Instagram Story Size: 1080 x 1920 Pixels and Where to Put Text

Instagram story size is 1080 x 1920 pixels, a vertical 9:16 shape that fills a phone screen from top to bottom. Meta's page recommends 9:16 for Stories with at least 600 pixels of width, and Instagram's help page gives 1080 pixels as its upload limit, so 1080 x 1920 is the size to design at.

• Meta for Developers' Instagram media requirements recommend a 9:16 aspect ratio for Instagram Stories, with a minimum width of 600 pixels.
• The same Meta page says a Stories ad picture between 4:5 and 9:16 is cropped to 4:5 when no crop is set.
• The Instagram Help Center page on image resolution says photos are uploaded at the best quality possible, up to 1080 by 1080 pixels.
• TikTok for Business creative best practices (updated June 2025) advise vertical 9:16 at 720p or above, with content inside the safe zone.

Why is 9:16 the shape for Instagram Stories?

A phone held upright is roughly 9:16, so a 9:16 story fills the whole screen. Any other shape leaves part of the screen empty.

Stories are watched full screen, one after another, with a tap to move on. A picture that fills the screen looks deliberate and gives your words and photo the most room, while a smaller picture floating in the middle looks like a feed post that was moved across. Meta's page recommends 9:16 for exactly this placement, and it also accepts 1.91:1 and 4:5 for Stories ads, though those shapes leave space above and below.

The pixel size follows from the shape. At 1080 pixels wide, divide by 9 and multiply by 16 to get 1920 pixels high. The same width is used for square and portrait posts, which is why the wider guide to social media image sizes suggests keeping 1080 pixels as the one width for every template.

What happens when a story picture is not 9:16?

It is shown smaller or cropped, depending on where it appears. For Stories ads, Meta's page says a picture between 4:5 and 9:16 is cropped to 4:5 unless a crop is set.

When you share an ordinary story from the app, you can usually pinch and move a photo that is not vertical, and the space around it is filled with a background. That works for a quick snapshot, but it wastes the screen and makes text on the photo small. For ads, the crop rule on Meta's page means a nearly vertical picture can lose a large slice of its top and bottom, which is where many people put a headline or a call to action.

The reliable fix is to make story pictures as their own 1080 x 1920 designs rather than reusing a feed post unchanged. If you do reuse a square or portrait post, place it inside a vertical canvas and add a short line of text above or below it in your brand colours. Then you decide what fills the screen, not the app.

Where should text and logos sit on a story?

Keep words and logos in the middle of the screen, away from the top and bottom edges. Instagram places its own name, progress bar and reply controls over those areas.

At the top of every story, Instagram shows your profile picture, account name and the progress bar, and at the bottom it shows the message box and other controls. Anything you put there may be covered or hard to read. TikTok's page tells advertisers to keep content inside the safe zone for the same reason, and the principle applies to every vertical format with buttons laid over it.

Meta publishes exact safe zone figures in its ads guide, but we could not open that page for this update, so we do not repeat numbers here. A practical method is to leave a generous band at the top and bottom of your template, put nothing important in it, then post a test story and look at it on your phone. If the account name or message box touches your text, widen the band on the template.

Can the same vertical picture work on Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts?

Mostly yes, because they all use the 9:16 shape. Check each platform's overlays, since their buttons sit in different places.

TikTok's page advises vertical 9:16 at 720p or above, and YouTube Help recommends 2160 x 3840 pixels at 9:16 for Shorts thumbnails, with a minimum height of 640 pixels. A 1080 x 1920 story picture shares that shape, so it can be reused as a Reels cover or a Shorts thumbnail without being redrawn. The YouTube figure is larger because YouTube also shows pictures on big screens, so design at 2160 x 3840 if YouTube matters to you and export a 1080 pixel copy for Instagram.

The overlays differ, and that is where reuse can go wrong. Each app places its captions, buttons and profile details in its own positions, so a design that is clear on Instagram can have its words covered on TikTok. Keeping text in the central area of the screen gives you the best chance that one picture works on all of them.

How do you turn a feed post into a story?

Place the feed picture on a 1080 x 1920 canvas and use the extra height for a short message. Do not just stretch the original to fit.

A portrait feed post at 1080 x 1350 leaves 570 pixels of height to fill on a story canvas, which is enough for a headline above and a short line such as an opening time or a web address below. A square post leaves even more. A hairdresser in Manchester, for example, could place this week's offer card in the middle of the story and add the booking address beneath it, keeping both away from the bottom edge where the message box sits.

Stretching a feed picture to 9:16 distorts faces and products, and enlarging it to fill the height crops off its sides. Both make a business look careless. Building the story on its own canvas takes a minute once the template exists and keeps every element where you put it.

Tools can save that minute. The AI Social Media Post Generator makes a story picture alongside each post, matched to your own photos and your website's, and you can type your own words on it. Check the story on your phone before sharing, as you would with any picture.

Which file type keeps a story sharp?

Use JPG for photos and PNG for designs with text, both at exactly 1080 x 1920. Meta's page gives no image file size limit for Stories.

Instagram usually compresses the stories it receives, so the aim is to give it a clean file at the right size rather than a huge one. A picture larger than 1080 pixels wide is scaled down, which can soften fine lettering, and a much smaller one is stretched, which blurs everything. Exporting at exactly the size Instagram keeps avoids both problems.

Lettering is where compression shows most. Large, bold text in strong colour contrast survives well, while thin fonts and small print can turn fuzzy. If a story looks soft after posting, export it again as PNG at 1080 x 1920 and compare the two on your phone.

Questions business owners ask about Instagram story sizes

What size is an Instagram story in pixels?

Design at 1080 x 1920 pixels. That is the 9:16 shape Meta recommends for Stories at the 1080 pixel width Instagram's help page gives as its upload limit.

Can I post a square picture as a story?

Yes, but it will not fill the screen. Place it on a 1080 x 1920 canvas and use the space above and below for a short message.

What is the smallest story picture Instagram will take?

Meta's page sets a minimum width of 600 pixels for Stories. Pictures that small will look soft on most phones, so start at 1080 pixels wide.

Do Instagram story sizes change?

They can, and the platforms do not always announce it. Check Meta's and Instagram's help pages before a campaign and post a test story to see it on a phone.

Make a 1080 x 1920 story template today

Build one vertical template with clear bands at the top and bottom. Use it for every story so text never lands under the app's controls.

Open your design app, create a 1080 x 1920 canvas, add your logo and brand colours, and mark the top and bottom bands where nothing important goes. Post one test story, look at it on your phone, and adjust the bands if your words touch the account name or the message box. From then on, every offer, tip or announcement you share as a story starts from that template, and you only need to change it when Instagram changes its layout.