Instagram Dimensions & Sizes Guide 2022: Photo, Video & Stories (2023)

Do you know what the most annoying thing about Instagram is? Actually two things: holiday pictures and crop the best part of your photo. As Instagram diversifies the types of content you can showcase on your profile, there's more to keep in mind to make it look good. How do I adjust horizontal photos for Instagram stories? How to avoid quality loss? How to optimize the size for vertical, square and horizontal photos? In this article, we'll answer those questions and walk you through the best Instagram dimensions.

What are Instagram dimensions?

Let's clarify the terms. Instagram dimensions involve two concepts: an aspect ratio and a size. An aspect ratio is the width and height of a photo/video, represented by digits. For example, an ideal aspect ratio for square photos is 1:1 and for vertical photos is 4:5.

In contrast, size refers to the number of pixels in an image/video, also known as resolution. Simply put, Instagram dimensions are the aspect ratio and size that results in an optimal length and width of the content you post on Instagram. It's important to stick to them if you want to keep the full image/video viewable without quality loss.

Here you can find all Instagram dimensions:

• Instagram story image size
• Instagram image size for posts
• Instagram video size
• Dimensions of Instagram profile pictures
• How to optimize photos and videos for Instagram dimensions

Instagram story image size

In its first year, Instagram Stories hit a milestone of 250 million daily users — about a quarter of all Instagram users. So yes, stories are insanely popular. The most appealing thing about them is that you can get your content out in the blink of an eye and not have to worry too much about retouching, photo editing, and filters — the things you usually pay attention to when posting to the Instagram feed. The only thing to think about is the image/video size.

The best Instagram story dimensions are1080 x 1920 Pixeland an aspect ratio of 9:16. So to publish a high-quality image or video as a story, you should make sure that it is 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels high. Otherwise, Instagram will mess up your visuals by cropping them or lowering the quality.

Here's how to make sure your content fits Instagram story dimensions:

1. Take portrait photos and videos with your phone. If you know you will post a photo/video to Instagram stories before taking it, choose portrait mode.
2. Use photo/video editors for quick resizing. Sometimes you want to post a landscape photo, and other times you want to keep only part of a portrait photo visible. Here you need the support of photo and video editors. We'll mention many of them throughout the article, but if you want a quick answer, we recommend PhotoBulk for photo editing and Capto for video resizing.
3. Remove unwanted objects.If enlarging an Insta story degrades the quality, use an actual size - but remove unwanted objects with itTap Retouch.. With this simple photo fix tool, you can quickly erase anything that shouldn't be visible in your story. It also has a simple photo editing tool to adjust tone and color, crop and more.

Instagram image size for posts

Here's the thing: Even if you choose perfect dimensions, Instagram still compresses your content. So if you upload a 1080x1080 photo (as recommended for square photos), Instagram will automatically compress it to 600x600. However, that doesn't mean you should upload photos at the highest resolution. Because if you do this, it can negatively affect the quality. In other words, stick to the recommended resolution and let Instagram do its thing.

Square photos

The recommended Instagram image size is1080 x 1080 Pixelfor square photos. Be prepared for Instagram to lower it, but don't go past 1080. The most important thing about square photos is that you should try to achieve 1:1 aspect ratio to make sure Instagram doesn't crop them.

Horizontal photos

For horizontal photos that1080 x 1080 PixelFormula works great too. However, you get more flexibility with the aspect ratio. According to Instagram, an aspect ratio of 1.91:1 is perfect for horizontal photos. However, as practice shows, everything works up to 16:9.

Vertical photos

The thing about vertical photos for Instagram stories is that you can reuse them for your feed if it's worth staying there for more than 24 hours. The ideal vertical photo size for Instagram is1080 x 1350 Pixel. As for the aspect ratio, you should choose 4:5 to avoid cropping.

Be it square, horizontal or vertical, PhotoBulk can help you resize Instagram images to fit any need. In addition, adjustments are applied to any number of photos. This tool is a great lifesaver for everyone who posts a lot of photos on Instagram and wants to have the best choice. Because let's face it, behind every picture posted there are over 100 photos for you to choose from. PhotoBulk automates resizing and helps you choose the best image with the right dimensions.

To adjust image size with PhotoBulk:

1. Install PhotoBulkfrom Setapp and launch it on Mac
2. Add photos using the plus button in the lower left corner
3. Select Resize and specify the dimensions
4. When finished, click Start to resize images
5. Save presets for different Instagram dimensions to reuse in the future.

Does Instagram reduce image quality?

No, if you follow the rules. One instance where Instagram lowers the quality is when you upload content that is wider than 1080px. This triggers extreme conversion and lowers the quality. So if you want to avoid a distorted view, you should take Instagram photo size recommendations seriously.

There is a nice tool calledTo squeezeThis will help you compress photos when their resolution is significantly higher than the recommended one. The app doesn't lower the quality and has a built-in converter - which is a big advantage when you need to quickly switch from PNG to JPEG without changing the dimensions.

Otherwise, you can try an advanced photo enhancement app called Luminar. Just drop your photo into the app and choose from the advanced AI tools offered in the app to tweak and enhance your photo. You'll end up with a more vibrant image that you can crop or resize as needed.

Instagram video size

Instagram video dimensions pretty much follow the optimal size and aspect ratio recommended for photos. What you should pay attention to is the video length. You can upload a maximum video length of 15 seconds for Stories, 60 seconds for a regular Instagram post, and 60 minutes for an IGTV or Live video. So, apart from a tool that can adjust the dimensions, you need some kind of video trimming software. Usually good video editors like Capto have both.

Square videos

The dimensions for a square video are no different than the Instagram photo size1080 x 1080 Pixel. Make sure they are in 1:1 aspect ratio to avoid cropping.

horizontal videos

Going horizontally is the optimal dimensions for a video1080 x 607 Pixel. Just like with photos, Instagram recommends an aspect ratio of 1.91:1 for horizontal videos that you upload in regular posts.

Vertical Videos

Vertical or vertical orientation videos allow for more height with the recommended dimensions of1080 x 1350 Pixel. The aspect ratio for the ideal vertical video view is 4:5.

If you manage a branded Instagram account and want a professional look, or just love to keep things consistent, choose one type of video size and stick with it. Capto can help you quickly adjust dimensions and make sure your video doesn't lose quality.

How to use Capto to match Instagram video dimensions:

1. install gravefrom Setapp and start it
2. Navigate to the Video tab > Import
3. Click the scissors icon and then click the crop icon
4. Specify the width and height based on Instagram's requirements and click Crop.

Capto will automatically replace the original video with the cropped one on your Mac.

IGTV Instagram image and video size

Instagram's so-called YouTube, IGTV, is a great feature for sharing long-form video content. From live concert streams to online workouts to tutorials, the sky's the limit. There are two things to keep in mind when posting IGTV videos on Instagram:

1. IGTV video dimensions
2. Size and aspect ratio of the cover photo.

You can upload both horizontal and vertical video to IGTV. If you choose the traditional vertical, the recommended aspect ratio is 9:16 and the size should be1080 x 1920 Pixel. For horizontal video it is 16:8 and1920 x 1080 Pixelrespectively As for the cover image that will appear in your IGTV feed, it should be420 x 654 Pixeland have an aspect ratio of 1:1.55.

Dimensions of Instagram profile pictures

Some people tend to ignore dimensions for a tiny picture that appears at the top of their profile. This could be a big mistake. Even though Instagram is a mobile-first platform, many people tend to browse Instagram on Mac - especially for work. For this reason, Instagram has expanded the functionality of the web version in recent months.

So using a low-resolution profile picture that looks good on your phone can be a complete failure on the web. Instagram recommends a minimum of 110 x 110 pixels for a profile picture, but the optimal size is180 x 180 Pixel.

By the way, if you love getting things done on Mac, there is a dedicated Instagram app for that. It's calledgrid. While the web version of Instagram is very limited and doesn't offer all the features you get on mobile, Grids fills the gaps. This full-featured Instagram app for Mac lets you upload photos/videos, post stories, send direct messages, switch accounts, and more.

By the way, if you love getting things done on Mac, there is a dedicated Instagram app for that. It's calledgrid. While the web version of Instagram is very limited and doesn't offer all the features you get on mobile, Grids fills the gaps. This full-featured Instagram app for Mac lets you upload photos/videos, post stories, send direct messages, switch accounts, and more.

This is great if you want to do all of your photo and video editing on the Mac and don't want to transfer any content to your phone to post. However, some people miss filters and editing options. So if you want to stick with the traditional mobile post, get yourselfAnyTrans, an app that can sync all your content across Mac and mobile devices - without any loss of resolution or quality.

How to optimize photos and videos for Instagram dimensions

All wrapped up in one easy workflow, here are all the tools you should have on hand to always adjust Instagram dimensions for photos, videos, stories and anything you post:

• Save presetsfor different types of Instagram posts with PhotoBulk. Use it to resize images in one click.

• Adjust video size- and easily edit videos by adding voiceovers, annotations and more - with Capto video editor.

• Remove unwanted objectsfrom photos with TouchRetouch. This is a great way to bypass cropping of your content.

• Improve photo quality. If your image is the right size but needs some tweaking or editing, use Luminar AI tools to enhance your photo.

• compress photoswith pumpkin. This prevents Instagram from lowering the quality of high-resolution photos.

  (Video) Instagram Video Dimensions and Formatting | Bite Sized Tutorial

• Post to Instagram from Macwith grids to avoid transferring content.

• Use AnyTrans to transfer photos or videoswhere you need them. This is useful when you have an image on your iPhone and want to edit it with a Mac app or vice versa.

All these great tools are available free for 7 days with Setapp membership.Setappis basically a Mac App Store done right - a curated package of over 200 apps you can access in one place. After the trial period, an all-access pass for Setapp costs $9.99 per month (that's a lot less than the price of the utilities mentioned combined). Check it out - Setapp could be a great strategic toolkit for creating quality Instagram content.