Instagram carousel size: every dimension and ratio (October 2026)

The best Instagram carousel size is 1080 × 1350 pixels (4:5) or 1080 × 1440 pixels (3:4). Both fill more of the feed than a square, and 3:4 also matches the profile grid. As of October 2026, Instagram accepts carousel photos from 1.91:1 landscape to 3:4 portrait, with up to 20 photos and videos per post.

Every spec below was checked against Instagram’s Help Center and Meta’s developer docs in October 2026. If you need sizes for other platforms too, the social media size guide has them in one place.

Instagram carousel dimensions at a glance

Orientation	Aspect ratio	Size in pixels	When to use it
Tall portrait	3:4	1080 × 1440	Most feed space; shows uncropped on the profile grid
Portrait	4:5	1080 × 1350	Safe default; works in schedulers that publish through Meta’s API
Square	1:1	1080 × 1080	Quote cards, product grids, older templates
Landscape	1.91:1	1080 × 566	Wide photos; smallest on screen

Limit	Value (October 2026)
Slides per carousel, Instagram app	Up to 20 photos and videos
Slides per carousel, Meta’s API (schedulers)	Up to 10
Ratios kept uncropped	1.91:1 to 3:4
Width Instagram keeps	320 to 1080 px; wider photos are scaled down to 1080
Ratios per carousel	One: every slide uses the same orientation
Captions	One for the post, or one per slide with Multiple captions (phone app)

Design at 1080 px wide. Instagram enlarges photos narrower than 320 px and scales wider ones down to 1080 px, per its image resolution article.

What aspect ratio does an Instagram carousel use?

Any ratio from 1.91:1 to 3:4. At 1080 px wide, that is a height between 566 and 1440 pixels. Instagram’s Help Center says photos in that range keep their original resolution, and photos outside it “will be cropped to fit a supported ratio.”

3:4 is the newest option

Until May 2025, the tallest feed photo was 4:5. On May 29, 2025, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced support for 3:4 photos in single posts and carousels (9to5Mac). That is the shape most phone cameras shoot in portrait.

The Help Center now lists 3:4 as the upper limit. If you still use 1080 × 1350 templates, they work fine. You just leave 90 px of possible height unused.

The 3:4 profile grid

In January 2025, Instagram switched profile grids from squares to tall rectangles (Business Today). The tiles are 3:4 (Kapwing). Your carousel’s first slide is what fills that tile.

A 3:4 tile is narrower than a 4:5 or square slide, so the grid trims the sides:

First slide	What the 3:4 grid tile shows
1080 × 1440 (3:4)	The whole slide
1080 × 1350 (4:5)	The center ~1013 px of width; about 34 px cut from each side
1080 × 1080 (1:1)	The center 810 px of width; 135 px cut from each side
1080 × 566 (1.91:1)	Only the center ~425 px of width

Keep the cover headline away from the left and right edges if you post 4:5 or square. Recent app versions also have an Adjust preview option in a post’s three-dot menu for reframing the grid thumbnail (Kapwing).

How many slides can an Instagram carousel have?

Up to 20. Instagram’s Help Center says you can share “up to 20 photos and videos as a single post, also known as a carousel.” The limit rose from 10 to 20 in August 2024 (Social Media Today).

There is a catch if you schedule posts. Meta’s Content Publishing docs (updated June 30, 2026) still cap carousels published through the API at 10 items. Third-party schedulers publish through that API, so check your tool’s limit before you build a 15-slide post. Posting in the Instagram app gets you all 20.

Do all carousel slides have to be the same size?

Yes. Instagram applies one frame to the whole post. The Help Center says the orientation you choose “affects all of the photos or videos in your post. You can’t select a different orientation for each photo or video.”

Meta’s developer docs add that carousel images “are all cropped based on the first image.” In practice, your first slide sets the frame and the rest are cropped to match. Export every slide at the same pixel size so nothing gets cut by surprise.

Can you mix photos and videos in an Instagram carousel?

Yes. One carousel can hold any mix of photos and videos, up to 20 items in total. Three details matter:

• Carousel videos are not Reels. The Help Center says they don’t show in the Reels tab or get Reels features.
• Videos share the frame. Each video is cropped to the carousel’s ratio, so export it in the same ratio as your photos.
• Uploads take longer. Instagram warns that posts with several videos upload more slowly, so use a stable connection.

Instagram carousel file types and file size

The Instagram app takes whatever photos and videos are in your phone’s library. PNG slides saved to your camera roll upload like any other photo. Instagram then stores photos at up to 1080 px wide.

The rules are stricter when a scheduler publishes for you. Meta’s IG User Media reference lists these image specs for API posts:

Spec (API publishing)	Value
Format	JPEG only; MPO and JPS are not supported
File size	8 MB maximum
Aspect ratio	4:5 to 1.91:1
Width	320 to 1440 px; scaled if outside that range
Color space	sRGB; other color spaces are converted

Note the ratio. The API range still stops at 4:5, not 3:4. If your scheduler crops or rejects 3:4 slides, switch to 1080 × 1350 JPEGs.

What happens to a 9:16 image in an Instagram carousel?

It gets cropped. A 9:16 slide (1080 × 1920) is taller than 3:4, so Instagram crops it to the frame you pick. You lose at least a quarter of the height.

Frame you pick	What’s left of a 1080 × 1920 slide	Height cut
3:4	1080 × 1440	480 px (240 top and 240 bottom if centered)
4:5	1080 × 1350	570 px (285 top and 285 bottom)
1:1	1080 × 1080	840 px

This matters if you repurpose TikTok slideshows, which are 9:16. If your hook text sits near the top of the slide, the crop can cut it in half. You have four practical options:

1. Crop each slide yourself. Resize to 1080 × 1440 or 1080 × 1350 in any editor and set the crop per slide, so the text survives.
2. Pad instead of crop. Place the 9:16 slide on a 1080 × 1440 canvas. It scales to 810 × 1440, leaving a 135 px band on each side. Fill the bands with your brand color.
3. Design for the safe band. Keep text and faces inside the middle 1440 px of height (y = 240 to 1680). A centered 3:4 crop then removes only background.
4. Use 9:16 where it fits. Post the full-size slides to TikTok photo mode or Instagram Stories, and a cropped set to the feed.

TokCloner exports every slide at 1080 × 1920 (9:16) and does not export 4:5 or square. For an Instagram carousel, move the text into the middle band in the slide editor before you download. Then crop or pad. The Instagram carousel maker page walks through that workflow, and the TikTok carousel guide covers the 9:16 side.

How to make a seamless carousel on Instagram

A seamless carousel, also called a panorama or continuous carousel, is one wide design split into equal slides. As people swipe, photos, lines and shapes carry on from one slide into the next. It only works if every slide is exactly the same width.

1. Set the canvas

Multiply 1080 px by the number of slides. Keep the height of the ratio you chose.

Slides	4:5 canvas	3:4 canvas	1:1 canvas
2	2160 × 1350	2160 × 1440	2160 × 1080
3	3240 × 1350	3240 × 1440	3240 × 1080
5	5400 × 1350	5400 × 1440	5400 × 1080
10	10800 × 1350	10800 × 1440	10800 × 1080

2. Mark the cut lines

Add a vertical guide every 1080 px. Those lines are your slide edges.

3. Design across the seams

Let a photo, a line or a shape cross each cut line. A half-visible object at the right edge is what makes people swipe. Keep words and faces well clear of the cut lines so nothing important is split.

4. Slice into equal slides

Export each 1080 px section as its own image. Figma frames, Photoshop artboards or slices, and most online image splitters can do this. If one slice is even a few pixels off, the seams drift.

5. Upload in order, in one frame

Select the slices in order and pick the orientation that matches your canvas. Check the preview before you tap Share. If Instagram zooms or shifts the first slide, the whole panorama will be misaligned.

Remember the grid crop. With 4:5 slides, the grid tile cuts about 34 px from each side of your first slide. Use a 3:4 canvas if the cover has to read perfectly on your profile. For slide-by-slide structures you can lay across a wide canvas, see the Instagram carousel templates.

Instagram carousel size checklist

• Every slide exported at the same size: 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1440.
• Cover text clear of the side edges, because the 3:4 grid trims them.
• Text clear of the top and bottom 240 px (285 px for 4:5) if the slides started as 9:16.
• 20 slides or fewer in the app. For API schedulers: 10 or fewer, JPEG, under 8 MB, 4:5 or wider.
• Videos exported in the same ratio as the photos.
• Seamless carousel: canvas width equals 1080 × slides, cut every 1080 px.

Not sure what to put on the slides? Start with what a carousel post is and how it works, then pick a structure from 44 Instagram carousel ideas.