When Instagram first launched, users were limited to creating standard posts (the everyday posts that you see on your Instagram feed).
Nowadays, there are a few more size dimensions to remember, for example, if you are posting on to your Instagram story or on IGTV.
With that in mind, we are going to look at all the image/video dimensions you need to remember in order to maximise the potential of your Instagram content. Let’s get started.
Instagram dimensions – size dimensions for a standard post
There is no better place to start than with the most popular type of post on Instagram.
While historically every picture on Instagram had to be square, an update seven years ago meant that users can now choose whether they want their feed posts to be square, landscape or vertical.
The dimensions for each post type are as follows:
- Square posts should be 1080px by 1080px with a 1:1 aspect ratio.
- Landscape images should be 1080px by 566px, with a 1.91:1 aspect ratio.
- Vertical images should be 1080px v 1350px with a 4:5 aspect ratio.
For those of you who aren’t aware of what we mean by ‘aspect ratio’ – this is essentially the ratio between the width and height of an image. E.g. 10×10 would be 1:1 and 10×20 would be 1:2.
Size dimension for Instagram videos posted to the feed
Instagram is more famed for imagery, however, you can also use the platform to share videos that you’ve filmed too. They also need to be sized correctly, whether they’re portrait or landscape videos.
The only downside of video sharing on Instagram is the fact that your videos have to be less than a minute in length, meaning you may well have to edit the length before going to post.
It’s arguably more important to get the dimensions right on a video than it is on a picture because you want to ensure that everything you filmed makes the final cut.
Here are the optimum Instagram dimensions for video sharing:
- Portrait videos should align with a 4:5 aspect ratio.
- Horizontal videos should align with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
One final thing to mention is that your video can’t be larger than 4GB otherwise you won’t be able to post it on Instagram.
Size dimensions for Instagram stories
Instagram stories is a feature on Instagram that launched in 2016 after seeing the success of Snapchat and their almost identical story feature. Instagram stories allows users to add temporary images/videos to their profile that are then deleted 24 hours later.
If you are posting something to your story then it is worth noting down the following advised dimensions as they are different to the dimensions we stated earlier for feed image and video sharing.
All content on your Instagram Story will be displayed full screen so use 1080px by 1920px with a 9:16 aspect ratio for the best results.
Size dimensions for IGTV
A couple of years after Instagram Stories came on to the scene, the social media giant launched IGTV.
This section of Instagram which allows you to upload longer-form videos of a higher quality. It’s commonly used by influencers and businesses who see it as a good marketing tool for sharing video content.
In a similar vein to Instagram Stories, content here will be displayed across a full screen so we would advise that you use videos sized 1080px by 1920px with a 9:16 aspect ratio.
One cool feature of IGTV is that it allows users to upload a cover photo to their page, something you can’t do on your standard Instagram profile.
If you are an IGTV user and are looking to add a cover photo, then use the following dimensions:
- 420px by 654px with a 1:1.55 aspect ratio.
Size dimensions for your Instagram profile picture
The final dimensions that are worth noting down are those that you should be using for your Instagram profile picture.
The last thing you want is a distorted profile picture or one which chops your head off so this is quite important to get right.
The size of your profile picture unfortunately has to be quite small, meaning you shouldn’t be picking group photos or one with a cool background.
The dimensions you should be aiming for are 360px by 360px with a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are so many different ways to share content on Instagram and unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all approach when it comes to the size dimensions of each content type.
You can also post GIFs on Instagram too, which require a different method of uploading.
We hope that by following the advice given above that you will be able to guarantee the most appropriate size dimensions for your Instagram content, regardless of which section of the platform you are using.
