How to resize a photo for Instagram
- Click Select images and choose one or more photos.
- The size is preset to 1080×1080 (square). Change it to 1080×1350 for portrait posts or 1080×1920 for Stories and Reels.
- Keep Crop to fill selected so the photo fills the frame without being stretched; it is cropped from the center.
- Click Resize and download.
Instagram image sizes
- Square post: 1080×1080 (1:1)
- Portrait post: 1080×1350 (4:5). Takes up the most space in the feed and gets more attention.
- Landscape post: 1080×566 (1.91:1)
- Stories and Reels: 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Profile picture: displayed at 110×110, upload at least 320×320.
Crop to fill vs. stretch
Phone photos are usually 4:3 or 16:9, which doesn’t match Instagram’s square or 4:5 frames. Crop to fill scales the photo until it covers the whole frame and trims the edges, so people and objects keep their natural shape. Stretch forces the photo into the frame and distorts it, which is rarely what you want. If the subject isn’t in the center, crop manually first with the Image Cropper using the 1:1 or 4:5 ratio.
Carousels
All images in a carousel use the aspect ratio of the first one. Add all your carousel photos here at once and resize them to the same size so none are cropped unexpectedly. For YouTube, see the YouTube Thumbnail Resizer.
Why 1080 pixels wide?
Instagram displays images at a width of 1080 pixels at most. Uploading anything wider is scaled down by Instagram, often with stronger compression, which can make photos look softer than you expect. Uploading narrower than 1080 pixels gets enlarged and loses sharpness. Resizing to exactly 1080 pixels wide yourself gives you control over how the photo looks in the feed.
Stories and Reels safe zones
For 1080×1920 Stories and Reels, keep important text and faces away from the top 250 and bottom 250 pixels or so, where Instagram shows the profile name, buttons and captions. Center the main subject, and use the Image Cropper first if your photo’s subject sits near an edge, so it doesn’t get cut off by Crop to fill.
Other platforms
The same approach works for other social networks: Facebook and LinkedIn feed images look good at 1200×630 or 1080×1080, X (Twitter) uses 1600×900 for 16:9 images, and Pinterest favors 1000×1500 (2:3). Type the size into the width and height fields, keep Crop to fill selected, and resize. For video thumbnails, see the YouTube Thumbnail Resizer.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best image size for Instagram?
1080 pixels wide. Use 1080×1080 for square posts, 1080×1350 for portrait posts (4:5) and 1080×1920 for Stories and Reels (9:16).
Why does Instagram crop my photos?
Feed posts must have an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 (landscape) and 4:5 (portrait). Images outside that range are cropped automatically. Resizing here with Crop to fill lets you control the result.
Will resizing reduce quality on Instagram?
Uploading at exactly 1080 pixels wide avoids Instagram resizing the photo again, which usually gives the sharpest result.