Instagram story size and safe area
A story fills the phone screen at 9:16. Make it 1080 × 1920 pixels, the size in Instagram’s own sizes guide for creators. A reel uses the same frame, but Instagram puts its buttons in other places: see Instagram reel size.
Instagram draws over the top and the bottom of every story: the progress bar, your name and the close button above, the reply bar and buttons below. The same guide marks a safe area of 1080 × 1610 in the middle, which leaves 155 pixels at the top and the bottom for those bars. Keep text, faces and stickers inside it.
You’ll find bigger margins on other pages, like 14% at the top and 35% at the bottom. That’s Meta’s rule for story ads, which carry a call-to-action button. For an ordinary story, Instagram’s own number is the one to use.
To try a real frame, drop it into the free safe zone checker. It draws Instagram’s story interface over your image and names any line of text that’s covered.
How long an Instagram story can be
A video of up to 60 seconds plays as one story. A longer video is broken up into several clips, each its own story. On an iPhone you can trim it before you share it; Instagram’s help center says the video trimmer is only on iOS for now.
Instagram doesn’t say how long each of those clips is, or how long a photo stays on screen.
A story stays up for 24 hours. To keep it on your profile after that, add it to a highlight. Stories are also saved to your stories archive while it’s turned on.
Photos and videos in other shapes
Anything that isn’t 9:16 leaves part of the screen to fill. How much of it each shape covers:
| Shape | Ratio | Pixels | Screen it fills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Story | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | 100% |
| Tall portrait | 3:4 | 1080 × 1440 | 75% |
| Portrait | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 | 70% |
| Square | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | 56% |
| Landscape | 16:9 | 1920 × 1080 | 32% |
You can crop it to 9:16 or fit the whole picture on a background. Cropping a 3:4 phone photo keeps an 810 × 1440 slice of it, three quarters of its width. Fitting keeps everything and suits screenshots and slides, where cutting the edges would cut words. The free resizer does both in your browser, with the photo never uploaded.
Instagram highlight cover size
Instagram doesn’t publish one. When you make a highlight, you choose a cover photo, and your profile shows it as a small circle cut from the middle. Any square image works: keep the icon or face in the center.
Export settings and file size
Export at 1080 × 1920: photos as JPG, videos as MP4 or MOV with H.264 or HEVC video and AAC audio, which is what Instagram’s API asks for. Instagram doesn’t publish a file size limit for the app. Scheduling tools, which post through the API, can send a photo of up to 8 MB and a video of up to 100 MB and 60 seconds.
Then turn on Upload at highest quality: your profile, the menu at the top right, then Media quality.
Plan stories with the rest of your content
HandlePilot’s Content Factory keeps your ideas, scripts and posts on one board and calendar, on the free plan.