Instagram is arguably one of the most popular social media platforms and millions of people upload photos and videos on their Instagram story in a proper dimension. How can you expect your Instagram story to engage the audience? When you post anything without caring about Instagram story dimensions, your story will look like this.
No, Instagram stories like this (above picture) usually don’t work. If you want to create a fan base and followers on Instagram, you will have to spend a little time before posting any pictures and videos on Instagram. Sometimes, we have an amazing photo or video to share with our followers but selecting the wrong Instagram story dimension fails to gain people’s attention. You must have heard a sentence ‘Content is King’ but when it comes to the Instagram story, here, dimension comes first and the content comes later. There are various tools available on Instagram that you can use to create videos and pictures that are ideal for Instagram stories. Besides using those Instagram story creators, you can post images and videos on Instagram by following tips:
Top 10 Tips for Instagram Story Dimensions
1. Best Instagram Story Dimensions — 1080×1920 Pixels
The first and foremost thing you should keep in mind that your dimension for the Instagram story should be1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels high. So, if your photo or video has been created in the said dimensions, it will cover the full screen and look amazing.
If you post photo and video in 1080X1920 dimension, Instagram would not cut off any part of your post. This is the recommended dimension for the Instagram story. Notably, if you are clicking photos or videos from your smartphone using Instagram’s camera, it will automatically be saved in 1080x1920px. Yes, you can post them directly on Instagram story.
2. Aspect Ratio Should Be 9:16
Aspect ratio is the proportion of height and width. If you are posting anything on the Instagram story, make sure aspect ration of the post must be 9:16. This does not mean that your video or photo must be 1080X1920px. If the aspect ratio of your post is 16:9 irrespective of the resolution, you are good to go. The recommended aspect ratio for the Instagram story is 9:16, which has various resolutions —1024×576, 1152×648, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1600×900, 1080×1920, 2560×1440, 3840×2160, and 7680 x 4320. Irrespective of the file you are uploading on Instagrams tory, it will work fine if it has 9:16 ratio. Instead of selecting aspect ration 9:16, I would recommend you to stick with the resolution that we have mentioned above. In case if you are having problems to change the resolution of the post then you can switch to aspect ration (19:6).
3. Reduce Resolution Of Video
Now, you have got what aspect ratio and resolution is the best for Instagram stories. Now, it is time to optimize your post to upload. Whenever we reduce the resolution of a video, the quality and size of the video automatically decrease. So, if you have a video of resolution 1280X720, it will surely be smaller in size as compared to1080x1920 video. However, both the video have the same aspect ratio (9:16). Both videos are suitable for Instagram stories but the low-resolution video will be uploaded instantly as compared to the high-resolution video. If you want to upload the video instantly and make it easier for your followers to view them, reducing the size of the video is highly recommended.
4. Take Videos and Photos In Vertical Mode
If you use Instagram’s camera to take picture and record video, you don’t need to worry about how you hold your smartphone. Instagram will take care of the resolution or aspect ratio itself. If you are uploading a picture and video taken from your Smartphone camera, make sure it was taken vertically. Because, if the video was not shot in vertical mode, your followers will have to rotate their phones to view their Instagram stories. While using Instagram, people usually hold their phones vertically and that’s the reason why we are requesting you to take photos and video in vertical mode.
5. Photos Should be Less than 30MB
Apart from the Instagram story dimensions, make sure the photo you are posting is less than 30 MB of size. Yes, the file exceeds 30 MB usually does not work on the Instagram story,
6. Videos Need to be Less than 4GB
Besides the Instagram story dimensions, the video file you are posting on the Instagram story should not be more than 4GB of size. When we record a video in our smartphone, it usually quite big in size and take a lot of time to get it uploaded on Instagram stories. That’s the reason why we would recommend you to use a video converter to reduce its size and make it work on Instagram stories. There are plenty of Online Video converters out there.
7. Video Needs to be 15 Seconds or Less
Instagram stories don’t support videos larger than 15 seconds. The duration of the video might be quite small but it works on Instagram. If you upload a video larger than 15 seconds, Instagram will automatically break down the same video into various segments of 15-second videos. However, Instagram stories allow you to upload a maximum 4 video stories. So, if your video is more than a minute, it will be divided into four videos of 15 second and the remaining video won’t be shown. Therefore, it is recommended to create short videos that are actually 15 seconds long as Instagrammers tend to watch short videos.
8. Use PNG or JPG Photos
If you are posting any pictures on Instagram stories, make sure the file should be either PNG or JPG. Yes, you are not allowed to upload images in other formats. The said files usually take a little space and help you stick to Instagram’s guidelines that the photo size should not be more than 30MB of size.
9. Use MP4 or MOV Videos
When it comes to video, Instagram stories support only two video formats: Mp4 and MOV. So, if your video is not in these formats, you would not be allowed to post videos on Instagram stories. As we have mentioned above, your video file should not exceed 4GB of size, we recommend you to use Mp4 file. Yes, MOV takes a lot of space as compared to Mp4.
10. Perfect Instagram Story Dimensions Tool
If you are finding it difficult to maintain size, orientation, dimensions and format manually, you have an option to use an online tool to create a perfect Instagram story content. If you opt for an online tool, it will save a lot of your time and create a ready to publish a video for you. There are various tools available on the internet, helping users to create video content for Instagram stories with perfect aspect ration and dimensions.
