Louise Myers Visual Social Media

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Home » Instagram Tips » The Best Instagram Image Size Guide 2023: All You Need

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  1. Hi Louise
    Hope you can answer this question as I’ve been searching high and low!

    A. I upload a photo @72ppi with dimensions 1080 x 1350. Instagram chops it to 1080 x 1080 in my feed and/or when you click on the post.

    B. Uploading the same 1080 x 1350 px image again. I choose the Instagram re-size option in bottom left corner selecting 4:5 (instead of 1:1), it shrinks the image and adds a white border on either side of the 1080 x 1350 image.

    WTF am I doing wrong? I’m just trying to show an entire 1080 x 1350 image. Thank you!

    Reply

    • Did you post it? The borders show in the edit pane but don’t show in the feed – in my experience. If you’re seeing borders in the feed, maybe another reader has seen this and will chime in. I don’t see any like this in my feed.

      Reply

  2. Hi!
    I exported a video via premire pro with 640×640 and 1080×1080 dimensions but neither of them fit the square video’s frame of instagram and some parts remain out of the frame. I didn’t have this problem in the past! what should I do?

    Reply

  3. Thank you Louise!

    If I upload an image 1080×1080 300dpi, will it be uploaded 1080×1080 but 72dpi?
    And how about kb or mb?

    Reply

    • It might be 72dpi but it’s basically the same image. And kb and mb are the same thing in different increments.

      Reply

  5. Hi Louise,
    Long time reader, first comment.

    First: Thank you so much! Your work is just priceless.

    As for this specific post, is there an ideal image size for the profile picture in instagram? I can’t seem to get it right as it always looks a bit fuzzy.

    Regards from Portugal

    Reply

    • Thanks Tania!

      The display size of the profile pic on a retina desktop is 300 x 300 so you could try that. My guess is IG probably compresses them no matter what, but perhaps if you’ve been uploading a large image, small might be better!

      Best of luck.

      Reply

  6. Hello, I know I probably won’t get a response but it’s worth a shot. I have downloaded more photo editing apps than you can imagine. I have tried so hard to figure this issue out and I can’t for the life of me. So I’m really desperate at this point. Can you please tell me how to resize an image without compromising the photo? I have iOS. Some apps allow u to manually enter your own ratios, and some apps give you the aspect ratio presets for different social media platforms to choose from. But, it doesn’t matter what I choose because it always cuts off my photo. I don’t want to do that. I want to be able to fit in the FULL size photo. If it means I could crop it into being a full sized photo, I would be willing to loose on the quality. And, I don’t want to put it on a white background so that the photo fits in that square because I would still be loosing on the photo. I want to be able to resize to whatever dimension I need to in order to fit the photo in different social media platforms. I know that a lot of these platforms automatically compress the photo for you but, I would like to resize it before I upload so I don’t compromise the size of the photo, and it doesn’t get cut off. I have watched many videos yet, I can never get it. I take most of my photos on Snapchat which means they are much longer than the average photo. If I have an editor and the options to resize an image and enter the aspect ratios, what would I enter in the “height and width” boxes? I tried entering 1080px X 1350px but, it makes the photo look all distorted? It’s been months of researching this issue and it’s just so irritating. I need a suggestion on what to do to fix this frustrating problem. I would be so grateful!!

    Reply

    • As far as I understand what you’re asking, it’s simply not possible. Say you have a vertical photo. You can’t fit it into a square or a horizontal without cropping some of it off, or having blank background around it. Otherwise it *will* be distorted, as you noted.

      Reply

  7. So if your using an app to help schedule posts (I use Plann) you can’t upload post to both INS & FB as the requirements are different. Is that right? Any suggestions?

    Reply

    • All the sizes that work on Instagram can be used on Facebook. I can’t say if your app allows you to schedule them to both, but you certainly can post them to both.

      FB doesn’t really have much in the way of size “requirements.” Many different sizes can be posted.

      Reply

  8. Thank you so much for the infographic, really helpful.

    As a graphic designer, I’m too lazy to read a lot of text. lol.

    Reply

  10. Any recommendation for a IOS app where i can change image size by pixels, and add a border. I have photoshop in my laptop but i take many pictures with my phone and will like to resize and get them ready for IG from my phone

    Reply

    • I don’t know of any iOS apps that let you set a specific pixel size, however most have these recommended IG sizes built in.

      As far as border, I don’t know of any that let you set a border in a click, but you can reduce the image on a colored background in something like Over app, to get a border effect.

      Reply

  12. So, the standard size of 1080 pixels wide by 566 is an aspect ratio of roughly 1.78 to 1?

    That’s the one thing I needed to clarify precisely. The rest I pretty much knew already or had zero interest in.

    I shouldn’t have to get my calculator out to figure that sum. Ideally it should be the very first thing I read in your article.

    Why must people in general waffle so much in their copywriting? I just get to the actual point then shut up.

    (Not to mention, attention spans are at an all-time low. No-one reads every word of an article. Do you? People skim read for the actual info they want.

    Reply

    • “Ideally it should be the very first thing I read in your article.”

      Of course, if I wrote this article specifically for the information you wanted at that precise moment.

      Other readers are actually looking for more and/or other information. Not to mention no one would find the article in the first place, since Google likes to see comprehensive content on a topic, with readers spending a long “time on page.”

      That’s why people “waffle so much in their copywriting.” We’re trying to answer more than one question, and help readers find our articles via search.

      Reply

  13. Awesome content, Louise! I too find portraits much more engaging on Instagram. That almost full screen real estate is not only bigger, but lets you show more detail. Landscapes are a real bummer. If you want to properly display a landscape, I typically crop at 2:1, and then make two separate images at 1:1 (one for the left side of the image, and one for the right side) and upload as an album. Its seamless and allows for that detail a proper camera is good for.

    Reply

  14. Hey Louise

    I’ve been having trouble posting a portrait sized pic on IG I have made it the exact specs as you’ve described 1350px max H but the picture is still to big, but only just and crops the image. Any ideas why?

    Reply

    • 1080 x 1350 should work perfectly as long as you tap the crop tool at bottom left when you’re selecting the photo. Otherwise you’re stuck in square mode.

      Reply

  16. What an informative post that mostly went way over my head lol. I’ll understand it all one day. In the mean time, I am trying to find out what settings to use in photoshop to make an instagram post. My photos I take on my phone show as 960×960 pixels in photoshop and are over 13″ width/height. When I create a new document with those specs in photoshop, the graphic is just over 3″. My end goal is to be able to create my own graphics to post in Instagram but I want to be able to print them all the same size for a collage. I really appreciate your suggestions?

    Reply

    • I would suggest you check your phone settings and choose a higher resolution for your photos. While those would be adequate for Instagram, they’re not so good for printing unless you’re OK with 3″ squares.

      If you are, no problem. Just post the images at 960×960 on Instagram – no need to resize anything in Photoshop for that use.

      Reply

  17. Thanks Louise. You are soooo smart!!
    I’m trying to use Hootsuite for IG scheduling. I don’t think it has the little brackets. Am i right? Also what is the best app for resizing? I need something that works on desktop/laptop so I can use it with hootsuite.
    Thanks so much. BTW how much do you charge for individual coaching?
    Lora

    Reply

    • I haven’t used Hootsuite in ages and don’t know what you mean by brackets.

      As far as resizing on computer, I suppose you could use Canva which is free. Snappa, Stencil, any would work.

      I no longer offer any services, I just blog! 🙂

      Reply

  18. I always apply landscape mode for all my IG posts, but in a square frame, using Instasize. So my post looks like a photo embedded in a canvas. I think it’s more interesting than a full-size post without spacing.

    Reply

  19. Honestly , I don’t like square size resolution. I will upload photos in full size portrait mode. Thanks for image resolution info !

    Reply

  20. You seem to not understand the difference between resolution (LPI-Lines per inch, DPI-dots per inch) and page or document or picture size. Resolution is the amount of colored dots placed in each inch, centimeter, of monitor, paper, magazine, app space. The higher the resolution, the better that image is seen, up to a point. Magazines are printed at 600-1200 DPI, screen resolutions vary from 72 DPI (for internet low quality images) to up to 600 DPI for higher resolution images.

    Reply

    • I don’t? I did print design for 25 years. I completely understand DPI. Is there something here that I need to clarify for the general public? I’m open to your suggestions, as long as it’s geared to non- print designers, as print people is not my audience.

      Reply

  21. Such detailed information about the image size for Instagram posts is really good. Thanks for helping me out. I am going to try this from now on.

    Reply

  22. Recently tried out the 1080 by 1350 size for a standard IG post, it turned out cropped. Any reasons why this should happen?

    Had to revert to 1080 by 1080 as a result.

    Reply

  23. Great post. Thanks!

    What I just don’t get is why nobody talks about KB and MB for Instagram images. This gets completely ignored in every post I see on the subject.

    Isn’t KB/MB relevant for Instagram images? What are the KB or MB limits I should use for best Instagram image quality?

    Thanks!

    Reply

      • Louise, MB has EVERYTHING to do with instagram and image quality. If you have a MB that has to be downscaled, your photo will Always look better, swear on my life. In the future, quality will increase and photographers cannot turn back time or replace an image, however they can put a greater image that is prepared to scale when the puny phone app catches up to the display of the intended upload.

        Reply

  24. Hey Louise,
    Thanks for the updated information.
    I prefer to use 1080X1350 as you can express more. Ditching the standard square format.

    Thanks for the article!

    Reply

  25. This was exactly what we were looking for! It’s crazy how all the platforms have their different preferred sizes. Took tons of notes on this Insta Sizes for 2019. Appreciate you sharing this info Louise 🙂

    Reply

  26. Hi Louise,

    I’m curious about posting a 2048 pixel vertical to IG. If I share it to FB thru the IG upload will it retain the pixels, or will it resize it down to 1350 when it posts to FB?

    Thanks and HNY!

    Reply

    • I just checked the one I shared to FB this morning. It was 1080 x 1350, but saved to my camera roll at full size (I do some edits in IG and save the pics).

      Reply

  27. Hi Louise,

    Your post is really helpful for me because this post told me the best size image of Instagram post.

    I am first time visit here and now I am big fan of your website so keep posting such a great article with us.

    Regards,
    Basit

    Reply

  30. Hello Lousie,

    Thanks for such a great informational article.
    I prefer long image since it offers us to display more content to our audience.

    Regards,
    Sky Ab

    Reply

  31. I use tablet for posting pictures on Insta.. the posted pics look a bit compressed and very fuzzy. I upload pictures from DSLR with full resolution without changing anything. Earlier I used 7 inch tablet and posted the same way but the picture quality was better..now I have 8 inch tablet and the pictures are fuzzy. I am thinking about buying a small screen phone..I don’t know if the big screen size is causing the problem or the high resolution size of image.

    Reply

    • It may be just how it appears on your screen. Have you tried viewing a posted image from another device?

      Reply

  33. Louise,
    I did see that the portrait photos are cropped on the bottom and top to show the square shape in the integral feed, do you know how much from each? or it would be same from both ends?

    Reply

  35. I always crop my photos to 1080×1080 at 100% quality and 72dpi… but, on the iPad the photo still looks a bit fuzzy. Any way to improve the quality for iPad viewing?

    Reply

    • I’ve noticed this too. I don’t think you can because the iPad screen size is bigger than 1080 pixels. I’ll let you know if I discover any tricks.

      Reply

  37. Hey Louise I just discovered your blog and want to send a big thanks for creating really practical, no fluff articles. I’m book marking you now to share with my followers who I know will appreciate your style.

    Reply

  38. One thing I’m having a hard time finding out is the best DPi for Instagram. I’m saving photos in Photoshop at 1080X1350 at 300dpi, but should it be 72dpi for the web? Are images still getting compress at 300dpi?

    Thanks!

    Reply

      • But…. if I upload an image at 72dpi and the user’s device is 96dpi am I going to be uprezed and thus lose out to someone posting at 300 which could always down rez?

        Reply

  39. Hey Louise,
    Thanks for the updated information.
    I prefer to use 1080X1350 as you can express more. Ditching the standard square format.

    Thanks for the article!
    Regards,
    Bloggerpunit

    Reply

  40. Wondering why when I hit the option to switch to portrait I get the white bars in the sides instead of filling the frame like your example. Any thoughts?

    Reply

    • It only has bars on the sides in edit mode, so you can see the full image. It won’t have bars once it’s posted.

      Reply

  41. Hello and thank you for this post 🙂

    One thing I don’t understand:
    I have a portrait image, and I resized it to be 1080 tall. I tried to post it but Instagram is cropping it. I than found your post and resized it to 1035 tall. It still cropping it. why?

    Thanks a lot,
    Shlomit

    Reply

    • You can also do a horizontal in the same proportions as Facebook: 1.91 to 1. Minimum size 600×315 pixels.

      Reply

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