Instagram Vertical Dimensions: Exact Sizes for Feed, Stories, Reels, Carousels, and Ads

The standard Instagram vertical dimensions are 1080 x 1350px at a 4:5 aspect ratio for feed posts, and 1080 x 1920px at 9:16 for Stories and Reels. Get these wrong and Instagram silently crops your content — no warning, no preview.

Quick Reference: All Instagram Vertical Dimensions

Before anything else, here's the full picture in one place.

Most people look up one specific number and move on. But what often catches creators off guard is that the same vertical image displays differently in the feed versus the profile grid — and that distinction quietly breaks a lot of carefully designed posts.

Instagram Vertical Feed Post Dimensions

Recommended Size and Aspect Ratio

The correct size for a vertical Instagram feed post is 1080 x 1350 pixels at a 4:5 aspect ratio. That's not a suggestion — it's the platform ceiling.

Instagram only supports aspect ratios between 1.91:1 and 4:5 in the feed. Anything taller than 4:5 gets automatically cropped before your post goes live. So if you've designed a beautiful 9:16 portrait image and tried uploading it as a feed post, Instagram didn't ask permission — it just cut it.

In practice, most content teams standardize on 1080 x 1350px as their default vertical format precisely because it maximizes screen space without triggering that crop.

What Happens When the Ratio Is Wrong

Instagram's auto-crop behavior works from the center outward. It doesn't ask where your subject is. It doesn't detect faces or text. It just crops to fit.

That means a logo in the corner, a headline near the top, or a person standing slightly off-center can disappear entirely. The safest approach: size correctly before uploading, every single time.

Resolution Rules

• Below 320px wide — Instagram scales the image up, softening quality
• Above 1080px wide — Instagram scales it down automatically
• Exactly 1080px wide — sharpest result, no scaling applied

Upload at 1080px. There's no benefit to going larger.

How Vertical Posts Appear on the Profile Grid

This is where a lot of well-planned content quietly falls apart.

Your feed shows the full 4:5 image (1080 x 1350px). Your profile grid, though, crops that same image to 3:4 (1012 x 1350px) — a slightly narrower frame. The crop comes from the sides, not the top or bottom.

What this means practically: if you've placed your brand name, a face, or a critical design element near the left or right edge of your image, the grid will cut it. Center your key content. Always check your grid preview before publishing, especially for a series of posts meant to look cohesive.

Instagram Stories Vertical Dimensions

Recommended Size

Stories run at 1080 x 1920 pixels — a 9:16 aspect ratio — for both photos and videos. This is full-screen vertical, the format most people associate with mobile-first content.

Video Stories display in 15-second segments. You can record up to 60 seconds, which the platform splits into four parts automatically.

If you've ever wondered can you see who rewatched your snap story, Instagram offers similar viewer data — you can check who's viewed your Story directly from the Stories interface before it expires.

Safe Zone for Stories

The total canvas is 1080 x 1920px, but the usable area where your content actually shows without interference is 1080 x 1610px.

The top and bottom bands are covered by Instagram's own UI — the profile handle and name sit at the top, and the reply bar sits at the bottom. Anything important placed in those zones gets buried under the interface.

Keep all text, logos, CTAs, and faces within the 1080 x 1610px safe zone. It sounds like a small restriction. In practice, ignoring it is one of the most common mistakes in Stories design.

Also Read: Snapchat Story Download by Username

Instagram Reels Vertical Dimensions

Recommended Size

Reels display at 1080 x 1920 pixels in the feed — the same 9:16 ratio as Stories. For the upload:

• File formats: MP4 or MOV
• Maximum file size: 4GB
• Duration: 15 seconds to 15 minutes

According to TechCrunch, time spent on Instagram grew by more than 24% after the platform launched Reels — a direct result of the vertical short-form format driving stronger engagement than static posts. That's the context behind why Instagram has leaned so hard into 9:16 as its dominant vertical standard.

The feed and the Reels tab both show the full 9:16 frame. The profile grid, however, is a different story.

Reels on the Profile Grid

The grid thumbnail for a Reel crops to 3:4 (1080 x 1440px) — not 9:16 and not 1:1. This surprises a lot of people who expect either the full vertical frame or a square crop.

When you choose a cover photo for your Reel, upload it at 1080 x 1920px or pick a frame from the video itself. Either way, center the most important visual element. The grid will crop from the sides and bottom, so anything near the outer edges may not appear in the thumbnail at all.

Instagram Carousel Vertical Dimensions

Carousels use the same vertical dimensions as standard feed posts: 1080 x 1350px at 4:5. You can include up to 20 images or videos per carousel post.

What's often overlooked is the first-image rule. Instagram sets the aspect ratio for the entire carousel based on the first slide. If your first image is vertical at 4:5, every other slide — regardless of how it was originally sized — gets cropped to 4:5.

This creates a real problem when mixing orientations. A landscape photo dropped into a vertical carousel gets heavily cropped. The platform doesn't warn you, and the result rarely looks intentional.

The straightforward fix: keep all slides in the same orientation. If you're going vertical, go vertical throughout.

Also Read: What Is PMO in Text

Instagram Vertical Ad Dimensions

Ads follow the same basic vertical proportions as organic posts, but with stricter safe zone requirements — because UI overlays in ads take up more screen space than in regular content.

Vertical Feed Ads

Size: 1080 x 1350px at 4:5. Minimum accepted width is 500px, minimum height 400px. Supported aspect ratios mirror the feed: 1.91:1 to 4:5.

Stories Ads

Size: 1440 x 2560px at 9:16. Leave the top ~250px and bottom ~340px completely free of text, logos, and key visuals. Those zones are covered by the profile handle above and the CTA button below.

Reels Ads

Size: 1440 x 2560px at 9:16. The safe zone here is more aggressive — top 14%, bottom 35%, and 6% on each side should be kept clear. The larger bottom clearance exists because Reels ads carry a heavier overlay: CTA button, caption, and audio label all stack at the bottom.

Interestingly, many brands design Reels ads at the organic Reel size (1080 x 1920px) and then wonder why text gets covered. The ad spec is different from the organic spec for a reason — the overlay footprint is larger.

Also Read: What Does IDM Mean on Snapchat

Why Vertical Dimensions Matter

Vertical formats take up more screen space. A 4:5 post requires more scrolling time to pass than a 1:1 square, which means more time spent looking at your content. That's not a marketing claim — it's just geometry.

As reported by Statista, mobile devices accounted for over 62% of global website traffic as of mid-2025. Most of those users are holding their phones upright. Vertical content fills that natural viewing frame. Landscape content shrinks to fit, leaving empty bars above and below.

At first glance, getting dimensions right seems like a technical detail. But wrong dimensions

affect how your content is cropped, how your grid looks, and whether your ad text survives the platform's overlays. It's less about aesthetics and more about whether your intended message actually reaches the viewer intact.

Conclusion

For vertical Instagram content: use 1080 x 1350px (4:5) for feed posts, 1080 x 1920px (9:16) for Stories and Reels, and 1440 x 2560px for ads. Always check your profile grid separately — it crops differently from the feed.

Questions fréquemment posées

What is the correct vertical image size for an Instagram feed post?

1080 x 1350 pixels at a 4:5 aspect ratio. This is the maximum vertical size Instagram allows in the feed. Anything taller gets auto-cropped to fit within the supported ratio range.

Why does my vertical post look different on my profile grid?

The profile grid uses a 3:4 ratio (1012 x 1350px), slightly narrower than the feed's 4:5. Keep key content centered to avoid edge cropping on the grid.

What's the difference between 4:5 and 9:16 on Instagram?

4:5 is for standard feed posts. 9:16 is for Stories and Reels. Instagram does not allow 9:16 in the regular feed — uploading one will result in an automatic crop to 4:5.

Can I use vertical images in an Instagram carousel?

Yes, at 1080 x 1350px (4:5). All slides after the first are auto-cropped to match the first slide's ratio. Use consistent vertical orientation throughout to avoid unintended cropping.

What file formats work for vertical Instagram content?

For images: JPG, PNG, and BMP. For video (Reels and Stories): MP4 or MOV.