- Shoot and export Reels and Stories at 1080 × 1920 (9:16).
- Use 4:5 portrait for feed videos and pick one ratio per carousel.
- MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the safest file.
- Keep faces and text in the middle of the frame, away from the buttons.
Upload a video that is the wrong shape and Instagram will crop it, squash it or add ugly bars. Upload the right shape and it simply looks sharp. This page is the short, practical version of the rules: what size to use, which file type is safest and how long each kind of video can run.
The quick cheat sheet
| Type | Best size | Aspect ratio | Typical length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reels | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 (vertical) | Up to about 3 minutes |
| Stories | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 (vertical) | Up to 60 seconds per clip |
| Feed video, portrait | 1080 × 1350 px | 4:5 | Short and long clips both work |
| Feed video, square | 1080 × 1080 px | 1:1 | Short and long clips both work |
| Feed video, landscape | 1080 × 566 px | 1.91:1 | Short and long clips both work |
| Carousel | 1080 × 1350 px | 4:5 (or 1:1) | Up to 20 photos or videos |
Reels: go vertical and fill the screen
Reels are made for phones held upright, so shoot and export them at 1080 × 1920. A horizontal video will still play, but it sits in the middle of the screen with large empty areas above and below, and viewers tend to scroll past it.
Leave a little breathing room at the top and bottom. The caption, the account name and the buttons on the right all sit on top of your video, so text placed right at the edges can be covered. Treat the middle two thirds of the frame as the safe area.
Stories: same shape, shorter clips
Stories use the same 9:16 frame as Reels. Longer videos are split into segments of about a minute, so a two-minute clip becomes two or three Story frames. If you want a clean cut, trim your video yourself and upload each part separately.
Feed videos: portrait beats landscape
On the main feed, 4:5 portrait takes up the most room on a phone screen, which gives your video more attention than a square or a wide frame. Landscape works, but it looks small. If you already have a wide video, consider a vertical version for Instagram rather than accepting the thin strip.
Carousels: keep every slide the same shape
The first slide decides the shape of the whole carousel. Mix a portrait photo with a square one and Instagram will crop the others to match. Pick one ratio, usually 4:5, and crop every slide to it before you upload.
File type, codec and frame rate
- File type: MP4 is the safest. MOV also works, especially from iPhones, but MP4 gives fewer surprises.
- Video codec: H.264 is the most compatible choice. Newer codecs such as HEVC (H.265) are fine on a modern phone, but they can cause trouble elsewhere. We explain the difference in our guide to video formats.
- Audio: AAC is the standard and the one to pick.
- Frame rate: 24 to 30 frames per second is a safe, smooth choice for almost everything.
Why your upload still looks soft
Even a perfect file is compressed again when Instagram processes it. That is normal, and it is why a downloaded copy is never quite as crisp as the file on your camera. You can reduce the damage: export at 1080 pixels wide, avoid heavy filters and do not upload a video that was already compressed by a chat app. Our article on why videos look blurry goes deeper.
Common mistakes that hurt quality
- Uploading a horizontal video as a Reel. It plays, but it floats in a sea of empty space. Rotate your phone or recrop the video to 9:16 before you export.
- Filming vertically but exporting horizontally. Some editing programs default to a 16:9 project. Check the project settings before you start cutting.
- Stretching a small video to fill the frame. Pulling a 720-pixel clip up to 1080 does not add detail. It only makes the picture soft.
- Burning in tiny text. Small captions are hard to read on a phone and can vanish under Instagram's own buttons.
- Using a screen recording as your source. It has already been compressed once, and it may include notification banners.
- Ignoring the audio. A sharp video with clipped or muffled sound feels cheap. Check the sound on earphones, not just the speaker.
Safe zones: where to put faces and text
Instagram draws interface elements on top of your video. The username and caption sit near the bottom, the like, comment and share buttons run down the right edge, and the top carries the camera and menu icons. A good habit is to keep important content away from the outer edges: roughly the top tenth, the bottom fifth and the far right of the frame.
The profile grid shows a different crop from the full-screen view, so a face placed in the middle of the frame survives both. Before you post, look at your video in the preview and imagine each button drawn on top of it. If something important is covered, move it.
Resizing a video you already have
You do not need professional software to change the shape of a clip. There are three easy routes:
- Crop in your phone's editor. Both iPhone and most Android galleries let you pick a 9:16 or 4:5 crop and drag the frame to the part you want.
- Use a free desktop editor. Set the project size to 1080 × 1920, drop your clip in and scale it until it fills the frame.
- Add a background instead of cropping. If the whole picture must stay visible, place the clip in the centre and fill the empty space with a blurred copy or a plain colour.
How to check the size of any video file
Curious what a clip really is? On Windows, right-click the file, choose Properties and open the Details tab. On a Mac, select the file and press Command and I. In the free VLC player, open Tools and choose Media Information. You will see the width, height, frame rate and codec. It is a handy way to check your own export before you upload, or to see how big a saved Reel really is.
Covers and thumbnails
Your cover image is the first thing people see on your profile. Choose a frame that is sharp, well lit and readable at a very small size. Keep the subject in the centre so it still looks right when Instagram crops the grid thumbnail. If you add text to a cover, make it large and short, three or four words at most.
A short checklist before you post
- Is the video vertical (9:16) for a Reel or Story?
- Is the width 1080 pixels?
- Is it an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio?
- Are the important parts in the middle of the frame?
- Did you watch it once on a phone before posting?
Want to see how an existing Reel was made? You can save a public one with our Reels downloader and check its dimensions in any video player.
