# Instagram carousel size and dimensions

> Make every slide 1080 × 1350 px (4:5 portrait). It takes the most room in the feed of the sizes every account can post. Square 1080 × 1080 also works. All slides take the first slide's shape, and a post can hold up to 20 slides.

## The sizes, at a glance

| Shape            | Pixels      | Use it for                                                                                                  |
| ---------------- | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Portrait 4:5     | 1080 × 1350 | Almost everything. The tallest shape every account can post in the feed, so it fills the most screen.       |
| Square 1:1       | 1080 × 1080 | Quotes, product shots on plain backgrounds, posts that also go to other platforms.                          |
| Tall 3:4         | 1080 × 1440 | Matches the profile grid's taller thumbnails. Newer, so check it isn't cropped back to 4:5 when you upload. |
| Landscape 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566  | Rarely worth it: it's the smallest on a phone.                                                              |

Make slides 1080 px wide. Instagram shows photos at up to 1080 px wide, so anything larger is scaled down and anything smaller looks soft.

## Every slide takes the first slide's shape

A carousel has one shape. Instagram uses the first slide's ratio and crops the rest to match, so a square slide after a portrait one loses its top and bottom. Design all slides at the same size from the start.

## How many slides

You can post up to 20 photos or videos in one carousel from the app (the limit went from 10 to 20 in 2024). Scheduling tools post through Meta's API, which has its own limit, so check your tool before planning a 20-slide post.

Five to ten slides is the usual sweet spot: enough to teach one thing, short enough that people reach the end. Reaching the end matters, because the last slide is where you ask for the follow or the save.

## The profile grid crops your first slide

Since early 2025 the profile grid shows taller thumbnails instead of squares. Your first slide is shown cut to that shape from the middle, so:

- keep the hook's words in the middle of the slide, not hugging the top or bottom;
- avoid thin borders around the edge, which get cut on one side and look broken;
- check the grid after posting; you can change the thumbnail crop when you edit the post.

## Margins inside each slide

Nothing covers a carousel slide the way buttons cover a Reel, but the dots under the post and the rounded corners on some phones sit close to the edges. Keep text at least 60 px from every edge of a 1080 px slide, and a little more at the bottom.

## Text size that reads on a phone

A 1080 × 1350 slide is shown about 400 points wide on most phones, so everything is shrunk to roughly a third. As a rule of thumb:

- headlines: 80 px or more;
- body text: no smaller than 36 px;
- at most 30 to 40 words on a slide.

If you need smaller text, it belongs in the caption.

## File format

Export PNG for slides with text and flat colours (sharp edges, no smudging) and JPEG for photos. Instagram re-compresses everything, so start from the best quality you have. Tools that post through Meta's API usually need JPEG, which they convert for you.

## Make one in a few minutes

Razzle's [free carousel maker](https://getrazzle.com/tools/carousel-maker) makes 1080 × 1350 slides by default, with square and Story sizes one click away and up to 20 slides. You write the slides as text, one paragraph per slide, and download PNGs without an account. For ready-made layouts, start from the [carousel templates](https://getrazzle.com/carousel-templates).

## Questions

### What is the best size for an Instagram carousel?

1080 × 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait. It's the tallest shape the feed shows for photo posts, so it takes up the most of the screen.

### How many slides can an Instagram carousel have?

Up to 20 photos or videos when you post from the app. Some scheduling tools that post through Meta's API are limited to 10, so check yours.

### Can carousel slides be different sizes?

No. Instagram crops every slide to the shape of the first one, so make them all the same size.

### Why is my carousel cropped on my profile?

The profile grid shows a taller-than-square thumbnail of the first slide, cut from the middle. Keep the words on the first slide away from the top and bottom edges.

## Try it on Razzle

- [Free carousel maker (1080 × 1350 PNGs, no account)](https://getrazzle.com/tools/carousel-maker)
- [Carousel templates](https://getrazzle.com/carousel-templates)
- [How to make a carousel people save](https://getrazzle.com/guides/how-to-make-an-instagram-carousel)

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Source: https://getrazzle.com/guides/instagram-carousel-size · Markdown: https://getrazzle.com/guides/instagram-carousel-size.md · Updated 2026-11-05