Instagram Story Size (2026): Dimensions, Ratio and Safe Zones

Updated: 2026-10-21 · 2 min read

The Instagram story size is 1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio. Keep text and faces out of roughly the top 250 px and bottom 250 px, where Instagram shows your profile name, the reply bar and buttons. Templates in apps like Allapulla are already 1080×1920 with these safe zones in mind.

The numbers


Size	1080 × 1920 px
Aspect ratio	9:16 (vertical)
Minimum width	1080 px for a sharp result
Safe zone	keep key content out of the top ~250 px and bottom ~250 px

Anything smaller than 1080 px wide is scaled up and can look soft. Anything that is not 9:16 gets cropped or padded with a background.

Safe zones: where not to put text

Instagram draws its own interface over every story:

Top: the progress bars, your profile photo and name, and the close button.
Bottom: the “Send message” bar, reactions, and link or music stickers.

Keep names, dates and faces in the middle area. A good rule is to leave about 14% free at the top and bottom of the frame.

Horizontal and square photos

A horizontal (landscape) photo is only a third of the height of a story. You can:

Zoom in and crop it to fill the screen (you lose the sides).
Place it inside a frame – a polaroid, film strip or postcard layout – so the empty space becomes part of the design.

The second option usually looks much more intentional. That is why most story templates put photos inside frames instead of full-bleed.

Avoiding blurry stories

Share the original photo, not a screenshot of it.
Export at 1080×1920; Allapulla always exports at this size.
If you upload from a computer to your phone, send the file as a document so it isn’t compressed on the way.