Instagram Post Size: Why 1080 x 1350 Portrait Suits Most Businesses

Instagram post size is the width and shape of a picture in the feed, and the best choice for most businesses is 1080 pixels wide at 4:5 portrait, which is 1080 x 1350 pixels. Portrait is the tallest shape Meta's page accepts in the feed before cropping, and square at 1080 x 1080 is the safe alternative.

• The Instagram Help Center page on image resolution says Instagram uploads photos at the best quality possible, up to 1080 by 1080 pixels.
• Meta for Developers' Instagram media requirements recommend 1:1 in the feed, accept shapes from 1.91:1 to 4:5, and crop pictures taller than 4:5 to 4:5.
• The same Meta page sets minimums of 600 x 600 pixels for square, 600 x 750 for 4:5 and 600 x 315 for 1.91:1.
• The Instagram Help Center page on multi-photo posts says one feed post can hold up to 20 photos and videos.

Should a business post square or portrait on Instagram?

Portrait suits most posts because it takes more of the screen as people scroll. Square is the better pick when the same picture goes to several networks at once.

Meta's page recommends 1:1 for the feed but accepts anything from 1.91:1 landscape to 4:5 portrait, so both shapes are within the rules. The difference is how much of the phone the post fills: a 4:5 picture is a quarter taller than a square one at the same width, which gives the headline and the product more room. Landscape is accepted but shows as a short strip on a tall phone screen, so keep it for photos that only work wide, such as a shopfront or a room.

Shape	Size at 1080 pixels wide	Meta's minimum	Best for
Portrait 4:5	1080 x 1350	600 x 750	Offers, products, tips, most feed posts
Square 1:1	1080 x 1080	600 x 600	Pictures shared to several networks, logos, quotes
Landscape 1.91:1	about 1080 x 566	600 x 315	Wide photos of a place or a team

A florist in Bristol, for example, might post product photos in portrait so each bouquet fills the screen, and keep square for a weekly quote card that also goes to Facebook and LinkedIn. Neither choice is wrong, and the table shows only the shapes and minimums Meta's page gives today. Platforms revise these pages, so check them again before a campaign.

Why design at 1080 pixels wide?

Instagram's help page gives 1080 pixels as the most it keeps, so wider pictures gain nothing. Narrower ones risk looking soft on a modern phone.

When you upload a picture wider than 1080 pixels, Instagram scales it down, and scaling can blur fine lines and small text on the picture. When you upload one far narrower, the app has to stretch it to the width of the screen, which looks soft. Designing at exactly 1080 pixels wide means the picture you see on your computer is close to what your customers see on their phones.

The height then follows from the shape you choose. Divide 1080 by 4 and multiply by 5 to get 1350 for portrait, or keep 1080 for square. The wider guide to social media image sizes explains how the same width works for Stories, YouTube and TikTok, so you can keep one width across every template.

What happens if a post is taller or wider than Instagram allows?

Meta's page says a picture taller than 4:5 is cropped to 4:5 when no crop is set. A picture wider than 1.91:1 falls outside the accepted range.

The crop is the main risk, because the app keeps the middle and cuts the top and bottom, and those are exactly where many businesses put a headline or a phone number. A vertical 9:16 picture made for Stories will lose a large slice if you post it to the feed unchanged. When you choose a photo in the app, you can usually move and zoom it inside the frame, but the frame itself will not go taller than portrait.

The simplest fix is to make feed posts and Stories as separate pictures from the start. If you must reuse a vertical picture in the feed, place it in a 1080 x 1350 canvas and move the words into the middle area. That way nothing important depends on where the app decides to cut.

How does the profile grid change what people see?

Your profile grid shows a cropped preview of each post, not the whole picture. Keep the main subject and any words in the centre so the preview still makes sense.

People who visit your profile see many posts at once before they tap any of them, so the grid acts like a shop window. A portrait post with its headline near the top edge can lose that headline in the preview, which makes the grid look untidy. Centring the subject and keeping a margin around the edges protects both the full post and the preview.

After you post, open your own profile on a phone and look at the grid. If a preview cuts something important, edit future templates so the key content sits further in. The preview shape is set by Instagram and can change with an app update, so check again after updates.

Should every slide in a carousel be the same size?

Yes, make every slide the same shape and size. Mixed shapes can leave some slides cropped or framed differently from the rest.

Instagram's help page says a single post can hold up to 20 photos and videos, which is plenty for a step by step guide, a product range or a before and after. Choose portrait for all of them when you want the most screen space in the feed. Keep the text position consistent from slide to slide, so the eye knows where to look as people swipe.

A carousel is also where a consistent margin pays off. If slide one has its title near the top and slide four near the bottom, one of them will usually be the slide that loses words to a crop. Design every slide on the same template and check the whole set on a phone before posting.

How do you set up an Instagram post in a design app?

Create a canvas of 1080 x 1350 pixels, mark a margin around the edges, and export as JPG for photos or PNG for text-heavy graphics. Save it as a template.

Most design apps let you type the width and height when you start a new design, so you do not need a preset labelled for Instagram. Add guides about a tenth of the width in from each edge and keep text and logos inside them. Use large, short lines of text, because a phone shows the post at a fraction of the size you see while designing.

When you export, keep the width at exactly 1080 pixels. Photos usually look best as JPG, while pictures with lettering often stay sharper as PNG once the app compresses them. Meta's page gives no file size limit for images, so you do not need to shrink the file further than a normal export.

If you would rather skip the setup, the AI Social Media Post Generator writes each post within its picture's layout and makes portrait pictures, so the shape is set before you share. It matches your own photos and your website's photos to each slide, and you can type your own words on any picture. Check the result on your phone as you would any other post.

Questions business owners ask about Instagram post sizes

Is 1080 x 1080 still a good Instagram post size?

Yes. Square is the ratio Meta's page recommends for the feed and it works on every network that shows square pictures, though portrait fills more of the screen.

What is the maximum height for an Instagram feed post?

The tallest shape Meta's page accepts in the feed is 4:5. At 1080 pixels wide that is 1350 pixels high, and anything taller is cropped to 4:5 unless a crop is set.

Can I post a landscape photo on Instagram?

Yes, down to 1.91:1, which is about 1080 x 566 pixels at full width. It is accepted, but it fills much less of a phone screen than portrait.

What is the smallest picture Instagram will take?

Meta's page requires at least 600 pixels of width, with minimums of 600 x 600 for square and 600 x 750 for portrait. Start at 1080 pixels wide so the post stays sharp.

Make your next Instagram post at 1080 x 1350

Set up one portrait template this week and use it for your next three posts. It takes minutes and removes most cropping surprises.

Create the 1080 x 1350 canvas, add your logo and brand colours, and mark the margins where nothing important goes. Make your next post on it, check it in the feed and on your profile grid from a phone, and adjust the margins if anything is cut. Keep a square version beside it for pictures you share on several networks at once, and look at Instagram's and Meta's help pages every few months, because these sizes change.