Instagram video size depends on where the clip will play, not on one universal number. Feed posts take a portrait 4:5 or a square 1:1, while Reels and Stories use the full screen 9:16 frame. Pick the placement first, then match the shape.
A wide clip shot on a phone is 16:9, so it does not fit either shape without help. Instagram handles the mismatch for you, and it does that by adding black bars above and below or by cutting off the sides. Cropping to the target ratio yourself means you choose which part of the picture survives. A browser cropper can reshape a 1920x1080 clip to 9:16, 1:1 or 4:5 and resize it to 1080p, without uploading the file.
The figures below come from Instagram's own published guidance on image and Reel sizing, checked on 2026-10-01, and from the Meta Graph API media reference. Specs on social platforms move, so confirm the current numbers on Instagram's help pages before a large batch.
Instagram does not publish one video size, because each placement shows a different frame. The guide below sets out the shape each placement wants, then shows how to reshape one horizontal source so Instagram does not do it for you.
Video Cropper
Crop a clip to 1:1, 4:5 or 9:16, choose which part of the picture to keep, and resize it to 1080p. Runs locally, so nothing is uploaded.
Instagram video size by placement
Each surface has its own frame, and the same clip can look right in one place and wrong in another. The table below collects the shapes Instagram documents and recommends, with the pixel size normally used for each.
| Placement | Aspect ratio | Usual pixels | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed (square) | 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | The classic grid post, safe in any profile |
| Feed (portrait) | 4:5 | 1080 x 1350 | The tallest shape the feed documents, fills more of the screen |
| Feed (landscape) | 1.91:1 | 1080 x 566 | Wide shots, smallest presence in a vertical feed |
| Reels | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | Full screen vertical video |
| Stories | 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 | Full screen vertical, 24 hour life |
Two rules sit behind that table. Instagram preserves photos at up to 1080 pixels wide, so exporting wider gains nothing, because the platform scales the file down. And the feed accepts photos only inside a set ratio range, roughly 4:5 through 1.91:1, so a taller shape is cropped or padded to fit.
Feed posts: square 1:1 and portrait 4:5
A square post at 1080 x 1080 still shows without a crop in the feed. A 4:5 post at 1080 x 1350 is taller, so it takes more vertical space as people scroll, which is why it has become the usual default.
Both shapes are chips in our cropper. On a wide source, the square crop keeps the largest 1:1 rectangle in the middle, and the 4:5 crop keeps a taller one. Which to choose is a design call: a square is easier to keep consistent in a grid, and 4:5 fills more of the screen.
Reels and Stories: the 9:16 frame
Reels and Stories both use a 9:16 vertical frame, most often exported at 1080 x 1920. Instagram's Reels guidance states that a Reel can be uploaded with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, with a minimum resolution of 720 pixels and a minimum frame rate of 30 fps, and it recommends a 9:16 cover photo at 420 x 654 pixels.
In plain terms, 9:16 is the only shape that fills the phone screen. Upload anything else and Instagram places it inside the tall frame, which leaves bars or trims the sides.
What happens when the ratio is wrong
Nothing breaks. Instagram accepts the upload and reformats it, and that is exactly the problem: the work is done for you, without a preview and without asking which part of the picture matters. Cropping first removes that uncertainty, because you choose the shape and the part of the frame to keep, and Instagram receives a file that already matches the placement.
Why a horizontal clip arrives with black bars
Most video is shot in 16:9, because that is the shape of a phone held sideways, a camera sensor and a monitor. A vertical app shows that wide frame inside a 9:16 window, and the two shapes cannot both be filled at once without either discarding pixels or adding empty space.
So the app decides for you. It can keep the whole picture and leave bars above and below, or fill the screen and cut the sides. Cropping does the same fill the frame job, except you pick the shape and move the crop left or right so the strip that contains what matters is the one that survives.
How to resize a horizontal video for Instagram
The whole job runs in your browser and takes a few steps.
- Add your video. Drop an MP4, WebM, MKV, MOV or AVI file into the upload box. The clip is read from your device into the page, and the FFmpeg engine downloads on first use.
- Pick the ratio for the placement. Choose 1:1 for a square feed post, 4:5 for a portrait feed post, or 9:16 for Reels and Stories. Original is the default and means no crop at all.
- Move the crop to your subject. Set the position to Center, Top, Bottom, Left or Right. Top and bottom move the crop up and down, left and right move it sideways, and the other axis stays centered.
- Choose an output resolution. Keep Original, or set 1080p (1920x1080), 720p (1280x720) or 480p (854x480). Custom size takes an exact width and height, and leaving one side empty lets the tool work it out from the ratio.
- Export and download. Press Crop and export, wait for the local encode, then download the MP4 and upload it to Instagram.
The tool always keeps the largest frame of the chosen ratio that fits inside the source, and it rounds both sides to even numbers so the encoder stays happy. Cropping rewrites pixels, so the export re-encodes and takes time in proportion to the clip length.
What the crop looks like on a 1920x1080 clip
Running the numbers on the most common case makes the choices clearer. A 1920x1080 clip is wider than it is tall, so a vertical or square target keeps the full height and narrows the width.
| Target | Crop kept from 1920x1080 | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | Square feed post |
| 4:5 | 864 x 1080 | Portrait feed post |
| 9:16 | 608 x 1080 | Reels and Stories |
The 9:16 line is the one that matters for Reels, and it shows the trade clearly: about a third of the width survives. Everything outside that strip is discarded, which is why the crop position matters. If the subject sits on the left and you leave the crop centered, it can be cut away.
The output resolution works differently from what the labels suggest. The 1080p, 720p and 480p presets scale by height, so a vertical crop that is already 1080 pixels tall keeps its size instead of growing to 1080 x 1350 or 1080 x 1920. For Instagram's exact full-size canvas, use Custom size and enter both sides, such as 1080 x 1350 for a 4:5 post or 1080 x 1920 for a Reel or Story. Scaling up never adds detail, it only makes the existing pixels larger.
Video Compressor
Shrink the cropped MP4 if the file is too large to upload, still in the browser.
Why crop on your own device
An upload based cropper is fine for a clip you do not mind handing over, and it can be quicker on a weak laptop because the encoding happens on a server. It is a poor fit for the footage people actually reformat, such as an unreleased product demo or a private recording.
| Aihangsoft Video Cropper | Upload based cropper | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the video goes | Stays in the browser tab | Sent to their servers |
| Account | Not needed | Often required |
| Limits | No cap, bounded by your own browser memory | Often a size or daily cap |
| Watermark | Never added | Sometimes added on free tiers |
The trade is raw speed and very large files. A server with real hardware encodes faster than a laptop, and browser memory sets a practical ceiling on how long a clip you can process. For the short clips Instagram uses, keeping the file on your device costs nothing you would notice.
What this video cropper cannot do
These are the edges of the tool, and they matter more than the feature list.
- It crops, it does not recompose. Cropping cuts pixels from the edges, it does not move the subject. If the important part sits off to one side, you have to move the crop yourself, and if it sits too close to an edge it may not fit inside the chosen ratio at all.
- It cannot bring back what it cuts. Everything outside the crop is discarded and there is no undo for a downloaded file, so keep the original until you have checked the result.
- It cannot invent picture that was not there. A square crop of a wide shot cannot restore the sides, and a 9:16 crop of a landscape clip cannot create the top and bottom of a scene never in frame.
- It does not offer every Instagram ratio. The tool has 1:1, 16:9, 9:16 and 4:5. It has no 1.91:1 preset for Instagram's widest feed shape and no 3:4 preset, so a clip that needs those exact frames cannot be produced here.
- The crop is preset only. You pick a ratio and a position, not a free drag box, so an arbitrary rectangle is not possible.
- The preview is a guide, not the final frame. The overlay is drawn over the player while the export follows the real pixel dimensions, so trust the downloaded file over the preview box.
- Cropping always re-encodes, and long clips are bounded by browser memory. The export is an H.264 MP4 at CRF 20 with AAC audio, which takes time in proportion to the clip length, and the upload box suggests files under 500 MB and a few minutes long.
- There is no posting step, and the first run downloads about 30 MB. The tool produces an MP4 file that you upload to Instagram yourself, and the FFmpeg engine that does the encoding is cached after that first load.