Knowledge

Instagram operates differently from other social platforms, and not every post can be published automatically. Postglance provides both automatic publishing and notification publishing options (where you receive a notification to complete the post in the Instagram app). For automatic posting to function, images and videos must comply with Instagram's accepted aspect ratio ranges.

In this Article:

• What is an aspect ratio?
• What are the accepted aspect ratio ranges for Instagram?
• How are aspect ratios calculated?
• What sizes should my images and videos be?

If your image falls outside the approved aspect ratio ranges, you can use our editing tool to crop it! Find more information on editing images within Postglance.

What is an Aspect Ratio?

An aspect ratio defines the relationship between an image's width and height. It is typically expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, for instance, 4:5. This format allows for easy representation and can be converted into a numerical value by dividing the first number by the second. For example, an aspect ratio of 4:5 yields a value of 4/5 = 0.8.

What are Instagram's Accepted Aspect Ratio Ranges?

The table below summarises the accepted aspect ratio ranges for images and videos:

*For Instagram Reels, 9:16 is the sole accepted aspect ratio. Any other ratio will be rejected.

📝 If your image or video fits within the accepted aspect ratio range, it can be published automatically. Conversely, if it falls outside this range, the post will be scheduled as a notification 
instead. You can adjust the aspect ratio before re-uploading your image or video. For instance, if your video has an aspect ratio of 1:2 for Reels, which is outside the acceptable 9:16 ratio, you 
will need to modify it before uploading for publication.

How are Aspect Ratios Calculated?

To determine the aspect ratio of an image or video, divide the width by the height based on its resolution. Here are a few examples:

• 1200 x 1200 pixels: Aspect ratio = 1200/1200 = 1
• 1200 x 1500 pixels: Aspect ratio = 1200/1500 = 0.8
• 1200 x 629 pixels: Aspect ratio = 1200/629 ≈ 1.907

📝 Instagram enforces strict compliance with the aspect ratio, meaning that rounding will not be considered! For example, an image sized 1200 x 628 pixels corresponds to an aspect ratio of 
approximately 1.910828, which falls outside the acceptable range.

What Sizes Should My Images and Videos Be?

Your images or videos don’t have to adhere to a specific pixel size, as long as they conform to the acceptable aspect ratio ranges. Here are some examples of sizes that work well:

📝 The sizes mentioned are merely suggestions. As long as your content meets the accepted aspect ratio ranges, it will be published automatically.

Square

• Any square image or video size (equal width and height), e.g. 600 x 600 pixels, 800 x 800 pixels, 1200 x 1200 pixels.

Portrait For portrait images and videos, the aspect ratio must be between 0.8 and 0.99:

• 800 x 1000 pixels (aspect ratio 0.8)
• 1200 x 1500 pixels (aspect ratio 0.8)
• 1500 x 1800 pixels (aspect ratio 0.84)
• 1080 x 1920 pixels (aspect ratio 0.56)

Landscape For landscape images, the aspect ratio must be between 1.01 and 1.91, while landscape videos should have an aspect ratio between 1.01 and 1.78:

• 800 x 600 pixels (aspect ratio 1.33)
• 1200 x 800 pixels (aspect ratio 1.5)
• 1500 x 1200 pixels (aspect ratio 1.25)

📝 Posts are published via Instagram’s API, which allows a maximum image file size of 8MB. If your upload exceeds this limit, we will resize it to a width of 1920 pixels to ensure publication.
The minimum dimensions accepted are 150 x 150 pixels; smaller images will be scaled up to this minimum.

❓ If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Customer Advocacy team at support@postglance.com, and we’ll be delighted to assist