The best Instagram image size for most feed posts in 2026 is 1080 x 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait. It fills more of the feed than a square, and it survives the profile grid's 3:4 crop with almost nothing lost. Below are the exact sizes for square, portrait, landscape, Stories, Reels, and carousels, plus the one setting that trips up business owners who schedule their posts.
I first tested this on my own feed back in 2016, when Instagram started allowing vertical and horizontal photos. The formats have changed since then. The lesson from that test still holds, and I'll show you why.
Instagram image sizes for 2026 at a glance
Use these sizes when you export or design a post:
- Portrait feed post (4:5): 1080 x 1350 pixels. Use this for most posts.
- Tall portrait feed post (3:4): 1080 x 1440 pixels. This matches the profile grid exactly.
- Square feed post (1:1): 1080 x 1080 pixels.
- Landscape feed post (1.91:1): 1080 x 566 pixels.
- Stories and Reels (9:16): 1080 x 1920 pixels.
- Profile photo: 320 x 320 pixels, shown as a circle.
Instagram stores feed images between 320 and 1440 pixels wide and resizes anything outside that range, according to Meta's Instagram media specifications. A width of 1080 pixels is the safe standard. It looks sharp on a phone and keeps file sizes reasonable.
Portrait or square: which Instagram post size is better?
Portrait is better for almost every feed post. Use 4:5. The reason is space. A vertical image takes up more of the screen while someone scrolls, and a bigger image gets more of their attention before their thumb moves on.
When I tested this on my own account in 2016, my vertical images averaged 210.4 likes and my square images averaged 190. That is about 10 percent more likes for vertical posts. A lot of things affect one post's results, so treat that as a direction rather than a rule. Instagram has only moved further toward vertical since then.
Square still has a place. Product flat lays, quote graphics, and logos often look better centered in a square. Choose square when the content is built for it, not out of habit.
How the 3:4 profile grid crops your posts
Your profile grid no longer shows square thumbnails. The grid now displays every post as a 3:4 rectangle, as Buffer's guide to Instagram image sizes explains. Your full image still appears in the feed. Only the thumbnail on your profile is cropped.
Here is what that crop does to each format:
- 3:4 posts show in full on the grid.
- 4:5 posts lose a thin strip from the top and bottom.
- Square and landscape posts lose their left and right edges.
This matters most for anything with text or a face near the edge. A headline that runs edge to edge on a square graphic gets cut off on your profile. Keep the important part of every image in the center two-thirds of the frame and you'll be fine in both places.
When square and landscape posts still make sense
Landscape posts get the least space in the feed. Save them for images that only work wide: a storefront, a long workspace, or a group photo where cropping would cut someone out.
If you have a horizontal photo you love, you have two options. Post it as a 1.91:1 landscape and accept the smaller footprint, or crop it to 4:5 and choose which part of the scene matters most. Most of the time, the crop wins. If cropping loses the point of the photo, post it wide.
Instagram Story and Reel sizes
Stories and Reels use the full phone screen at 9:16, or 1080 x 1920 pixels. Instagram places your profile name at the top and the reply bar and buttons at the bottom. Keep text and logos about 250 pixels away from the top and bottom edges so nothing important hides behind them.
Reels show up in a few different places, and each one crops them differently. The Reels tab shows the full 9:16 frame. Your main profile grid shows a 3:4 thumbnail from the middle of it. Choose a cover frame with the subject centered, and check the grid preview before you publish. For hook and format ideas once your sizing is set, see these Instagram Story ideas for business owners.
Can you post horizontal and vertical photos together?
Yes, with one catch. Separate posts can each use their own shape, so a landscape post can sit next to a portrait post on your feed. A carousel is different: it takes its shape from the first image. If your first slide is 4:5, Instagram fits every slide after it to 4:5, and a horizontal photo in that carousel gets cropped or padded.
To mix shapes in one carousel without surprises, export every slide at the same size before you upload. Place a horizontal photo on a 4:5 canvas with space above and below it, and you decide what shows instead of Instagram.
Build carousels at 1080 x 1350 for the same reason 4:5 works for single images. Each slide gets the most room in the feed, and the cover slide still reads well on the profile grid.
Why your scheduler might crop a 3:4 image
This is the detail most guides skip. The Instagram app accepts 3:4 photos. Meta's publishing interface for outside apps is a different story. The same Meta media specifications list an accepted aspect ratio range of 4:5 to 1.91:1 for images published through that interface.
Many scheduling tools publish through that interface. If you schedule a 3:4 image, your tool may crop it to 4:5 or reject it. Before you build a month of posts at 3:4, schedule one test post and check how it lands. If it gets cropped, design at 4:5 instead. You'll lose a sliver of the grid thumbnail and keep full control of the feed image.
Plan your photos for the size you'll post
Most sizing problems start before anyone opens an editing app. A photo shot wide with the subject at the edge can't become a strong 4:5 post without losing something.
When you plan a brand shoot, ask for vertical frames with space above and below the subject. That space lets one photo work as a 4:5 feed post, a 9:16 Story, and a 3:4 grid thumbnail without a bad crop. If you need a cover image for another platform too, these notes on creating cover photos for your business cover the wide formats.
If you edit in Lightroom, my Lightroom to Instagram export settings walk through the exact export I use so your photos stay sharp after Instagram compresses them.
Have fun with it
Sizes are worth getting right because they let people see your work clearly. They are not the point of posting. Use your feed to show the business you've built and the people you serve, and let the numbers be one signal among many.
Likes and follower counts don't fill you up. If you follow Jesus, we are instructed to seek His Kingdom first (Matthew 6). Post for that, and share your work.
