The Instagram Cheat Sheet for Image Sizing & Dimensions
Instagram, one of the most popular photo and video sharing platforms today is yet another social media site that is regularly changing their image dimensions. Optimizing your Instagram page with eye-catching visual content is essential to achieving maximum brand exposure and building your fan base.
Let us help you create a stellar Instagram page by following our Instagram sizing & dimension guide below:
*Note: our infographic is mobile-based and does not take web into account.
Profile:
Your profile picture will display as 110 x 110 pixels in the mobile app. However, the profile picture will appear slightly larger on web so it is suggested you upload an image that is 180 x 180 pixels to maintain a high quality image in both settings.
Located adjacent to your profile picture are your username, page name, and biography.
Your username should be your brand name, consistent across all other social platforms. If your brand name is taken, then consider adding a tagline to your username such as “Going Social –Effective Social Media Marketing.” Your username will become your URL address so make sure that it’s short and easy to remember.
Note: You have a maximum of 30 characters for your username.
Tip: Try to coordinate your Instagram username with your Twitter handle.
Your page name will display below your username. If your username is already your brand name I suggest putting your tagline here: “Effective Social Media Marketing.”
You have 150 characters to describe who you are and what you do. This is your chance to create a great first impression so take your time with writing a memorable biography.
Your cover photo is a collage of your uploaded Instagram photos. This is a live photo stream of your shared photos, randomly selected by Instagram. It includes one large thumbnail measuring 410 x 410 pixels and six small thumbnails measuring 205 x 205 pixels.
The images and videos you upload to Instagram are displayed on your profile page as 161 x 161 pixels. When you click on these thumbnails (viewed with Lightbox photo-viewing app), the image will expand to 612 x 612 pixels. The maximum resolution you can upload on Instagram is 2,048 x 2,048 pixels, although it varies by device. For example, if a photo is taken with the Instagram Camera, it can reach up to the maximum resolution (2,048 x 2,048 pixels) on most Apple devices. However, if a photo is taken with a regular phone camera, they will be uploaded at a lower resolution of 612 x 612 pixels.
Photo Feed:
The dimensions of your profile picture will be scaled down to 40 x 40 pixels within your photo feed.
Your shared images will display at 512 x 512 pixels on your photo feed.
Again, the maximum file upload size is 2,048 x 2,048 pixels (varies by device used.)
When viewed in Lightbox, the maximum size is 612 x 612 pixels.
If you’re uploading a video to Instagram, it can be 3-15 seconds long. Instagram allows a clip size of 640 x 640 pixels.
All of your photos and videos you share will appear on your profile and within your feed. If you set your visibility to private, only your current approved followers will be able to see your content.
Now that your Instagram page is optimized to look its best, it’s time to start engaging with users and attract new followers. You can spend as little at 20 – 30 minutes a day on Instagram – liking, sharing, commenting, and uploading your own content (don’t forget to include hashtags!) and you’ll will begin to see results.