Instagram formats in 2023 - [Complete guide]

Let's face it: we're always pleasantly surprised by all the fantastic new ways to publish your best photos and videos on Instagram.

Whether it's portrait, landscape and square photo options, stories, real, IGTV videos or videos in your feed Instagram....

There are so many incredible ways to engage with your followers and offer eye-catching content.

As amazing as these new options are, it can be a little tricky to determine the ideal Instagram image size for your content, right?

That's why we've put together a quick guide to let you know the different Instagram post sizes for each piece of content, as well as the best photo resolution to publish on the app for optimal results.

(Yes, posting photos on Instagram can decrease image quality!).

And just in case you need a cheat sheet to keep track of all those image sizes, we've included a infographic on Instagram formats

Once you know which post dimensions to use on the social network, you can program your posts and boost your account with Boostfluence.

What are the ideal formats on Instagram in 2023?

Instagram is a visual platform par excellence, where image size and dimensions play a crucial role.

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The various formats available have evolved since the platform launched in 2012, allowing greater flexibility in the type of content you can share.

Here's a quick list of the most common sizes on Insta:

Sizes of photos published on Instagram

When Insta first launched in 2012, people could only post visuals with a 1:1 ratio.

Users who wanted to show their photos in horizontal and portrait formats were forced to crop their visuals into a square or use other apps to create borders.

Thankfully, Instagram listened to feedback from their community and introduced horizontal and vertical photo features in 2015.

But what is the best image size'for these Insta posts at the various formats

Square photo size on Instagram

Ideal square format: 1080 px by 1080 px

The square format is the most often used on Instagram and it's the platform's classic format.

The recommended size for these square photos is 1080px by 1080px.

This is generally the easiest photo size to get right first time due to the automatic cropping function of most photo editing apps and the app itself.

Not to mention that you can take a square shot directly from the iOS device!"

Your photo should be between 320 px by 320 px and 1080 px by 1080 px. The more pixels you have, the better the quality of your post.

Instagram portrait size

ideal portrait format: 1080 px by 1350 px

For portraits or vertical photos, the ideal format is 1080px by 1350px with a ratio of 4:5.

Instagram supports this format, but if you share a photo with larger dimensions, you will be prompted to crop the image'.

Portrait format content has become very popular, especially for Instagram stories, which are a vertical format by nature.

Vertical content is also fairly simple to get right first time, although you will need to crop oversized vertical photos to fit within Instagram's dimensions.

The ideal format for an Insta portrait is 4:5, and the ideal photo size is 1080 pixels by 1350 pixels.

If you upload a larger portrait, for example 4:6 or 9:16 (the same as on Snapchat or TikTok), you will be prompted to crop part of the image.

Horizontal size of Instagram photos

ideal photo size: 1080 px by 1350 px

We'll be honest: getting the right horizontal Instagram photo dimensions can be tricky!

In fact, the ideal format for a horizontal Instagram photo is 1.91:1.

With these dimensions, your horizontal shot will display perfectly on the app without borders.

However, you can actually upload horizontal visuals up to an aspect ratio of 16:9, and the app will automatically add a border around the photo.

How to post a landscape on Insta:

Instagram has made adding landscape to your feed easier than ever. Here's how to do it:

1. Open Instagram
2. Tap the Add Post button (at the top right of the screen).
3. Choose the content you want to upload
4. Tap the button at the bottom left of the photo display'it looks like two corners). Your shot will automatically be adjusted to the ideal format.
5. You can still adjust the framing of the shot by pinching it to zoom in or out.
6. Press Next to set your filters and write the description!

If you frequently use horizontal format photos on your page, it's best to keep the same format for each of them.

To get the best horizontal photo quality for Instagram the first time, make sure the height of your photo is at least 1080 pixels.

This will help maintain the quality of your visuals on mobile and desktop!

Before we move on to the dimensions of Insta video posts, let's do a quick recap!

New Formats: Reels and Videos

Instagram has introduced new formats like Reels and continues to innovate in terms of videos on Instagram in 2023.

The video format can vary, but an often-recommended size for Instagram videos is 1080px by 1920px for a vertical format, and 600 x 600px for square-format videos.

Other considerations

It's important to note that the quality of a higher-resolution photo will be better, especially if you represent a business on Instagram.

Your Instagram profile photo, often automatically cropped to a circular format, should also be of high quality.

For Reels and Stories, videos under 60 seconds are often more engaging.

In summary, choosing the right format based on the content to focus on in 2023 can greatly influence the engagement and visibility of your Instagram account. That's why it's crucial to be familiar with the recommended sizes and dimensions for each type of content.

Key points to remember about Instagram image size

What's the best aspect ratio on Instagram?

Instagram offers three publication formats for your photos and videos.

Previously, the 1:1 (square) aspect ratio was the only option available, but Instagram now allows both vertical and horizontal content!"

The best Instagram image sizes for posts are:

• 1080px by 1080px (Square)
• 1080px by 1350px (Portrait)
• 1080px by 608px (Landscape)

Well, that's a lot of different proportions to keep track of!

Thankfully, Boostfluence has a crop function that automatically crops the shot you want to publish to the right ratio.

Dimensions of video posts on Instagram

If video is your preferred way of connecting with your community, it's important to choose the right dimensions.

Just like photo posts, you have the option of using square, horizontal or vertical videos in your feed. The ideal dimensions for each are:

The ideal video resolution on Instagram:

• Square and carousel - 1080px x 1080px i.e. aspect ratio 1:1
• Portrait - 1080px x 1350px i.e. aspect ratio 4:5
• Landscape - 1080px x 608px or 16:9 aspect ratio

The height/width ratio for each is the same as for photo publications, with the exception of our recommendation for landscape videos.

The reason we recommend a 16:9 aspect ratio for horizontal videos is that it will take a lot of time and effort to edit your video in the 1.9:1 aspect ratio used in photo posts.

Insta users are used to seeing videos in 16:9 aspect ratio, so the time and effort required to crop and edit your video to change it from 16:9 isn't worth it.

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There are also some minimum and maximum requirements to be aware of when it comes to posting videos on your Instagram profile.

Your Instagram video post must have a maximum of the following:

• 30 frames per second
• 60 seconds in length
• 4GB file size

If your video exceeds any of these requirements, you won't be able to post it, so keep these numbers in mind when planning your video content!

As with Instagram snapshot posts, the orientation in which you shoot your video'will determine what the minimum and maximum resolutions are for each.

The minimum resolutions are:

• The minimum resolution for square and carousel Instagram videos is 600 x 600.
• Minimum resolution for vertical Instagram videos is 600 x 750
• Minimum resolution for horizontal Instagram videos is 600 x 315

As your video file will be compressed when you upload it, we suggest using the maximum resolution allowed.

The maximum resolutions are:

• Instagram square and carousel videos - Maximum resolution is 1080 x 1080.
• Instagram portrait videos - Maximum resolution is 1080 x 1350
• Instagram landscape videos - Maximum resolution is 1080 x 608

Tip: using the maximum resolution in your videos can preserve crystal clarity.

Instagram format for a story and a real Instagram in vertical format

Ideal Instagram story size: 1080px x 1920px

Insta stories are another incredible tool for connecting with your followers and publishing on a daily basis. Whether it's text posts, lives or photo and video content!

The content in Stories is intended to be viewed vertically, so even if you can publish photos and videos in landscape format, they won't display as well.

This is also another reason why the aspect ratios in story are different from the other post sizes we've covered previously!

You can publish a story in any aspect ratio, from 1:9:1 to 9:16.

However, you're more likely to grab attention if you fill the whole screen, without borders.

For this, the ideal dimension in a story is:

• A 9:16 aspect ratio,
• A size of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels

Real Instagrams use the same dimensions as Stories. However, there are a few things you need to know!"

• Reals display in the feed in 4:5 portrait format (cropped top and bottom and centered).
• The caption of your real displays in an overlay in the bottom corner of the video.

Keep this in mind when creating your content.

Size of IGTV posts

Ideal size of cover photo: 420px x 654px

IGTV, or "Youtube for Instagram" as it's sometimes called, debuted with a vertical-only option in 2018.

Previously, members had to shoot their content (sometimes an hour'long!) in a long horizontal ratio of 9:16.

However, after a backlash from users who found it difficult to film long-form content in this way, Insta chose to allow landscape videos on in May 2019. Now IGTVs are called Video and sound grouped with all Instagram video content.

This opens up a ton of new options for filming. Here are all the dimensions to think about when it comes to your IGTV videos:

• Vertical videos have a minimum aspect ratio of 4:5 and a maximum of 9:16.
• Horizontal videos have a minimum aspect ratio of 5:4 and a maximum of 16:9.
• The one-minute preview (which places a preview snippet in your profile) is cropped to 4:5 in the user's news feed.
• The one-minute preview is cropped to a 1:1 square in your profile.
• Your IGTV cover photo must have a resolution of 420px by 654px.

FAQ on the format of Instagram images and videos

Do Instagram photos have to be square?

Your photos don't have to be square.

You can also share rectangular portraits and landscape photos on your page without cropping them!

Keep in mind that'there are limits. If you post something that exceeds the proportions, you'll need to crop your photo.

Does Instagram reduce image quality?

Notice that your photos are uploading blurry? Uploading files whose size is greater than 1080 pixels may be the culprit.

If you share a shot whose size is greater than these measurements, the social network automatically compresses it.

Extreme photo compression can distort image details, which has a major impact on quality.

The same applies when you upload an image whose size is less than 320px. The app will enlarge it, causing pixelation and blurring.

To get the best possible photo in your feed, aim for sizes of 1080px by 1080px.

How to fit a full photo on Instagram

If you want to upload your full portrait on Instagram without cropping it into a square. Simply tap the expansion arrows in the bottom left corner to fit the entire image on the social network!

So, what's the best image size on Instagram?

All the app's new features have created a few new proportions to keep in mind when creating that content! Let's recap them:

• Square photo: 1080px x 1080px
• Portrait photo: 1080px x 1350px
• Landscape photo: 1080px x 608px
• Square video: 600px x 600px
• Portrait video: 600px x 750px
• Video landscape: 600px x 315px
• Video surround: 600px x 600px
• Story: 1080px x 1920px
• IGTV cover: 420px x 654px

If you're wondering what type of image size makes the most sense for your content, and whether using a mix of portrait, landscape and square photos will affect the look and feel of your feed.. don't worry!

Your content will appear as desired in your followers' news feeds, but will be cropped to a 1:1 square preview on your profile.

Your followers will have to select your photo (or stumble across it by scrolling!) to see the full image.

Also, you can always plan your feed and check how all your photos fit together with an Instagram planning tool.