Should I still post square photos on Instagram?

You can. A 1080 x 1080 photo shows whole in the feed, but the grid shows only its middle 810 pixels and cuts 135 pixels from each side. If your grid matters to your brand, post at 3:4, or fix each square post with Adjust preview.

What happens if I upload a photo bigger than 1080 pixels wide?

Instagram sizes it down to 1080 pixels wide. A photo narrower than 320 pixels is enlarged to 320, and any photo outside the 1.91:1 to 3:4 range is cropped to fit. Upload at 1080 wide in the shape you want, so you choose the crop instead of Instagram.

How do I add alt text to an Instagram post?

When you post from a computer, click Accessibility on the caption screen and write the alternative text there. Describe the product and what it is doing, in one or two plain sentences. How to write alt text for product images has a formula and examples.

Instagram post, story and reel sizes (2026)

Checked September 24, 20265 min read

Short answer

Post photos at 1080 x 1440 pixels (3:4). It is the tallest shape Instagram keeps and the same shape as the profile grid, so nothing gets cropped there. 1080 x 1350 (4:5) still works and loses a thin strip on the grid. Make Stories and Reels 9:16 at 1080 x 1920. Instagram keeps photos from 1.91:1 to 3:4, up to 1080 pixels wide, and crops anything outside that range.

Sizes by format

Format	Shape	Size to upload	What the profile grid shows
Feed photo, tall	3:4	1080 x 1440	All of it
Feed photo, portrait	4:5	1080 x 1350	The middle 1012 px of the width, about 94%
Feed photo, square	1:1	1080 x 1080	The middle 810 px of the width, 75%
Feed photo, landscape	1.91:1	1080 x 566	The middle 425 px of the width, about 39%
Carousel	One shape for every item	Up to 20 photos and videos	A 3:4 crop of the first item
Story	9:16	1080 x 1920	Not on the grid
Reel	9:16 (1.91:1 to 9:16 accepted)	1080 x 1920, at least 720 px and 30 fps	A 3:4 crop of the cover

From Instagram’s Help Center, checked 24 September 2026. The grid column is from our own measurement of instagram.com the same day.

Instagram’s help page on photo resolution sets the rules for feed photos. It keeps a photo at its original size when the photo is between 320 and 1080 pixels wide and between 1.91:1 and 3:4 in shape, which at 1080 wide means a height from 566 to 1440 pixels. A wider photo is sized down to 1080. A narrower one is enlarged to 320. A photo outside the shape range is cropped to fit. Instagram accepts JPG, PNG and HEIC files for photos.

How the profile grid crops your posts

In January 2025 Instagram replaced the square profile grid with taller rectangles. Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram, said most photos and videos uploaded are vertical and rectangles show them better. Some popular size guides from 2025 still say the grid is 4:5. On 24 September 2026 we measured the tiles on Instagram’s own profile page in a desktop browser: 311 x 414 pixels, a ratio of exactly 3:4, for photos and reels alike.

A 3:4 post shows whole. Every other shape loses its sides on the grid, and the feed still shows the full post. So a 4:5 product shot with the product centered survives the grid, while a square post with a logo in the corner loses the logo. Keep the product, any words and the logo inside the middle 810 pixels of a square post and the middle 1012 pixels of a 4:5 post.

You can move the crop on a published post: tap the three dots on the post, choose Edit, then Adjust preview, and drag the image into place. It changes the grid tile only, not the post.

Stories and Reels: keep clear of the top and bottom

Meta publishes a safe zone only for Stories and Reels ads, where the profile icon sits over the top of the frame and the call-to-action over the bottom: keep roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of words and logos. It is a sensible default for organic Stories and Reels too.

Area	Pixels at 1080 x 1920
Keep clear at the top	269 px
Keep clear at the bottom	672 px
Keep clear on each side	65 px
Safe box for words, logo and product	950 x 979, starting 269 px from the top

Meta’s Stories and Reels ad safe zone, worked out for a 1080 x 1920 frame and rounded to whole pixels.

Instagram accepts Reels from 1.91:1 to 9:16, and Meta recommends 9:16 because it fills the whole screen of a phone held upright. A reel needs a frame rate of at least 30 frames per second and a resolution of at least 720 pixels. Instagram also has an Upload at highest quality setting, under Profile, Menu, Media quality. Uploads take longer with it on.

Carousels

A carousel holds up to 20 photos and videos.
The shape you pick (square, portrait or landscape) applies to every item. You cannot mix shapes in one post, so export every slide at the same size before you upload.
The feed and the profile grid both show the first item, so lead with the clearest product shot.
Videos inside a carousel are not reels. They do not appear in the Reels tab.

For a set of AI renders, check that the product matches from slide to slide: same label, same color, same cap. Swiping puts the images side by side, so a small change that passes on one image shows up in a carousel. The AI image QA checklist has the full list of checks.

Reel length and cover

Length: Instagram lets you record and edit reels up to 20 minutes long, but says reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences.
Cover: Instagram’s help page recommends a cover of 420 x 654 pixels (a 1:1.55 ratio), in PNG or JPG. The grid shows a 3:4 crop of it.
Editing: the same help page says you cannot change the cover after you share the reel, so pick it before you post.

The 420 x 654 cover is small next to a 1080 x 1920 reel. If the grid matters to you, design the cover at full size with the title and product inside the middle 1080 x 1440 area, the part a 3:4 grid tile can show.

What changed since 2024

January 2025: the profile grid switched from squares to taller rectangles. Today the tiles are 3:4.
May 2025: Instagram began accepting 3:4 photos (1080 x 1440), according to a post by the social media agency Your Social Team citing Adam Mosseri. Instagram’s help page now lists 1.91:1 to 3:4 as the supported range.
March 2026: Instagram ads started carrying an "Ad" label instead of "Sponsored". Ad sizes are in Facebook and Instagram ad sizes.

Questions people also ask

Should I still post square photos on Instagram?: You can. A 1080 x 1080 photo shows whole in the feed, but the grid shows only its middle 810 pixels and cuts 135 pixels from each side. If your grid matters to your brand, post at 3:4, or fix each square post with Adjust preview.
What happens if I upload a photo bigger than 1080 pixels wide?: Instagram sizes it down to 1080 pixels wide. A photo narrower than 320 pixels is enlarged to 320, and any photo outside the 1.91:1 to 3:4 range is cropped to fit. Upload at 1080 wide in the shape you want, so you choose the crop instead of Instagram.
How do I add alt text to an Instagram post?: When you post from a computer, click Accessibility on the caption screen and write the alternative text there. Describe the product and what it is doing, in one or two plain sentences. How to write alt text for product images has a formula and examples.

Where Overs fits

Overs makes still photos for the sets you plan and exports them as files. It does not post to Instagram or make reels. For a reel, it can write a text prompt per photo for a video model such as Seedance or Veo.

Free for 40 photos a month. The AI that makes the photos is billed separately, on your own key, with no markup from Overs.

Start free How it works

Sources

Checked on September 24, 2026. Prices, specs and rules change; follow the links for the current versions.