Instagram Reel size, dimensions and aspect ratio
Instagram takes a reel of any shape from 1.91:1 to 9:16, at least 720 pixels and 30 frames a second, by its own help page, read on 3 November 2026. It prints no pixel size: a vertical 9:16 video at 1080 x 1920 is inside every size and shape Instagram publishes for reel and story videos. Drop your video to see its size and which Instagram, YouTube Shorts and TikTok formats take it; it opens on this device and is never uploaded.
It reads the width, height and length the file reports. It does not read the frame rate or the bitrate.
- Size
- Shape
- Length
- File
| Format | Shape and size | Length | Your video |
|---|
Make it Reel-shaped, with captions
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Instagram's sizes, from its own pages
Every figure below is from a page of Instagram's or Meta's, read on 3 November 2026 and linked. Lengths are on video length limits, and what the buttons cover on the safe zone checker.
| What | Instagram's figure | What its own page says | Source, read 3 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel aspect ratio | 1.91:1 to 9:16 | You can upload a reel with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16. | Instagram Help Center: Reel size and aspect ratios read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Reel resolution and frame rate | at least 720 pixels, 30 frames a second | Reels should have a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS and a minimum resolution of 720 pixels. | Instagram Help Center: Reel size and aspect ratios read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Reel cover photo | 420 x 654 pixels (1:1.55) | The recommended size for cover photos is 420 by 654 pixels; you can't edit the cover photo after you've uploaded it. | Instagram Help Center: Reel size and aspect ratios read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Upload quality | Upload at highest quality | A setting under your profile's Menu, then Media quality. A reel of higher quality may take longer to upload. | Instagram Help Center: Reel size and aspect ratios read 3 Nov 2026 |
| A video posted to the feed | shared as a reel | On 21 July 2022 Instagram announced that new video posts shorter than 15 minutes will be shared as reels, so the reel range above applies. | About Instagram: New ways to collaborate and create with Reels, 21 July 2022 read 3 Nov 2026 |
| A feed photo | 1.91:1 to 3:4, 320 to 1080 pixels wide | A photo between 320 and 1080 pixels wide keeps its resolution if its aspect ratio is between 1.91:1 and 3:4; another ratio is cropped to fit, and a wider photo is sized down to 1080. | Instagram Help Center: Image resolution of photos you share on Instagram read 3 Nov 2026 |
| A story, to boost it | 9:16, or 4:5 to 1.91:1 | You may be unable to boost a story if its aspect ratio is not 9:16 or between 4:5 and 1.91:1. | Instagram Help Center: Troubleshoot boosting Instagram Stories read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Reels and stories posted by an app | MOV or MP4, 9:16 recommended | MOV or MP4; H264 or HEVC video; AAC sound; 23 to 60 frames a second; at most 1920 pixels across; we recommend 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank space. | Meta for Developers: Instagram API, IG User Media read 3 Nov 2026 |
Instagram changes these. We read every page again each month and change the dates together; the next check is by 3 December 2026.
What Instagram does not print
A pixel size for a reel: Instagram's help gives a range, not a size. 1080 x 1920 is the 9:16 shape at 1080 pixels wide: at least the 720 pixels Instagram asks for, within the 1920 pixels across that Meta's page for apps allows, and the shape that page recommends. It is the size Burncaps makes for 9:16.
A separate size for a feed video: since July 2022 a video posted to the feed is shared as a reel, so the reel range applies. Portrait 4:5 (1080 x 1350) and square 1:1 (1080 x 1080) are both inside it. Instagram's pages do not say how the feed or your profile grid crops each shape, so we do not either.
How a reel of another shape is shown: Meta's page for apps recommends 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank space, which tells you a reel of another shape gets one or the other in the full-screen view. Instagram's help does not say which.
Instagram Story size
Instagram's help gives no pixel size for an ordinary story. Its only shape rule for stories is the one for boosting: 9:16, or anywhere from 4:5 to 1.91:1. Meta's page for apps that post stories recommends 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank space, at most 1920 pixels across.
So make a story 9:16: it is the one shape both rules name. 1080 x 1920 is 9:16 at 1080 pixels wide, the same file as a reel.
Length: Instagram says a story video up to 60 seconds long appears as one clip, and a longer one is broken up into several clips. That and every other limit is on video length limits.
The edges: Instagram draws your name, the caption and its buttons over parts of a reel. Drop your video on the safe zone checker to see what Reels covers, from Meta's own figures.
Make a video Reel-sized in Burncaps
Burncaps changes a video's shape in your browser and burns word-by-word captions in, or leaves them out if you choose No captions. The video never leaves your device.
| Shape in Burncaps | Size on a computer | For Instagram |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | Reels and stories |
| Portrait 4:5 | 1080 x 1350 | The feed, inside the reel range |
| Square 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | The feed, inside the reel range |
A whole video, up to ten minutes and 1.2 GB: open More, then Shape, and pick one of the three. Choose how the frame is set: Follow me (it follows your face), Fixed (you drag it into place) or Fit everything (the whole picture over a blurred copy of itself). Every second is kept. A phone may write a smaller size to fit its memory, and a video that is already the shape you pick keeps its own frame. The steps, with pictures of each framing, are on horizontal to vertical video.
A longer recording, up to three hours: Burncaps cuts it into clips of up to 3 minutes each, 9:16 by default, or 4:5 or 1:1 under Frame, with ums cut and long pauses shortened. Keep a clip at 3:00 or under: Instagram says reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences.
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
The same video on YouTube Shorts and TikTok
YouTube Shorts: square or vertical, up to three minutes, uploaded at up to 1080p, so a 9:16 Reel is also a Short. The figures are on YouTube Shorts size.
TikTok: vertical or landscape, 720p or higher when you upload in TikTok Studio on a computer, and 9:16 recommended for its adverts. The figures are on TikTok video size.
Questions, answered plainly
What size and aspect ratio should an Instagram Reel be?
Instagram's help says you can upload a reel with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, at a minimum of 720 pixels and 30 frames a second. It prints no pixel size. A vertical 9:16 video at 1080 x 1920 is inside all of that, and Meta's page for apps that post reels recommends 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank space. Read on 3 November 2026.
What resolution should an Instagram Reel be?
At least 720 pixels and 30 frames a second, by Instagram's help page on reel size. Instagram also has a setting, Upload at highest quality, under Media quality in your profile's menu; it says a reel of higher quality may take longer to upload.
What size is an Instagram feed video?
Instagram announced on 21 July 2022 that new video posts shorter than 15 minutes are shared as reels, so a feed video follows the reel range of 1.91:1 to 9:16. Portrait 4:5 (1080 x 1350) and square 1:1 (1080 x 1080) are both inside it. For photos, Instagram keeps the resolution between 1.91:1 and 3:4, up to 1080 pixels wide.
What size is an Instagram Story?
Instagram's help gives no pixel size for an ordinary story. Its one shape rule is for boosting: a story whose aspect ratio is not 9:16 or between 4:5 and 1.91:1 cannot be boosted. Meta's page for apps that post stories recommends 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank space. Read on 3 November 2026.
What size is a Reel cover photo?
Instagram recommends 420 x 654 pixels, a ratio of 1:1.55, and says you can't edit the cover photo after you've uploaded the reel. Read on Instagram's help page on reel size on 3 November 2026.
Is my video uploaded to check its size?
No. The page reads the width, height and length from the video file in your browser, on your own device, and the file is never sent anywhere, which you can see in your browser's network tab on a computer. The page sends only anonymous step counts, such as that the page was opened, never anything from the file (see the privacy policy).
How do I make a video 9:16 for Reels?
Drop it into Burncaps, then under More choose Shape and Vertical 9:16. A whole video up to ten minutes keeps every second, with the frame following you, fixed where you put it, or the whole picture over a blurred copy of itself. Free is 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up.
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.