for 5 seconds
• Aspect Ratio: from 1:91 to 4:5
• File type
  .mp4 or .mov (Video)
  .jpg or .png (Photo)
• Maximum File Size:
  4GB (Video)
  30MB (Photo)
• Length
  Maximum: 15 seconds
  Images show for 5 seconds by default
• Dimensions
  Resolution: 1080 x 1920 (portrait)
  Minimum: 600 x 1067

4 | Instagram Collection ad size and specs

Collection ads worki like this: When users see an advertisement or offer from your brand, they’ll have the option to purchase products directly from the ad.

Using Collections, you can showcase your products and discounts to increase sales. The result proved that it increased conversions by 6.3%.

• Aspect ratio: 1:1 to 16.9
• Character length: 90
• Formats and dimensions are the same as those of a standard image or video ad.

5 | Instagram Carousel ad size and specs

Carousel ads allow you to show a series of scrollable images or videos rather than just one single image.

This ad feature can link to your Facebook Page or website directly using a “Learn More” button.

Here are some specifications of Carousel ads:

• Minimum number of carousel cards: 2
• Maximum number of carousel cards: 10 successive carousel cards
• Aspect ratio: 1:1 (recommended)
• Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels (recommended)
• Image file format: .jpg and .png
• Image maximum file size: 30MB
• Video length: up to 240 minutes (15 seconds recommended)
• Video file format: .mp4
• Video maximum file size: 4GB

Click here to see and repin the entire Instagram ad sizes infographic on Pinterest. Our thanks to by TechWyse for the graphic and complete guide to Instagram Business Accounts.

How to use IGTV for Marketing

This IGTV infographic, “The Savvy Marketer’s Guide to IGTV,” was just released by M2 On Hold.

Launched in June 2018, IGTV is the latest offering from Instagram. This infographic shows you everything you need to know in order to get the most out of this brand-new feature for your brand’s content marketing strategy.

Instagram says:

Five years after the launch of video on Instagram, we are excited to introduce IGTV which brings audiences closer to the creators they love.

We are re-envisioning mobile video with a new standalone surface that features longer videos and easy discoverability through channels, all in a vertical format that sits upright, in the palm of your hand.

We’re evolving with the times; these days, people are watching less TV and more digital video. By 2021, mobile video will account for 78% of total mobile data traffic. And we’ve learned that younger audiences are spending more time with amateur content creators and less time with professionals.

IGTV is:

Mobile first: IGTV is built for how you actually use your phone: vertical and full screen.

Simple and intuitive: It starts playing as soon as you open the app. You don’t have to search or browse to get started, and it’s easy to multitask.

Curated: IGTV is focused on the creators you love most and already follow on Instagram.

Anyone can be a creator on IGTV and upload videos in the app or on the web.

What IGTV means for businesses

Longer vertical video on Instagram makes it even easier to get closer to your audience and be discovered by new people.

Be first: Be among the first to lead the future of video.

Get closer: Use longer, permanent video for deeper storytelling. Build stronger connections with potential customers as you showcase other dimensions of your business without being limited to one type of content, length or format.

Leverage your community: As with Instagram stories, IGTV is built on Instagram leveraging a global community of more than 800M people. When your followers open IGTV, they will instantly see original content from you, and new people can also discover your brand.

In conclusion, Instagram says: We believe this is the future of video. People continue to spend more time with entertainment on their mobile devices, and we’re making it easier for them to get closer to the creators and original content they love.

Your next step with IGTV? Learn how to maximize your marketing on the infographic at the end of this article!

What are the video requirements for IGTV?

Videos must be between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long.

Note: Larger accounts and verified accounts can upload videos up to 60 minutes long, but they must be uploaded from a computer.

Videos must be in MP4 file format.

• Videos should be vertical (not landscape) with an aspect ratio of 9:16.
• Videos should have a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS (frames per second) and minimum resolution of 720 pixels.
• The maximum file size for videos that are 10 minutes or less is 650MB. The maximum file size for videos up to 60 minutes is 3.6GB.

IGTV Cover Photo Size

The recommended size for cover photos is 420px by 654px (or 1:1.55 ratio). Right now, you can’t edit your cover photo after you’ve uploaded it.

I have no clue how they came up with this size, but it says so right here on Instagram help.

Which Instagram image size will you use?

We covered all this:

• Photo, graphic, and video Instagram post size.
• Instagram Stories size for image, video, and highlights cover.
• Instagram ad sizes, all 5 types.
• IGTV video specs and sizes, plus IGTV cover images.

Miss something? Scroll back to review. Scroll down to see the infographics!

This post was originally published September 2015 and updated December 2017, August and December 2018, and June and August 2019.

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