Instagram Post Size
1080 by 1080 for a square post — and the thing worth knowing before you crop, which is that the grid will crop it again.
Runs on your device — images are never uploadedDrop your images here
or click to browse — as many as you like
JPG · PNG · WebP · HEIC
Enlarging past the original cannot add detail that was never captured. The tool says so when it happens rather than quietly handing back something softer.
How it works
Three steps, no account, and the image never leaves your computer.
Drop the image in
JPG, PNG, WebP or an iPhone HEIC. Several at once is fine — they all come out the same size.
The size is already set to 1080 by 1080
Change it if you need something else. Cover crops to fill, Contain fits the whole picture and pads the rest.
Check the preview, then save
The crop is shown before anything is written, so what you get is what you saw.
What people resize to this
A photo for the grid
Square, so what people see on your profile is what you composed rather than a crop of it.
A design or a quote card
Made square from the start, with the text kept away from the edges.
A product shot
Centred and square, so the same crop works in the feed, the grid and the shop tab.
A batch for a series
Several at once to the same size, which is what makes a grid look deliberate.
Square for the grid, taller for the feed
1080 by 1080 pixels is the square post, and it is the safe default. Instagram also accepts 1080 by 1350 — a 4:5 portrait — and that shape takes up more of a phone screen as somebody scrolls, which is why so many accounts use it.
The catch is that your profile grid shows everything as a square. A 4:5 portrait is cropped to its middle there, so a design with the subject near the top or bottom looks fine in the feed and beheaded on your profile.
So: square if the grid matters to you, 4:5 if reach matters more, and keep the subject centred either way.
| Size | Ratio | File limit |
|---|---|---|
| 1080 × 1080 px | 1:1 | no practical limit |
Why 1080 and not larger
Instagram resizes everything to 1080 pixels wide on the way in. Uploading 2000 or 4000 does not give a sharper result; it gives the same 1080 after a compression pass you did not control. Sending exactly 1080 means the only resize is the one you did.
Text on a post
Keep it away from the edges. Feed layouts round the corners, the grid crops squares out of anything taller, and a caption bar sits under the image in some placements. A margin of about five per cent all round survives every one of those.
What gets lost turning a phone photo square
Phone photos are 4:3 or 3:4. Cropping either to a square removes a quarter of the frame, and by default the middle is what stays. The preview here shows exactly which quarter goes before you commit to it.
Cover or Contain, and what each throws away
Two ways to fit one shape into another, and the tool offers both.
Cover fills the frame completely and crops whatever does not fit. Nothing is distorted and nothing is padded; some of the picture is simply gone. This is what you want almost always.
Contain fits the whole image inside the frame and fills the leftover space with a colour you choose. Nothing is lost, but the picture is smaller and there are bars. Right when the whole frame matters — a poster, a diagram, a design you cannot cut.
Neither ever stretches. An image squashed to fit is the one mistake that cannot be undone by looking at it again later.
Nothing is uploaded
The resizing happens in your browser using your own processor, so the image never leaves your machine. That is why there is no file-size limit, no queue and no account, and why a batch of forty is limited by your computer rather than by somebody’s free tier.
Common questions
What size is an Instagram post?
1080 by 1080 for a square. Instagram also takes 1080 by 1350, a 4:5 portrait, which fills more of a phone screen — but your profile grid crops it back to a square.
Should I upload something bigger than 1080?
No. Instagram resizes everything to 1080 wide anyway, so a larger file just gets compressed on the way in by something other than you.
Why does my post look cropped on my profile?
Because the grid shows squares. Anything taller than square is cut to its middle there, so keep the subject centred rather than near the top or bottom.
Is my photo uploaded to make it square?
No. It is cropped and resized in your browser, and the preview shows the result before anything is saved.
More tools
Every one of them runs on your device. No uploads, no accounts.