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How to post multiple instagram pictures without cropping


How to Post Multiple Images With Different Sizes to Instagram

Instagram

Julia Enthoven

3 min

On Instagram, it’s impossible to post an album — multiple photos or videos in one post that you swipe through — with multiple different aspect ratios. In this article, I'll show you how to do it for free and online.

When posting an album, Instagram requires that the images have the same aspect ratio. In this post, I’ll describe how you can post multiple photos or videos with different sizes by first resizing them to square.

On Instagram, it’s impossible to post an album — multiple photos or videos in one post that you swipe through — with multiple different aspect ratios. For example, if you want to post a landscape image and a portrait image at the same time, you need to crop one or the other (or you could crop both to square). Instagram requires that your photos have the same aspect ratio.

When posting multiple photos or videos, all are cropped to square

To post multiple different photos or videos with different sizes on Instagram, you need to use a tool to resize them first. To avoid cropping out content, add a white background to make each photo or video in to a square. Then, you can post the album without cropping out or changing the size of your image.

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial:

1. Upload your photos/videos to Kapwing

Open the Kapwing Studio and start with a square 1:1 canvas (or 4:5 or 5:4, which are both accepted by Instagram).

One at a time, upload the photos or videos you want to post. Kapwing is free to use and online, so you don’t need to download an app. It supports images, GIFs and videos.

2. Add a white background behind each post

If needed, tap the photo or video and resize the canvas to the right aspect ratio. On mobile, use the "Edit Background" button to find the Resize Canvas button.

1:1 for an Instagram Post appears under the "Size" dropdown (Kapwing also supports 9:16 sizing for Stories and other formats). Turn off "Canvas Blur" and select white for your background color. You can use Kapwing’s zoom and positioning tools to zoom in, crop, or add a border. Double tap to crop the image or video, and use the Play button to watch a preview of what your post will look like. Click Export once the preview matches what you want your post to look like.

3. Export, download, and post

After resizing your posts, you can download them and share them on Instagram as an album. Since each photo/video now has a 1:1 aspect ratio, you can publish them without cropping.

On an iPhone, use the "Downloads" gallery to find the file you just made and save it to your camera roll.

If you're not signed into a Kapwing account, sign in or sign up using your Google or Facebook account. Once you're signed in, each of your exports will be saved in your workspace so that you can download them later.

Repeat these steps for each of the photos and videos that you want to share in your Instagram carousel. After you've downloaded each of the square posts, open the Instagram app and upload them as an album.

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!

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Your Complete Guide to Instagram Image Sizes for 2023

Instagram is a platform that provides many content options from posts to Stories to IGTV video and Live videos. For each type of content, there are different image guidelines that you need to adhere to. 

In this post, you will find out everything that you need to know about Instagram image size guidelines. We will discuss the resolutions and aspect ratios required for different types of Instagram content and how you can resize your images without any hassles.

Your Complete Guide to Instagram Image Sizes:
  • Image Posts
  • Stories
  • IG Reels
  • Instagram Carousel
  • How to Upload the Right-Sized Images on Instagram Without Hassle
  • Does Your Choice of Image Size Impact Your Feed?
  • How Do Your IG Image Sizes Affect Your Feed on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest? 

Size Guide for Different Types of Instagram Images

Instagram accepts images between 320px and 1080px, but there are specific guidelines for images added to Stories, posts, and IGTV. If your image is lower than 320px, then Instagram will enlarge it. And if it is higher than the upper limit, it will get resized to 1080px or lower. So, you don’t need to worry too much about image size as Instagram automatically takes care of it.

However, you should be aware of image size guidelines for different types of Instagram content. Here are the specific guidelines.

Image Posts

Every social media image needs to have the proper file size and resolution for posts. As marketers, social media image specs matter because they impact content quality, account appeal and credibility, and post engagement. Unfortunately, if you resize images on Instagram without following proper file specs, you may end up diminishing the visual impact of your post. 

Traditional Instagram posts consisted of square images with a 1:1 aspect ratio. Users had to crop larger images in order for them to fit into the prescribed image size. This hindered the quality of image compression and resulted in pixelated images. 

Instagram has since evolved, and the platform now allows you to upload portraits and landscapes. The aspect ratio you choose for your posts may vary. You may choose between 1:1 (square), 1.91:1 (landscape), or 4:5 (portrait).

Here are more details one each of these options.

1:1 - Square Images

Ideal image size - 1080px by 1080px

These are the traditional square images that are characteristic of Instagram. If you want to use this option, Instagram has an auto-cropping functionality that makes it super-easy.

Uploading square pictures were previously difficult because most cameras only took landscape or portrait shots. With today's devices and photo apps, you can take a square picture directly from your iPhone or Android phone.

Here’s an example of an Instagram post with a square (1:1) image.

1.91:1 - Landscape

Ideal image size - 1080px by 608px

These are the horizontal photos that you might have seen on some Instagram posts. Adding these types of images is a bit tricky as most landscape images are of 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 1.91:1. You will see a black border around your uploaded picture once it has been added to the gallery.

Generally speaking, a black border around a post is not aesthetically pleasing. This can make the post inconsistent with other posts on a person's Instagram profile or brand's account, making it appear out of place. Here’s an example of an Instagram post with a landscape image size.

Here’s an example of a horizontal Instagram image post with black borders at the top and bottom, because of an imperfect aspect ratio.

This is another horizontal post from the same Instagram page, but this time they’ve got the image size and aspect ratio right.

4:5 - Portrait

Ideal image size - 1080px by 1350px

Posts with 4:5 aspect ratio images have portrait format images. They are easy to upload since you can take them with your mobile camera. In addition, even if you have a portrait image that is not of the same aspect ratio as the Instagram post, you’d still be able to crop it for Instagram.

Here’s an example of an Instagram post with a vertical, portrait-style image.

Stories

The beauty of Instagram is that you can create different types of content like posts, Stories, and IGTV videos. And, all these have the option of uploading images and different image size guidelines for each.

Now that we have discussed the different image sizes allowed for Instagram posts, let’s have a look at the guidelines for Instagram Stories.

The ideal Instagram Stories image size is 1080px by 1920px and the aspect ratio should be 9:16. This is the perfect image size to ensure that there is no black border and the image fits the Story perfectly.

However, Instagram Stories allows you to add any image between 1.91:1 to 9:16. You can simply crop the image to fit the Story or it will automatically add a black border to fill the remaining space.

Ideally, you should upload portrait-style images for your Stories as Stories are basically vertical and are meant to be viewed as such. While you are able to upload landscape images to Stories, the visual appeal is not as good as it could be. As much as possible, it is always better to use a ratio of 9:16 for the aspect ratio of your content. Should you be unable to upload an image with a 9:16 aspect ratio for some reason, you may try uploading a vertical image in any other dimension.  

Additionally, an Instagram vertical video of images can help draw more followers and engagement, as this type of content allows viewers to see everything at once. The maximum file size of videos with 10 minutes or less should be 650 MB. Alternatively, video files up to 60 minutes in length can have a maximum file size of 3.6 GB.

IG Reels

An Instagram Reels is similar to a reel on YouTube. It is essentially a video that has been chopped up into shorter stories (between 30 and 90 seconds) with the aim of getting people "hooked" on a product, brand, or event. 

Instagram Reels can be created using either uploaded videos or newly recorded videos that are recorded directly within the application, which is how they are usually created. Here's the thing: many Instagram users may not know that they can use IG Reels to make a slideshow out of one or more photos in their account. In fact, you can even mix videos and images, if you wish.

The size of your reel will depend on how long it is, whether or not you want to include still images as part of the package, and the kind of audio or filters you choose to include. Once you have chosen a cover portrait photo, upload the video file and accompany it with a brief text description.

Instagram Carousel

An Instagram Carousel is a post that consists of up to ten images or videos that are displayed in a row. Swiping left on your smartphone will show you carousel posts, while your desktop will show you arrow buttons on the right.

Adding captions, alt texts, geotags, account tags, and product tags to your carousel is as easy as creating an Instagram post as you normally would. Therefore, referring back to the guide for image and video sizes will be helpful. Carousel content is interactive and engages users in various ways.

How to Upload the Right-Sized Images on Instagram Without Hassle

After reading about all the different image sizes and Instagram image guidelines, you might be a little worried. There’s no need to worry though because uploading the right-sized images is not as big of a deal as it may look.

No one really has the time to modify their pictures and change the size and aspect ratio every time they upload a picture to Instagram. There are several ways in which you can achieve this without making too much effort.

You can either use a photo editing tool that allows you to edit a picture to make it Instagram-friendly or simply let Instagram do it for you.

Here’s how you can upload images to Instagram while meeting the size guidelines.

Photo Editing Tools

Instagram is all about capturing and sharing memories with friends and followers. But to do that, you need quality images that look great onscreen. That is why it is important to know the best photo editing tools for Instagram image size optimization.

There are several no-crop photo editors that allow you to make your images Insta-friendly without cropping those.

Square InPic

This is one of the best and highest-rated Instagram-friendly photo editors that you can use to resize your images without cropping. This is especially good at creating square-sized Instagram images without cropping your original picture. And, it also comes with other design features like emojis, filters, etc. that you can use to enhance your images.

Square Pic

This is another great photo editor that can convert any image into a square-sized, Instagram-friendly image. It comes with different background options like blur, black, and white backgrounds to create aesthetically-pleasing, Instagram-friendly images.

No Crop & Square for Instagram

This is another no-crop photo editor that you can use to resize images for Instagram. It is simple to use and comes packed with a variety of useful features to enhance your images. Apart from resizing images, this tool also lets you create photo collages and add filters and other effects to your images. And, it has over 300 background patterns for you to choose from.

Instagram Auto-Cropping

If you don’t care much if your pictures appear with a black border, then you don’t need to resize images before uploading as Instagram will do it for you. Whenever you upload an image that is of an incompatible size, Instagram will automatically crop and resize it to fit its dimensions.

A lot of people don’t bother about editing images and just let Instagram do it for them. However, it might make your Instagram feed look less visually appealing. The trick to avoid that is to follow a consistent pattern for all your image posts. 

For example, you can consistently use only portrait-style images with the auto-cropped black borders and make it look like your theme. This way, your Instagram feed will look consistent and you won’t have to put in any extra effort into resizing and editing your images.

Does Your Choice of Image Size Impact Your Feed?

A lot of people worry that if they will use a mix of landscape, portrait, and square images then that might make their Instagram feed look inconsistent and haphazard. However, that’s not the case because all your images automatically appear as square images on your feed.

This means that if someone opens a post, they will see the landscape or portrait style images. But, your entire feed as a whole will appear consistent because the preview image will automatically be a square one for all posts.

So, no matter your choice of image, your Instagram grid will appear perfect.

How Do Your IG Image Sizes Affect Your Feed on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest? 

As a social media platform, Pinterest is all about “pinning” images and stories. This means that the image size you use on Pinterest will be used as your profile thumbnail, which can lead to a lot of people thinking that your image sizes have an impact on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

However, this is not actually the case. Most of the time, all social media platforms default to using square-sized images for posts. So, whether you post portrait or landscape-style images on Facebook or Twitter, they will still appear in a square form on those sites without any extra editing required.

So, when it comes to your Instagram image size specifications, keep this in mind. They will apply to all social media platforms, but you won't need to worry about them impacting any other aspect of your social media presence. In fact, your chosen IG image size will have no effect on your Facebook profile thumbnail size or Twitter Bio. Whether it be a square video, landscape photo, or profile picture, Instagram will always display your content in its original square pixel form.

Wrapping it Up

Instagram automatically crops images and fits them in the right dimensions for any type of content. However, you need to be mindful of the image sizes to avoid that and ensure that your images fit perfectly without cropping. 

Cropped images often are shown with black borders, which ruins the visual appeal. To avoid that, you should upload your images in the right size to fit your post or story dimensions perfectly.

You can use this guide and create amazing Instagram image content.

How to post a photo in full size on Instagram and is it possible?

Contents:

  • 1 Why does Instagram cut photos?
  • 2 Life hacks on how to publish a photo in full size
  • 3 How to upload a photo without losing quality?
  • 4 Ideas for uploading a large photo
  • 5 Questions from our readers

Instagram is a social network that focuses on visual content. Apart from online stores, the lion's share of business accounts on this service belongs to bloggers and photographers. This activity involves the creation of high-quality and attractive content. But the site forces users to play by their own rules and fit into the framework. Let's talk about how to post a photo in full size on Instagram. nine0003

Why does Instagram cut photos?

Users of social networks often notice that the quality of photos drops when uploaded to the Internet. Why is this happening? Is it really a conspiracy of the owners of communication services to worsen the quality of life of people? In fact, this is of course not the case. And in 2019, everything is much better in this regard - for posts, the maximum resolution is 1080 by 1920, and for stories 600 by 1067, which is often quite enough for most modern mobile devices. Modern users, moreover, can post images in any orientation, unlike the early days of the social network. nine0003

Of course, I can write that this is done in order to save space on the site's servers. Think for yourself, if there are no restrictions, people will also upload 4k photos, which weigh quite a lot. But these are just my conjectures, there is no official information confirming this idea. Although, of course, lower quality = lighter weight = faster loading. This is the first reason. Let's move on to the second.

What is the feature of Insta? in publication format. They are displayed correctly and uniformly on devices of any year of manufacture and with any operating system. And this is achieved precisely by limiting the uploaded photos. nine0003

Life hacks on how to post a photo in full size

Formats, restrictions, resolution, yes, yes, yes. But you can somehow upload a large photo, it’s impossible that people don’t come up with some tricks for this. In fact, this section is here to warn you. There are many articles on the Internet about how to supposedly add an image without losing quality, without cropping it. They mention applications, and the same ones that promise to help you in this situation. But I don’t really understand why people write about these tools over and over again, because no matter how we process the image, or make a panorama, in the end everything will rest within the framework of the social network itself. nine0003

For example, the NoCrop application, which is often recommended in such articles, only helps to fit the photo to the required extension. Of course, when uploading an image processed in this application, its quality will not drop. But since it has fallen to this, it cannot be said that the photo will be uploaded in full size. But, again, why download third-party software for this if the service does it on its own? Therefore, alas, 1080 by 1920 is our limit.

How to upload a photo without quality loss? nine0019

As we have already understood, it is unrealistic to fully preserve the quality. But do you need something more than FullHD? Of course, 4k technology is already being introduced into phones, but there are only a few such devices, and it will take some time before a full transition to a new generation of screens. Therefore, under “How to upload a photo without losing quality on Instagram?” I mean, first of all, maintaining the original orientation, and not adapting to the standard square format.

Go to instructions:

  1. Open the app and click on the plus icon to open the post creation interface.
  2. Here we go to the gallery by clicking on the appropriate tab.
  3. Select an image.
  4. You can spread two fingers across the screen from its edges to the center to fit the entire image into a post. And you can make it much easier - click on the icon with two arrows. Then the picture will automatically be positioned as we need.

Large photo upload ideas

So, as we understand, there is no way to get around the restrictions of the social network. But what if you post the image as it is? Let's discuss a few ideas that might come in handy.

  1. Horizontal. If you really need a profile panorama, split it into three photos and put them in a row so that they appear in one line. It looks quite interesting and unusual - often people do not use horizontal lines, but whole pictures of tiles. But about them in the next paragraph. nine0062
  2. Tiles. Is there a lot of text or, in general, objects and letters are not readable on the post? Make some tiles out of the photo. For example, the most common option is 3 by 3. But some also make a continuous tile for the entire account. But it's quite difficult. When choosing a tile, for example, from nine posts, your creativity rests on a square format.
  3. Frames. When uploading an image in landscape orientation, the post looks rather strange. Therefore, many people use frames in order to take the maximum available space in the user's feed. nine0062
  4. If none of the options suits you, you can make a collage of several images.

If you look at the situation soberly, then the answer to the question “How to post a photo in full size on Instagram?” one is nothing. There are, of course, many articles on the Internet on this topic. But most of them cite applications that only fit photos to the format of a social network. That is, Insta does not crop anything, because everything has already been compressed to a photoset.

Questions from our readers

#1. Why does Instagram cut photos?

The resolution limitation allows you not to stretch the image loading time. And it ensures the uniformity of publications, which allows them to be correctly displayed in the feed of users, regardless of what device they use.

#2. Hello! I tried to upload a small photo, it is stretched to a size of 1080 on the larger side. How to make sure that the original size of the photo does not change? For example, I have a photo of 600x700, how can I leave it the same? nine0080

Add a white border to it, adjusting the photo in this way to the standard size of Insta.

#3. How to upload a photo in the correct orientation?

Now there are no problems with orientation. You just need to click on the icon with two arrows in the lower left corner of the photo when creating a publication.

Do you still have questions? Write them in the comments! Also watch videos on the topic.

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    How to add multiple Instagram photos in one post and make a carousel

    Instagram has a new carousel option. The developers announced the release on February 22, 2017. The feature allowed the user to post up to 10 photos or videos in 1 post. Now there are many methods to add several photos to Instagram, below we will consider the main methods.

    What is a carousel and its possibilities

    In the description of the function, the developers focus on the possibility of publishing up to 10 images in 1 post. What is an Instagram carousel? The option is a set of photos or videos.

    The post creation process starts with a special icon for selecting multiple images. A long press will allow you to change the location of the material and its sequence in the carousel. It is possible to apply 1 filter to all photos and videos and edit them separately. In the feed, the carousel is marked with 3 dots at the bottom of the post. nine0003

    Switching the material is done with a swipe to the right or left.

    Use the option to publish up to 10 images in 1 post, sometimes this is extremely important. Prior to the release of the function, the order of the exposed material was confused due to the ranking algorithm.

    For example, post a step-by-step recipe for a dish that subscribers can easily find on the page.

    Available for app versions 10.9 and older to download from the App Store or Google Play.

    How to add multiple photos to carousel

    Previously, only large advertisers had access to this option. After the release of update 10.9, the option to make a carousel on Instagram from the phone became available to users.

    In one post at once

    Step by step instructions for adding multiple images to the feed:

    1. Click on the "plus" to select the desired photo or video.
    2. Look for the "Add Multiple" option in the lower left corner.
    3. Click on the button.
    4. Select up to 10 photos or videos to share. nine0006
    5. Edit content using standard filters.
    6. Add hashtag, place, caption, tag other people.
    7. Post a post.

    Please note! For convenience, the selected images are numbered to show the order in which they will appear in the carousel.

    Features:

    1. When installing filters, the application provided the ability to select different filters for several photos in one post. To do this, select one photo and click on it. On the right is a small part of the next image in the series. To move photos, swipe left, right. nine0006
    2. In edit mode, change the sequence of photos in a publication. To do this, simply touch the photo with a long press. When the trash can icon appears at the top of the screen, you can move the pictures left, right.
    3. The program provided the ability to add captions to each photo. On the right is a photo to which text is added, by clicking on the publication, select the next one.

    You can tag users on different photos by adding great geotagging. nine0003

    No cropping

    The disadvantage of this option is cropping photos to one format. However, the following applications can solve this problem and help post photos on Instagram in full size:

    • NoCrop is a free program with in-app purchases that creates a white border for each photo;
    • InstaSize - gives the user access to change frames, expand and change other characteristics, available on iOS and Android;
    • Whitegram is a simple application containing only the ability to edit the height, width of images. nine0006

    Using online services

    Online services allow posting several photos in one post. A popular site that allows page owners to upload photos or videos using a computer is Instmsk. The advantage of this method is that you do not need to install unknown programs on the device.

    Instructions:

    • open the site https://instmsk.ru/;
    • log in using a social network;
    • link Instagram account;
      • nine0005 on the main page, the function to add 1 or more photos will be displayed, select the second one;
    • click on the "Select file" button and upload the required number of photos;
    • after the end of the download procedure, select "Download to Instmsk";
    • in the window that opens, crop the photo, add an effect, captions and publish the post.

    Via Android emulator

    How to make a carousel from a computer? Some users use an android emulator. The program is based on the process of emulating the Android operating system on a computer. The option allows you to run the application, service as if it were opened through the phone. You can download it from the official website of Bluestacks. nine0003

    Instructions:

    • download the program from the site https://www.bluestacks. com/ru/index.html and install the program on your computer;
    • run and log in to your Google account, the second is needed for the Instagram download procedure;
    • in the Play Store find and install the Instagram app;
    • authorize an account;
    • program allows you to open the identical interface of the application on Android.

    Important! After logging into your account, in order to post several photos on Instagram from a computer, you need to repeat the steps from the item “Directly in one post”. nine0003

    How to repost an Instagram carousel

    Reposting a photo series is no different than reposting a standard post. To host someone else's carousel on your account, use any of the programs listed below.

    Common options: Easy Repost for Instagram, InstaSaver. Programs are available for any software.

    The article discusses in detail the question: "How to add several photos to Instagram?".

    Learn more