Instagram Reel Size and Aspect Ratio
1080 × 1920 · 9:16
A Reel fills a phone screen held upright, so the frame is 1080 × 1920 and the ratio is 9:16. The part that catches people out is that this is not Instagram's only shape: the feed will not show anything taller than 4:5, so one account publishes video in three different ratios depending on where it lands. Below is the whole envelope — how long a Reel may run, what Instagram will accept as a file, and which parts of the frame its own interface sits on top of.
The full envelope
| Specification | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Frame size | 1080 × 1920 px | The frame that fills the Reels player edge to edge with nothing added and nothing cut. Instagram accepts other sizes and fits them in for you, which is the same decision made by somebody who cannot see your footage. |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 | For Reels and Stories. The feed maxes out at 4:5 and the grid shows a 1:1 crop of whatever you send, so 'the Instagram aspect ratio' is genuinely three answers. |
| Maximum length | 3 minutes in the Reels tab disputed | Raised from 90 seconds in January 2025. Longer uploads are accepted through some publishing routes, but Instagram has said it does not push Reels over three minutes to people who do not already follow you — so the cap that matters for reach is three minutes, not whatever the uploader allows. |
| Maximum file size | No single published figure disputed | Meta's advertising specifications quote 4 GB, guides commonly repeat 650 MB for a Reel under ten minutes, and the app itself enforces something that varies by client and connection. Nothing you export at 1080 × 1920 for a three-minute Reel comes close to any of them, which is why the disagreement rarely bites — but be sceptical of any page that states one number confidently. |
| Container | MP4 or MOV | MP4 is the safer of the two: it is what every editor exports by default and it avoids the occasional MOV that carries a codec Instagram will not decode. |
| Codec | H.264 video, AAC audio | H.264 rather than HEVC. A phone shooting in HEVC to save space produces a file Instagram may re-encode badly or refuse, and converting to H.264 before uploading is the fix. |
| Frame rate | 30 fps recommended | 24 and 60 both upload fine. What does not survive is a variable frame rate from a screen recorder — export at a constant rate before uploading, or expect the audio to drift out of sync partway through. |
| Safe area | Keep titles clear of the top 240 px and bottom 480 px | The caption, the audio pill, the profile row and the action buttons are drawn over the video rather than beside it. Anything that has to be read belongs in the middle band, which is also true of the Explore grid's square crop. |
Worth knowing
The feed and the Reels tab are different products
This is the single most common Instagram mistake and it costs picture rather than reach. The Reels tab is full-screen 9:16; the scrolling feed refuses to display anything taller than 4:5. Cross-post the same 1080 × 1920 file to both and the feed version arrives with its top and bottom removed by an automatic centre crop. If a video needs to work in both places, the safe move is exporting twice — the same source framed once for each — rather than hoping one file survives the trip.
Instagram re-encodes everything, so give it room
Nothing you upload is served to viewers as you exported it. Instagram transcodes on receipt, and a transcode of an already-soft file is softer still. That is the argument for sending a full 1080 × 1920 rather than a 720 × 1280 that looks fine on your laptop: the extra pixels cost nothing at upload and give the platform's encoder something to work from. It is not an argument for uploading 4K, which Instagram will simply scale down.
Three seconds is the floor
Reels below about three seconds are rejected outright by the composer, which surprises people trying to post a very short loop. The fix is duplicating the clip end-to-end until it clears the minimum, which also reads better in a feed that autoplays on repeat.
Instagram's three video shapes
| Placement | Frame | Ratio | Where it plays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels and Stories — this page | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | Reels, Stories and the Explore grid |
| Instagram feed | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 | A portrait post in the scrolling feed |
| Instagram square | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 | The profile grid and mixed placements |
One account, three aspect ratios. A 9:16 Reel cross-posted to the feed loses its top and bottom to the feed's own 4:5 maximum, which is the crop nobody chose — decide the destination before the frame.
The four surfaces side by side
| Surface | Frame | Ratio | Maximum length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reel — this page | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | 3 minutes in the Reels tab |
| TikTok video | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | 10 minutes recorded, 60 minutes uploaded |
| YouTube Shorts | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 to fill, 1:1 or taller to qualify | 3 minutes |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 | Still image |
Three of the four share one frame, which is why a page that stated only the pixel size would be interchangeable with its neighbours. What separates them is everything else — how long the platform lets a video run, what it will accept as a file, and what its player does to a shape it did not ask for.
Now make a file that fits
Reframe a clip to 1080 × 1920 for Reels, 1080 × 1350 for the portrait feed or 1080 × 1080 square — three placements that are not interchangeable, with the crop box under your control.
Also useful here: Trim video, Compress video — all of it runs on your own machine, with nothing uploaded.
Other platform specs
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct Instagram Reel size?
1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 aspect ratio. That is the frame that fills the Reels player without Instagram adding bars or cropping anything away. Larger frames are accepted and scaled down, and squarer ones are fitted into the vertical player, but only 1080 × 1920 arrives on screen as the picture you exported.
How long can an Instagram Reel be?
Three minutes in the Reels tab, raised from 90 seconds in January 2025. Some publishing routes accept longer files, but Instagram has indicated it does not recommend Reels over three minutes to people who do not already follow the account, so three minutes is the practical ceiling for anything meant to reach a new audience. The minimum is three seconds.
Why does my Reel look cropped in the feed?
Because the feed and the Reels tab do not accept the same shape. The feed's tallest supported ratio is 4:5 — 1080 × 1350 — while a Reel is 9:16 at 1080 × 1920. A Reel-shaped file appearing in the feed is centre-cropped to fit, which removes roughly a quarter of its height from the top and bottom. Exporting a separate 4:5 version is the only way to control what stays in shot.
What is the maximum file size for an Instagram Reel?
There is no single figure Meta publishes for the app. Its advertising specifications quote 4 GB, various guides repeat 650 MB, and the app enforces limits that differ by device and upload route. In practice a three-minute Reel exported at 1080 × 1920 lands far below all of these, so the ambiguity almost never matters — treat any page quoting one confident number with suspicion.
Should I upload a Reel in 4K?
No. Instagram serves Reels at 1080 × 1920 and will scale a 4K upload down to it, so the only effects are a longer upload and a larger file on your device. Export at 1080 × 1920 with a healthy bitrate instead — around 5 Mbps is comfortable — which gives the platform's own re-encode plenty to work with.