How to fit vertical pictures on instagram

How To Post Portrait or Vertical Photos on Instagram Without Cropping

When Instagram was launched, it only allowed users to upload square photos. This meant that a substantial portion of your photos had to be cropped.

Instagram’s square photo dimensions became a major drawback to photographers and Instagram users as the image quality, content, and resolution of images were often be sacrificed.

Fortunately, Instagram has seen the need to resolve this major issue. Instagram has given its users more freedom to be creative with their images. Now, pictures can be uploaded in landscape or portrait orientation.

Understanding Instagram Images

So how can you post portrait photos on Instagram without cropping?

The vast majority of Instagram images are squared off. That’s fine for the most part, but it does tend to impact the composition of a photo — especially if it’s a portrait or landscape subject.

When you upload an image or load it into Instagram, the image is automatically cropped to 4:5. No one wants to put a lot of time and effort into capturing the perfect photo only for Instagram to ruin it by cropping the image.

Instagram did add different orientations not long ago, but images still take a little tweaking to get right. Now, you can post images at a maximum size of 600 x 600 for square images, 1080 × 607 for landscapes, and 480 × 600 for portraits. The actual stored size differs slightly, but when you measure images within Instagram, these are what typically come up.

So, if you’re one of the many Instagram users that’s tired of having their photos cropped, let’s take a look at how you can post portrait or vertical photos on Instagram without cropping.

How to Post Portrait Photos on Instagram

Depending on the size of your image, you may now be able to post a portrait image on Instagram without having to crop it.

Here’s how you can check:

Step 1

Open Instagram and create a new post.

Step 2

Select the image you want to upload from your photo gallery.

Step 3

Select the small crop icon in the bottom left of the main image screen.

Step 4

Adjust the image within the grid until it’s to your liking.

Using the crop icon shifts the shape from the usual square to its vertical or portrait orientation. This way, you won’t need to shave off the edges of your photos.

How to Post Landscape Images on Instagram

What if you want to post a landscape picture without cropping?

Well, fortunately, the same process above works in landscape orientation too. Since the two sizes were added to Instagram, it will pick up the shape and size of the image and let you post the most suitable size.

The same instructions apply for portrait and landscape photos, so you can simply refer to the above steps and select a landscape image that you want to upload.

Manually Cropping Instagram Images

Sometimes, the image just doesn’t look right with the new setup on Instagram and you need to do a little bit of manual editing first.

The new orientation feature is good but also has a few glitches, and if it won’t show your image off at its best. It may be better to manually edit the image and upload it as a square — even if it means sacrificing the composition.

There are a lot of photo editing apps that can help you edit your images first before uploading them to Instagram.

Just follow these simple steps to get started:

Download the image to your computer and load it into your image editor.
Crop your image to 5:4 using the image editor, and edit the photo so the subject is front and center.
Upload the image to Instagram.

If that doesn’t quite work or leaves the image subject hanging out to dry, you can add a white border to either side of the image to create the 5:4 ratio.

This can often make the image look better. It has the advantage of leaving your image in its original form, but it will be slightly smaller than usual.

This method works great if you aren’t happy with the way your image looks when you upload it straight to Instagram without editing.

Third-Party Image Editors for Instagram

There are a number of third-party apps that can help prepare images for Instagram and help you resize an image with or without cropping. Even though you can now post portrait and landscape, these apps still make life a little easier when preparing something for publishing.

Two of the photo editing apps we can recommend are No Crop & Square for Instagram for Android and Whitagram for iPhone. Although, there are a lot more photo editing apps for you to explore.

Both of the apps mentioned above achieve the same goal as the manual editing method and will resize your images for Instagram. If you want to keep everything on your phone and not download it to your computer, these and other apps like it are well worth a try.

Final Thoughts

Most photographers find squaring off an image takes something away from the effect. Instagram users have been stuck on using the square dimension for years, but thanks to the app’s recent updates, there is now more flexibility in uploading photos.

Adding portrait and landscape orientation gives the professional photographers and those enthusiastic amateurs more options when composing their shots.

Want to find more apps to help you create eye-catching Instagram posts?

Check out our article on the Most Popular Instagram Apps.

How to Post a Portrait Image or Video to Instagram Without Cropping

Instagram

Julia Enthoven

Jan 4, 2021 3 min

Instagram crops all vertical posts to a 4:5, which means part of a vertical video or photo is cut off. But, if you add a white background before publishing to Instagram, you can post the full 9:16 portrait without cropping.

Instagram crops all vertical posts to a 4:5. Unless your video is under 30 seconds, it won't work on Reels. That means that it’s impossible to fit a full 9:16 video into a normal Instagram video post. If you take a screenshot, film a video clip on your phone, TikTok, or Snap, or if you want to post a Story to your feed, Instagram makes you crop part of it out unless you resize it first.

A portrait video is cropped to 4x5 aspect ratio

To post a full vertical video or image on Instagram without cropping to 4:5, add a white background to make it into a square. Then, you can post the whole photo or video without cropping out or changing the size. This technique works for pictures, GIFs, and videos. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial:

Upload to a Resizer Tool
Add a Background
Download and Share

Step 1: Upload to a Resizer Tool

Open Kapwing’s resizer and upload the vertical or portrait photo you want to post. Kapwing’s resizer is free to use and online, so you don’t need to download an app. It supports images, GIFs and videos.

Kapwing's Resizer is quick and intuitive, even for beginners.

Note: If you want to edit or add filters to your photos, make sure to do this before resizing. That way, the white background won’t be affected by the color changes and adjustments.

Step 2: Resize and Add a Background

Choose the 1:1 option for Instagram (Kapwing also supports 16:9 sizing for YouTube and other formats). You can change the background color and use Kapwing’s zoom and positioning tools to zoom in, crop, or add a border. Click “Export Image” once the preview matches what you want your post to look like!

Choose a new size on the right panel

To take up more vertical space in the Instagram feed, you can also choose to resize your post to 4:5 (the “FB/Twitter Portrait” option on Kapwing).

Step 3: Download and Share

After a few moments, your image or video will be ready for download – you can remove the Kapwing watermark for free by signing into your account. Since your photo/video now has a 1:1 aspect ratio, you can now download and publish it without cropping on Instagram.

If you're not signed into a Kapwing account, sign in or sign up using your Google or Facebook account – once you've signed into a Kapwing account, the watermark in the lower right corner will be removed from your final image.

Steps for saving the image on iPhones

I hope this article helps you share your un-cropped vertical videos and portrait photos with the world! Kapwing’s one-click editor was designed for people with no previous editing expertise, so don’t be afraid to try it out.

For more information on how to resize a video for Instagram, check out this video tutorial:

For more ideas, tutorials, and features, check back in at the Kapwing Resources page or our YouTube channel! And remember to tag us @KapwingApp whenever you share your content on social media– we love to see what our creators are passionate about!

Related Articles:

How to Add Any Music to an Instagram Reels Video
How to Download Instagram Reels Videos
How to Host an Instagram Story Fundraiser

Create content faster with Kapwing's online video editor →

How to upload a whole photo to Instagram without cropping? – Blog Instaplus.me

Uploading a whole photo on Instagram can be quite difficult for an inexperienced user of the social network. The edges of the photo are automatically cropped so that people and other objects are not fully displayed. To solve this problem, you need to use special programs.

Content of the page

Why does Instagram crop photos?

There are many reasons why a social network crops photos. This includes saving space on servers, and the desire to fully adapt images to vertical phone displays, and maintaining proportions for non-standardly placed photos with an unusual aspect ratio. The main goal is to create conditions for all people when pages scroll in the same way on any device.

The photo is cropped if the photo does not meet the requirements of Instagram. The resolution must be no greater than 1920×1080 , format - either PNG or JPG . If the restrictions are violated, the image will be automatically resized.

How to post a full photo on Instagram

There are 2 methods of posting a photo without cropping on Instagram: through a social network program on a mobile device or through a special software.

Through the Instagram app

The Instagram app can be installed on both phones and tablets. There is also a PC version of the program, but it has reduced functionality. To upload a photo without cropping, follow the algorithm below:

Launch the Instagram application.
Click on the plus sign at the bottom of the screen.
Select which photo you would like to upload.
Leave the photo square or change the format by clicking on the button at the bottom left of the photo.
Click on "Next" at the top right of the screen.
If necessary, edit the photo manually or with
filters.
Click Next.
Add a description to the picture.
If you want, mark the people, the place where the photo was taken.
Click "Continue". After that, the followers of your account will see the image in their own feed.

Through third-party apps

There are apps for people who need to upload full size photos to Instagram. Using them, you can post images to social networks with saved edges. Consider the most popular programs.

NoCrop

This Android app has paid features, but free features are enough to upload a full size photo. Run the program, select the required picture. A light frame will be displayed - you can either leave it as it is, or set the Instagram dimensions for the photo. In any case, all parts of the photo will remain in place.

InstaSize

Software for Android and iOS devices. In addition to the usual options, there are functions for changing the color of the edges, sizes, and other characteristics of the photo. There is also an option to zoom photos.

Whitagram

This application is suitable for those who do not need additional functionality. The only thing Whitagram can be used for is uploading a full size photo to Instagram. However, this application does a great job.

No Crop

To avoid cropping your Instagram photos, you can use the No Crop app. You can download it from the Play Market. It allows you to publish images without cropping.

The application is open source, includes many collages. It has the following functionality:

rotate, zoom;
several hundred free backgrounds;
various filters;
changeable blocks of text;
over 400 stickers.

Other methods

Consider other ways to improve the quality of a photo or change its format when uploading.

How to upload a photo without quality loss

To quickly send the uploaded photo to the server, Instagram automatically compresses it (small pixels are transferred faster). But you can upload photos to Instagram without losing quality. To forget about muddy pixels, users of gadgets with the Android operating system have the opportunity to change the settings. To do this, you need:

Launch the Instagram application.
Go to the "Extended functions" section.
Click on "Use high quality image processing" and check the box.
Load a snapshot.

Posting vertical photos

The latest version of Instagram allows you to upload a vertical photo to the social network. Using the option is easy - when you upload a snapshot, an icon with 2 arrows will be displayed (at the bottom left of the upload frame). Click on it and set the photo options.

To upload a disappearing photo (a picture that cannot be viewed before sending - it is immediately sent to other people), follow these steps:

Click on the blue camera icon in the direct.
Take a snapshot.
Click on "Disappearing Message".
Send the picture to one or more users.

Posting live photos

In Instagram, you can post not only ordinary, but also moving photos. These can be created on iPhones. The file is not saved as a video or GIF, but as a photo. Once added to a social network, the live photo will be displayed as a regular static image. To transfer the entire effect, you will need to download third-party programs for turning pictures into gifs, for example:

Motion Live by Google;
Alive;
Live GIF;
Lively.

Although the programs differ in their names and interfaces, they operate on the same principle - they convert an image into a gif. The resulting file can be uploaded to Instagram.

If you want to post a live photo to stories, you can do without third-party programs. To do this:

Create a live photo. You can add an extra effect by swiping up on a photo in the gallery.
Go to stories. Find the "Animated" or "Live Photos" section in the phone's gallery. Specify which photo you want to upload.
Place the file.

Posting rectangular photos

If you want to post a picture of nature, a beautiful city, the best option is to post a rectangular photo on Instagram. To make a photo horizontal, click on the icon with 2 arrows located at the bottom left of the picture. Then click "Next", make additional adjustments to the photo (if necessary) and post it.

Posting a photo with the hashtag

Instagram often uses hashtags. This is a label that allows you to assign content to a topic so that it can be easily found on a social network. To upload a photo with a hashtag, follow these steps after editing the photo:

Click on the inscription "Next".
In the "Description" line, put the # sign, write the tag itself.
You can add up to 30 hashtags in total.

How to post multiple photos on Instagram without cropping

Instagram has an option that allows you to upload up to 10 photos and videos in one post. This feature is called a "carousel" or a selection. To create an Instagram carousel without cropping, select multiple photos or videos when posting and make the settings you want. It is possible to apply one filter to all materials and edit individual images. It is possible to change the sequence of photos and videos in the carousel by moving files around the screen. In the feed, such posts are marked with 3 dots at the bottom. To switch between the materials included in the carousel, swipe to the left / right side.

Tips and tricks

For a social network, a small size of a photo is a significant plus, but for users it is not always good. Often, pictures lose clarity, dark pixels appear on them, and colors are distorted. To upload a photo without reducing quality, pay attention to the following recommendations:

save images in PNG format, not JPG;
photos taken with an iPhone are published on a social network in a higher quality than pictures from an Android device;
Plan your Instagram post at the framing stage - it's best if it matches the social network format, has a 4:5 aspect ratio.

If Instagram greatly degrades the quality of the photo, you need to check if the picture meets the required conditions:

resolution - 1980×1080 px for rectangular, 1080×1080 for square images;
photo weight - no more than 500 Mb;
file extension - JPG, PNG.

Online communication, viewing content through Instagram is a great way to spend your leisure time. Using the social network will be even more comfortable if you understand its functionality. The order of uploading photos without cropping is something that anyone who plans to post their pictures on a social network frequently should know.

How to post vertical photos on Instagram without cropping

Recently, Instagram announced support for both landscape and portrait formats, but only when you post multiple images and videos in one post. It soon became allowed for individual downloads as well. While welcomed, this move is still limiting as I can't post vertical photos to Instagram unless they have a specific aspect ratio.

I've put together a few methods for adjusting your photos to the correct aspect ratio. These are multi-platform applications and tools that will allow you to upload Instagram vertical images in a few clicks. Let's start.

Read: Make a photo square without cropping - online tool

Vertical photos on Instagram

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There are two crop options for Instagram:

Portrait: 4:5
Landscape: 1.91:1

While Instagram isn't perfect, there are ways to fix this problem. Some tools and applications allow you to post vertical photos with a few clicks. Let's see how.

1. No Crop & Square (Android)

A strange and curious name, but a very popular app for those who want to upload vertical images to Instagram without cropping them. No Crop and Square won't let you post vertical photos like the one you see below.

The process is quite simple. You open the app and select the image you want to share on Instagram. There are a number of filters and effects to choose from. You can apply whatever you like. There are also emoji, stickers, emoji, and 3D emoji if that's what you're looking for.

You can create a collage in no time. Just add all the images you want to add with the collage tile button. The ability to add text with different fonts, patterns, resize and rotate images makes No Crop and Square a complete Instagram app.

The app is free to use, but with ads that can be removed with a $0.99 upgrade. In my experience, the ads were unobtrusive, with the exception of full-screen pop-ups.

Download Without crop and square (Freemium)

2. Whitagram (iOS)

Whitegram does for iOS devices what No Crop does for Android. It allows you to post full size images and photos to Instagram without having to crop or resize them. Simply select the image you want to upload in vertical mode and the app will automatically crop it to perfection against a white background.

You see the beauty of this. By adding a white background, it misleads Instagram into thinking the image is square. There are other apps in the App Store that will give you the results you want.

Tip: Always choose the highest resolution when working with a vertical image.

Download Whiteagram (Free)

Pixlr (online)

Here is the easiest trick from the book. Instagram has a hidden option that will let you upload vertical images if you know how to crop images to the right size. You can do this on any platform because it is an online tool. Pixlr is a free and powerful image editor.

You start by selecting an image and cropping it to a 4:5 aspect ratio. Pretty easy, right? Now, in order to upload an image to Instagram using your PC's browser, you will have to fake it. Follow this guide. It will tell you how to make Instagram think that you are posting from your mobile phone, when in fact you are using your computer.

This is what your screen should like when you faked your browser. You should see the familiar "+" icon at the bottom to add a new image.

Read: 8 (+1 new) ways to post to Instagram from your computer

When you click the plus icon and add an image, you should see an expand button that looks like an arrow from either end.

Clicking this button will place your image in its original portrait mode with a 4:5 aspect ratio. You will also notice that there are no borders on a white or black background. No more square images that can be annoying as hell when they're crisp, portrait should be the obvious choice.

Note that the developer mode trick mentioned in the tutorial above will also work on Mac OS using the Safari browser. In fact, it works in all browsers on all platforms.

Visit Pixlr (Free)

4. Entry Stairs

I can't stress enough how annoying Instagram rules are. I agree that this gives a uniform look to the whole platform, but the tools that do this are not in the application. Instapadder is a web service that completely solves this problem. You can use it on your computer and Android devices to quickly adjust images to match Instagram without cropping content. iOS users cannot get a piece of this particular cake due to their own rules, but they can try the iOS specific method above.

To add padding around images, simply go to the website in your web browser, click the download button and select all files. It uploads images to a server and converts the images to an Instagram compatible format. The best part about this method is that you can upload and process images right away.

It accepts most image formats and outputs converted images fairly quickly. The only limitation I found with this service is the lack of a preview option before uploading augmented images, so you can't choose which images to upload. Otherwise, Instapadder is pretty good.

Visit Entrance Staircase

5. Polarr Photo Editor (Mac)

Polarr Photo Editor is available from the macOS App Store and can be used as an integration with the iPhoto editor or as a standalone editing tool.

Once you have downloaded the Polarr Photo Editor (link below), just open it and import the photo you want to edit for Instagram.

Once you enter the editor application, click the settings tab on the right side of the screen. Scroll down and click "Border" '. Now select the aspect ratio and border color from the available custom menu. When you click on the Save button, the changes to the photo will be saved and the iPhoto library will be updated immediately. If you're using an iPhone, it's probably also in your iPhone Photo Library.

Download Polarr Photo Editor (Free, $24/year)

6. Gramblr (Windows)

If you're using a Windows tablet with touchscreen support, Instagram has announced an app just for you. The app is available on the Windows Store, but what about other users? This is where Gramblr comes into play.

Gramblr didn't support vertical images before, but I think they made some changes to their API since the current version supports it. Here is a screenshot.

As you can see, Gramblr does its job. The application is free and works on all Windows computers, including 32-bit versions. You will need to create a free account, but there is no need to verify your email address. Just select, crop, add filters, add a caption and post it to your Instagram.

Download Grambler (Free)

Post vertical photos on Instagram

Instagram was originally designed to be used on mobile devices such as Android and iOS.