Instagram Carousel Dimensions 2026: Every Size You Need

Standard Instagram Carousel Dimensions

Instagram supports three carousel formats. Each format covers a different use case — knowing which to choose before you start designing saves you a full redesign later.

Format	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio	Max File Size	Feed Display
Square	1080x1080px	1:1	30MB	Square crop in feed
Portrait	1080x1350px	4:5	30MB	Tallest feed presence
Landscape	1080x566px	1.91:1	30MB	Wide, short crop

4:5 Portrait Format

Portrait at 1080x1350px is the best-performing carousel format for most creators. It is not a close race.

Portrait format works best for:

• Educational carousels — more vertical space means more room for text without crowding
• Step-by-step guides — each step gets a full panel without feeling compressed
• Personal branding content — full-frame portrait photos look strong in this ratio
• Mobile-first content — fills a phone screen naturally, matching how people hold their devices

The only reason to avoid 4:5 is if your source content is inherently wide — landscape photography, screenshots of desktop interfaces, or charts that are wider than they are tall.

File Requirements

Correct dimensions matter, but file requirements determine whether Instagram accepts your upload and how sharp it looks after processing.

Requirement	Spec	Notes
File format	JPEG, PNG	JPEG preferred for photos; PNG for graphics with text
Max file size	30MB per slide	Instagram recompresses files over ~5MB — export under 5MB to preserve quality
Color profile	sRGB	Do not export in CMYK or P3 — colors will shift after upload
Resolution	72 DPI minimum	72-96 DPI is standard; higher DPI does not improve on-screen quality
Width	320px minimum, 1080px recommended	Instagram upscales anything under 1080px, which degrades quality
Slide count	2 minimum, 20 maximum	All slides must share the same aspect ratio

How Instagram Crops Mixed Aspect Ratios

If you upload slides with different aspect ratios, Instagram does not reject the upload — it crops every slide to match the first slide's ratio. This means:

• If your first slide is 4:5, every subsequent slide is cropped center-vertically to 4:5
• If your first slide is 1:1, wider slides lose content on both left and right sides
• Content near the edges of non-matching slides — headlines, logos, CTAs — will be cut off

Resolution and Export Quality

Instagram compresses every image it receives. You cannot prevent this, but you can minimise the visible quality loss by exporting correctly.

For JPEG exports, save at 80-90% quality. Higher quality settings produce larger files that Instagram will compress anyway. Exporting at 80% yourself gives you control over which compression artifacts appear, rather than letting Instagram decide.

For PNG exports, use PNG-24 for slides with gradients or photos. PNG-8 is acceptable for flat graphics with limited colors. Keep PNG files under 5MB by reducing the canvas to 1080px wide — exporting at 2x or 3x resolution provides no visible benefit after Instagram's compression.

Always export in sRGB color space. Instagram converts non-sRGB files, which shifts colors unpredictably. If your design tool uses a wide-gamut or P3 profile, add a color profile conversion step in your export settings.

Common Mistakes

These are the dimension errors that appear most often in Instagram carousels:

• Designing at 1920x1080px then uploading direct: Instagram scales this down and applies its own crop. Design at 1080px wide from the start.
• Mixing portrait and landscape slides in one carousel: All slides will be cropped to match the first. Build a separate post for each format.
• Exporting as CMYK for print: Colors shift dramatically after Instagram's sRGB conversion. Always export in sRGB.
• Placing key content too close to edges: Instagram applies a 3-5% margin crop on some devices. Keep all text and logos at least 60px from any edge on a 1080px canvas.
• Using a 9:16 ratio expecting stories format: 9:16 (1080x1920px) is not a supported carousel format. Instagram will crop it to 4:5, removing the top and bottom of your design.

For a full picture on creating high-performing Instagram carousels, read our guides on Instagram carousel size and best time to post Instagram carousels. If you need a tool that exports at the correct Instagram dimensions automatically, Carouselli's Instagram carousel maker handles sizing and export in one step.