Content

The Instagram Size Guide for 2025/2026

Daniel
|June 2, 2025
Instagram has changed more in the last year than it has in a long time. The app, content and format recommendations have all changed. Here you can find out which Instagram sizes and dimensions are crucial, from feeds to stories to ads.
Quick Tips 🚀
  • Create content templates for posts, stories, reels
  • Update your templates to the 4:5 format
  • Ensure consistent content in the feed

Table of Contents

Why the right Instagram sizes are important

The impact of your content has value for your target groups. Content should not only offer added value, but also appear professional. The dimensions and image sizes on Instagram are particularly relevant for this.

Hinzu kommt, dass Algorithmen die richtigen Instagram-Formate bevorzugen. Du solltest also vermeiden, dass Texte oder Fotos abgeschnitten sind. Ein einheitlicher Look stärkt deine digitale Präsenz und wenn Medien korrekt zugeschnitten sind, verhelfen sie dir schließlich zu mehr Reichweite und Engagement.

These Instagram formats are currently available

Instagram has been developing at an increasingly rapid pace recently. To give you a good overview of the current Instagram post sizes, we have compiled a summary.

We take into account posts, stories, carousels and reels that you can play either in the feed or in the Reels tab.
The Instagram Size Guide 2025/2026 on current Instagram formats.

Formatting Instagram posts correctly

The most important component on Instagram is usually the feed. Almost all posts end up there and, ideally, should attract interested parties. Square photos are the classic image size (1080 x 1080 px, 1:1). However, the classic is not automatically a contemporary recommendation.

For better use of the screen and thus increased visibility, we recommend portrait format (1080 x 1350 px, 4:5). With this format, the content logically takes up more space in the feed and works best to boost reach and engagement.

Instagram image sizes:

  • Square: 1080 x 1080 px (1:1)
  • Portrait: 1080 x 1350 px (4:5)
  • Landscape: 1080 x 608 px (1,91:1)

Making the most of Instagram Stories

Stories are an important format for increasing or maintaining reach. Frequency is also important here, because an active story can work wonders.

The perfect story format measures 1080 x 1920 px (9:16) and thus takes up the entire available screen space. It is important that text and stickers are not placed too close to the edge in order to observe the so-called safe zone and ensure a good appearance on all devices.
Instagram Story dimensions and their safe zones at a glance.

Making the most of Instagram Reels

Reels continue to be considered the most important factor for reach on Instagram, especially for reaching non-followers. Although content, hooks and calls to action are also important, Reels will not be well received without the right format.

The perfect reel format has dimensions of 1080 x 1920 px (9:16), is a maximum of 90 seconds long and can even include a thumbnail. This is a preview image that allows for a consistent feed design despite varying video content. Here, too, uploading in 9:16 format is recommended, but the safe zones for display in the 4:5 feed should be observed.
Instagram Reel dimensions including thumbnail and safe zones.

This is important for your profile picture and highlights

Instagram is often referred to as a digital business card. There is certainly some truth to that. In addition to your Instagram bio, your profile picture and story highlights cover are just as important.

The profile picture is displayed in 320 x 320 px in a circle. However, it is important to use a high resolution and to center the logo as much as possible.

The cover for the highlights is displayed in exactly the same way. Here, it makes sense to opt for a minimalist design that matches the corporate design.

What to keep in mind with Instagram ads

Instagram ads can also be placed as feed ads, story ads, carousel ads or video ads. The same dimensions as for feed posts are recommended here so that the ads can be used to their full potential.

Extra tip: Test different design variants in so-called A/B tests to find out which variants are the most promising.

Social media managers should follow these tips

While it is important to know the current Instagram dimensions, there are also tips and tools that make everyday life much easier in this regard.

On the one hand, it is advisable to create social media templates in Canva, Photoshop or similar programs. This allows you to enforce consistent formats, regardless of the designs and assets you use.

In addition, Deepnetic Social can check whether image sizes are valid across platforms. When uploading media, users can even choose from format templates. This makes it easier to check for regular updates because the format templates are constantly maintained by the tool.
Schedule contentUse Deepnetic Social to schedule your content across platforms and be sure in advance that the content will look good in the feed.
Summary
  • Create content templates for posts, stories, reels
  • Update your templates to the 4:5 format
  • Ensure consistent content in the feed
Related articlesThe TikTok Size Guide for 2025/2026