Why is it important to understand Instagram post and story dimensions? It is because Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms. And sharing posts and videos with different users across the globe is one of the most charming features of Instagram.
Posts and stories on Instagram help you share visual, creative, and new content easily across the globe. It feels surreal as you have so many new techniques and ways to post your posts and stories on Instagram. Also, you can decide how your photos look on your follower’s screen, and you’ve got the whole command of it.
Gone are the days when Instagram photos had the traditional 1:1 aspect of the conventional square one. Now you can manage the Instagram story dimensions and Instagram posts dimensions, and it is also one of the reasons why Instagram posts and story dimensions are important.
The portrait and landscape options have added a new touch to Instagram stories and posts. Especially IGTV, which was designed keeping in mind the vertical view. It’s all up to you how you want your content to look on screen. With the features available, you can easily design your posts as you like.
Wouldn’t it be much easier to manage your Instagram posts and stories if you plan and schedule them ahead of time?
Here is “How to Schedule Instagram Posts & Stories for Free: A Step-by-Step Guide”.
What Are Post and Story Dimensions?
The dimension of an image is the ratio of its width to length. And resolution is defined as the number of pixels per inch.
For more excellent resolution, a more significant number of pixels per inch are required. Thus, a high-resolution image has many pixels. Both ratio and resolution are collectively known as the dimensions of an image.
Along with Instagram, would you like to study about the image sizes for all your social media platforms?
Here is The Complete 2021 Guide to Social Media Image Sizes.
Instagram Dimensions For Photos
Instagram allowed photos with an aspect ratio of 1:1 only, and it was the reason that images like mountains and portraits needed to be cropped to a square size. But with the new features available now, you do not need to crop images, and instead, you can post images of landscape and portrait sizes.
Dimensions for Profile Photo
The dimensions of the Instagram profile photo are 320 x 320 pixels. If your image is not ideally sized, then it is automatically resized by Instagram. Instagram also adds a circular crop to your profile photo.
These dimensions are perfect for mobile devices. When Instagram changes the dimensions to fit in the said frame, it automatically disturbs your image quality. The distorted image seems non-professional and somewhat unwelcoming to your followers. It can be a reason for your followers to unfollow you to avoid any visual disturbance during their Instagram scrolling time. It is also one of the reasons why we stress so much on the importance of Instagram posts dimensions.
Thumbnail Photo Dimensions
The ideal Instagram thumbnail size is 161×161 pixels. It is often said that the first impression is the last, and it matters too. When someone visits your Instagram profile, a thumbnail is most probably the first thing they might see. Their first land on your thumbnail determines whether they would like to view your complete profile content or not.
Square Photo Dimensions
The ideal size of an Instagram square photo is 1080 x 1080 pixels. Square images are popular, although they are displayed in a grid form. The Instagram auto-crop feature automatically crops your snaps to fit in the required dimensions.
Moreover, the display of the profile grid makes it very easy to edit and modify. These excellent features of Instagram make it even more fun to share your content.
Instagram Landscape Photo Dimensions
The dimensions of Instagram landscape photos are 1080 x 566 pixels.
The landscape dimensions are used when you upload full-sized images, landscapes, or scenery snaps.
However, the aspect ratio of 1.91:1 is difficult to obtain. But, a snap that matches these dimensions appears perfectly without borders and looks fantastic with the landscape dimensions. This is because Instagram automatically adds borders to images that do not have the correct dimensions to make them fit.
Instagram Video Dimensions
Instagram provides its users with many different interactive options so they can interact with their followers globally. For example, one can use Instagram videos to engage with their audience.
According to studies, you can attract more audience with a graphical or video display than simple text. While posting videos on your Instagram profile, you can choose from different dimensions as well. Just like you do in pictures such as square, carousel, portrait, or landscape. Also, you have to keep in mind the optimal length of Instagram videos. This can help you to post the optimal size of Instagram videos along with the optimal dimensions.
Square and Carousel Video Dimensions
The dimensions of the square and carousel of Instagram videos are 1080 x 1080 pixels with a 1:1 aspect.
Portrait Video Dimensions
The portrait Instagram dimensions for videos are 1080 x 1350 pixels with 4:5 aspect.
Landscape Video Dimensions
The landscape video dimensions of Instagram are 1080 x 608 pixels with 16:9 aspect.
Instagram Story Dimensions
Instagram stories are a great success. More than 500 million Instagram users view stories daily. For attracting more audiences to your content, you may use Instagram stories because so many people love viewing stories.
You may use portrait or photo dimensions for Instagram stories. You can also use landscape dimensions in Instagram stories for the full-screen display.
Instagram Dimensions for Reels
Reels are the most recent feature for one of the biggest social media platforms. Instagram reels have come out as a competitor to the short video platform TikTok, which took generation Z by storm.
The dimensions for Instagram reels are the same as Instagram stories. The preview of the Instagram reels appears in 4:5 dimensions, and you can see captions at the bottom corner of the video.
Instagram Dimensions for IGTV
IGTV is also known as “YouTube for Instagram,.” It is a fantastic way to keep followers coming back to your profile. Additionally, IGTV has been extended by Instagram to allow landscape options to be added to IGTV.
Few ideal dimensions for various features of Instagram are:
Portrait IGTV
The portrait IGTV has dimensions of 1080 x 1920 pixels with a 9:16 aspect.
Landscape IGTV
The landscape IGTV has dimensions of 1920 x 1080 pixels with 16:9 pixels
IGTV Cover Photo
They have dimensions of 420 x 654 pixels and a 1:1.55 ratio aspect.
FAQ’s
What are the dimensions of a lengthy Instagram post?
When posting on Instagram, we do not consider the dimensions of graphic content as important. However, they are crucial to consider if you want to have a full aesthetic performance from your feed, stories, reels, or other content. The best and most advised dimensions for Instagram posts are:
- Square (1080 x 1080 pixels)
- Portrait (1080 x 1350 pixels)
- Landscape (1080 x 608 pixels)
What are the dimensions of Instagram stories?
The dimensions for Instagram stories are full screen with 1080×1920 pixels. You can use these dimensions for both images and videos, and you can also crop and adjust your images manually on the story side if you want to.
The time duration for stories with images is five seconds, whereas for videos, it is fifteen seconds.
How do you fit a full-size picture on Instagram?
If you are using the updated version of the Instagram app, you can see a format button on top of the camera icon when using the gallery from within the app. There you can topple, crop, and adjust your image between square and full-size images. Using this feature, you can also zoom in and zoom out to choose the best image size for your post.
How do you choose the length of an Instagram story?
Recently, Instagram has lifted its 15-second time limit from the story feature in a new update. Now you only have to go to the story option. Press and hold the record button and capture the event you want to share with others without worrying about the time limit.
Otherwise, you can always upload the longer video in the form of multiple successive stories. Many individuals, influencers, and businesses prefer to post stories on the platform, and they interact with their audience, announce new sales, put timers on new launches, and do similar activities.
Stories are best for short-term regular interactions as they disappear after 24 hours unless you decide to save them in the story section of your Instagram profile.
Conclusion
We often overlook the content size of Instagram, and people assume that it is just another practice having no significant impact on the results you gain from posting. On the contrary, Instagram posts and story dimensions are critical and significant in your social media strategies.
Posting an image with the right size stands you in a better position. It means you have lowered the chances of ending up with pixelated, low quality, distorted, or other sub-particles on your feed. It also ensures that you don’t appear irresponsible in making your followers’ feed a visual display. Finally, your social media content with pristine images boosts your online reputation, and it is especially critical on Instagram, where the image is everything.
A well-managed image or post is a piece of art and a high-quality post formatted to perfection with accurate crop and display size. A post or image like this can attract increased followers from your paid Instagram ad campaigns.
Hence, paying attention to mere Instagram posts dimensions and Instagram story dimensions can help you in many ways. It can increase your online presence, develop a solid loyal and large follower base.
Furthermore, a strong online reputation in digital businesses can be beneficial for you. As it can help you gain more leads, providing you with better chances to increase your profitability.
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