Instagram Photo Collage — Correct Sizes and Grids
Most collages posted to Instagram are the wrong shape, and the crop is what ruins them. Instagram accepts three feed shapes and one full-screen shape, and anything else gets cut. Building at the right size from the start is the single biggest improvement you can make.
The sizes below are what the app actually serves. Anything larger is downscaled — which is fine, and slightly better for quality — but a different aspect ratio is cropped, and Instagram crops from the centre.
One habit worth adopting: judge the collage at the size people will actually see it. Zoom out until it is about the width of a thumb. If you cannot tell what a photo is at that size, the collage has too many photos in it, and no amount of export quality will fix that.
Open this template in the editor
Recommended canvas size
Feed square 1080 × 1080 · Feed portrait 1080 × 1350 · Story and Reel 1080 × 1920
1080 × 1350 (4:5) is the tallest the feed allows and therefore occupies the most screen as someone scrolls — for a collage, where you want people to stop, that matters. 1080 × 1920 is full-screen vertical for Stories and Reels.
How to make it
- Choose the canvas before you arrange anything Changing the canvas size later re-flows the layout. Pick 1:1, 4:5 or 9:16 in the Preset Size panel first.
- Upload and pick a layout Auto Grid for equal photos, Hero for one main photo, Rows × Cols if you want an exact grid.
- Keep faces away from the edges Even at the correct ratio, thumbnails in the profile grid are square. Anything important in the top or bottom band of a 4:5 collage disappears there.
- Check it at thumbnail size Zoom out. If you cannot tell what a photo is at 150 px, it is too small — use fewer photos.
- Export Ultra HD Instagram compresses uploads, so starting from a high-quality PNG gives a visibly better result than a small one.
Tips that actually change the result
- For a three-part panorama across three feed posts, build at 3240 × 1350 and split it — the Panorama style lays photos out in a single wide strip.
- Instagram compresses heavily. Fine text below about 2% of the canvas height turns mushy after upload.
- A white or very light background compresses more cleanly than a busy gradient.
What usually goes wrong
Anything outside 1:1, 4:5 or 1.91:1 is cropped from the centre in the feed, and the crop always takes the part you cared about.
Even a correctly-sized 4:5 post is shown square on your profile. Anything important in the top or bottom band vanishes there.
Instagram compresses uploads hard. Text below about 2% of canvas height turns mushy after processing.
The platform recompresses whatever you give it. Starting from a high-quality export visibly survives that better than starting from a small one.
Questions
What is the best Instagram collage size?
1080 × 1350 px (4:5 portrait). It is the tallest shape the feed displays uncropped, so it takes up the most space while someone scrolls.
Why does Instagram crop my collage?
Because its aspect ratio is outside the accepted range. The feed allows 1:1, 4:5 portrait and 1.91:1 landscape. Anything taller or wider is cropped from the centre.
What size for an Instagram Story collage?
1080 × 1920 px (9:16). Keep important content away from the top and bottom 250 px, where the profile bar and reply box sit.
How many photos should an Instagram collage have?
Four to nine. Past that, individual photos fall below the size where anything is recognisable on a phone.