Guide · InstagramInstagram Story size (2026).1080 × 1920 at 9:16, and where the app covers it.
The Instagram Story size is 1080 × 1920 pixels, a vertical 9:16 frame, the resolution Meta recommends. Keep text and faces out of the top 14% and the bottom 35%, where the app draws your name, the reply bar and the reactions: on a 1080 × 1920 Story, 269 pixels at the top and 672 at the bottom.
Updated September 2026 · Sources: Meta Business Help, Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Help, About Instagram
| Format | Size in pixels | Ratio | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| StoryPhoto or video, full screen | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | Meta's recommended size. At least 600 × 1067 |
| Story, high resolutionWhat Meta's Ads Guide recommends | 1440 × 2560 | 9:16 | Ads: JPG or PNG up to 30 MB, video up to 4 GB |
| Story ad with a buttonThe call-to-action sticker sits at the bottom | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | Keep the top 14% and bottom 20% clear |
| 4:5 photo in a StoryA feed photo shared as is | 1080 × 1350 inside 1080 × 1920 | 4:5 | Leaves 570 px of the frame to fill |
| Highlight coverRound, under your bio | No official size | 1:1 | Picked from a Story and cropped to a circle |
Resize a photo for your Story.See what the app covers before you post.
Drag the image to reframe it, or drop your own here
Format
JPG. Your image never leaves your browser.
Instagram Story safe zones, in pixelsTwo rules from Meta.
Instagram draws over the top and bottom of every Story: the progress bars, your name and the close button at the top, the reply field and the reactions at the bottom. Meta gives two rules for what to keep clear, both written for ads and the best guidance there is for any Story:
| Rule | Keep clear | On 1080 × 1920 | On 1440 × 2560 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stories and Reels | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% each side | 269 px, 672 px, 65 px | 358 px, 896 px, 86 px |
| Stories ads with a button | 14% top, 20% bottom | 269 px, 384 px | 358 px, 512 px |
The first rule leaves a safe area of about 950 × 979 pixels in the upper middle of the frame. Put your headline, a face or a product there, and the second rule takes care of itself. The safe zone checker compares Stories with TikTok, Reels and Shorts on your own frame. The 250 and 340 pixels quoted in many guides match neither of Meta's current rules.
Phones taller than 9:16 add one more reason to keep the edges clear: for ads, Meta says it may zoom the Story to fill the screen, cutting what sits outside the safe zone, or show it at 9:16 on a black background.
1080 × 1920 or 1440 × 2560?
Both are Meta's numbers, from two pages. The Stories design page recommends 1080 × 1920, with a minimum of 600 × 1067; the Ads Guide now recommends 1440 × 2560 for image and video ads. For an everyday Story, 1080 × 1920 is enough, and the lighter file uploads faster. Export at 1440 × 2560 for ads, or when your source is large and sharp.
Photos that aren't 9:16
A Story is always a 9:16 frame. Anything shorter leaves part of it empty, and Instagram doesn't document how it fills the gap. At 1080 pixels wide, a 4:5 photo leaves 570 pixels of height to fill, a square photo 840, and a 16:9 photo about 1,312. Three ways to use that space on purpose:
- Crop to 9:16 firstThe resizer above crops any photo to 1080 × 1920, with the safe zones on. The whole screen is yours.
- Fill the background yourselfOpen the Draw tool, pick a colour and tap and hold: the background fills with it. The eyedropper takes a colour from the photo.
- Use LayoutIt splits one Story into a grid of up to 6 photos, which suits square and landscape shots.
Stories ads are stricter about it: they accept any feed ratio from 1.91:1 to 4:5, but Meta may crop them automatically to fill the vertical screen, and recommends 9:16.
How long can an Instagram Story be?
A video up to 60 seconds plays as one Story. Longer videos are split automatically into back-to-back clips, and on an iPhone a trimmer lets you cut them first. There is no daily limit on the number of Stories.
Instagram doesn't say how long a photo stays on screen in a regular Story. For ads, Meta says images show for 5 seconds by default. Scheduling tools that post through Instagram's API have their own limits: videos from 3 to 60 seconds and up to 100 MB, photos as JPEG up to 8 MB.
How long do Instagram Stories last?
24 hours. After that, Instagram saves them to your Stories Archive, which only you can see. To keep a Story on your profile, add it to a Highlight: highlights sit under your bio and stay until you remove them. Stories shared to Close Friends are only shown to that list.
BreakreachSchedule Stories at the right size. Breakreach publishes photo and video Stories to Instagram at the time you pick. Stickers and links can't be added through Instagram's API, so add those in the app.
Schedule a Story4 queue slotsMorning Light, in portrait11:00 AM
Roastery1:00 PM
Pour-over12:00 PMInstagram highlight cover size
Highlight covers are round, under your bio, and Instagram publishes no size for them. You pick the cover with Edit cover when you create a highlight, and Instagram shows it as a circle. Design it as a Story at 1080 × 1920 with the icon in the middle, or as a square: the resizer's Highlight cover format shows the circle crop. Only the middle of the image survives, so keep icons simple and centred.
Link stickers, text and where to put them
Every account can add a Link sticker since October 27, 2021, except new accounts and accounts that repeatedly break the Community Guidelines. Open the sticker tool, tap Link, paste the address and place the sticker. Resize text and stickers with two fingers, and keep them inside the safe area: a link sticker placed too low can end up under the reply bar.
Instagram Story ad specs
Why your Story looks blurry
- The file isn't 1080 pixels wideA smaller image is stretched to the screen; a much larger one is re-encoded down by Instagram. Export at 1080 × 1920.
- It was cropped from a small part of a photoZooming into a photo in the Story editor enlarges the pixels you kept. Crop from a large original instead.
- The upload was reducedInstagram has a setting to always upload at the highest quality, useful on a slow connection.
Posting Stories from a computer or a scheduler
Stories can be posted from instagram.com on a computer, with basic edits; some stickers stay mobile-only. Instagram also lets eligible accounts schedule a Story from the Stories camera. Scheduling tools go through Instagram's API, which publishes photo and video Stories but no stickers, such as links, polls or locations.
Sizes, answered.
Short answers about image and video sizes on Instagram.
1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical frame. Meta's Ads Guide recommends 1440 × 2560 for ads; the minimum is 600 × 1067.
9:16. Anything shorter, like a 4:5 feed photo, leaves part of the frame empty.
It is 9:16, the vertical version: 1080 pixels wide and 1920 tall. A 16:9 landscape photo fills only about a third of the frame.
9:16. 3:4 is the tallest ratio for feed photos and the shape of the profile grid tiles.
Up to 60 seconds per clip. Longer videos are split automatically into several Stories, and there is no daily limit.
24 hours. Then they move to your private Stories Archive, unless you add them to a Highlight on your profile.
Keep the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side clear: 269, 672 and 65 pixels on a 1080 × 1920 Story. For ads with a call-to-action sticker, Meta also gives 14% top and 20% bottom.
Instagram publishes no size. The cover is picked from a Story and cropped to a circle, so design it as a Story or a square with the icon in the middle.
A Story has no physical size, only pixels. For print, 1080 × 1920 at 300 dpi is 3.6 × 6.4 inches, or 9.1 × 16.3 cm.
Yes. Instagram lets eligible accounts schedule from the Stories camera, and scheduling tools like Breakreach publish photo and video Stories through Instagram's API, without stickers.
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