Instagram ad sizes

Instagram ads run in the feed, in Stories and in Reels, and Meta’s ads guide gives each placement its own recommended file. The feed is the one place where a still image works best as a 4:5 portrait. Everything else, video in the feed included, is recommended as a full-height 9:16 frame.

Meta lists a 1% aspect ratio tolerance for feed images and feed video, so a file has to match its ratio closely. Export at the exact size rather than one that merely looks right.

In Meta’s guide, the minimum aspect ratio for an Instagram feed image ad is 400 × 500 and the maximum is 191 × 100. Put plainly, anything from a 4:5 portrait to a 1.91:1 landscape is allowed. The recommended 1440 × 1800 sits at the tall end of that range, so it covers as much of the screen as an image ad can.

That catches out anyone reusing organic posts. Ordinary feed posts can now be 3:4, 1080 × 1440, which is taller than 4:5 and far outside a 1% tolerance. Crop such a post to 4:5 before turning it into an ad: at 1,080 pixels wide that means losing 90 pixels of height, and doing it yourself lets you choose where they come from.

Square images still have a place, and Sprout Social lists 1440 × 1440 for feed ads. At the same width a square is a fifth shorter than a 4:5 image, so it fills less of the screen as people scroll.

Meta’s guide for Instagram feed video ads recommends 9:16 at 1080 × 1920, the same shape as Reels and Stories. Reels ads are listed at 1440 × 2560, a larger file in that shape. One vertical edit, exported at 1440 × 2560 and scaled down when a smaller file is wanted, can therefore serve all three placements without a fresh crop.

For Reels ads Meta also asks for H.264 compression, a fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio at 128 kbps or more. It lists captions and sound as optional but recommended, for feed video as well as Reels.

Tip: GIF is accepted for feed video ads but isn’t listed for Reels ads. Convert an animated GIF to MP4 if it needs to run in both places.

Reels and Stories ads fill the screen, and Instagram draws the account name, the Sponsored label and the call-to-action button over them. Meta’s Reels ads guide asks for 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side to stay free of text, logos and other key elements.

On a 1440 × 2560 file those margins come to about 358 pixels at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 at each side. The product, the price and the logo belong between roughly 360 and 1,660 pixels down; let only background reach into the bottom third, behind the call-to-action.

Meta presents these character counts as recommendations. Longer primary text can appear cut short behind a “more” link, so put the point of the ad in its opening words.

The hashtag figure stands out. Meta’s ads guide still lists up to 30 for feed ads, while Instagram’s help centre says you can use up to 5 tags on a post, so check which rule you are working under before pasting in a block of tags.

1. Feed images: 1440 × 1800, saved as JPG for photos or PNG for lettering, each under 30 MB.
2. Square feed images: 1440 × 1440, when the design suits a square better.
3. Video: one 9:16 master at 1440 × 2560 in MP4 with H.264, plus a 1080 × 1920 copy if a tool wants the smaller size.
4. Check each file’s ratio to the pixel, since Meta’s tolerance is only 1%.
5. Preview every placement on a phone before publishing, looking for words under the buttons.