How to Edit a Photo So It Fits on Instagram

Nothing sours a great photo faster than Instagram’s automatic crop chopping off the best parts. It’s a common frustration, but one you can completely avoid with a little know-how. This guide breaks down exactly how to resize and edit your photos so they look perfect on every corner of Instagram - from feed posts to Stories - giving you full control over your visual brand.

First, Understand Instagram's Photo Dimensions

Before you can properly resize a photo, you need to know what size you’re aiming for. The key here isn’t just pixel count, but aspect ratio - the relationship between an image’s width and height. Getting this right is what prevents Instagram from awkwardly cropping your shot.

Here are the only dimensions you really need to remember for your Instagram feed:

• Square (1:1 Aspect Ratio): This is the classic Instagram look. Your photo's width and height are equal.
  • Ideal Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Portrait / Vertical (4:5 Aspect Ratio): This is the golden ticket for engagement. A vertical photo takes up the most screen real estate as someone scrolls, making your content more eye-catching. It’s slightly taller than it is wide.
  • Ideal Resolution: 1080 x 1350 pixels
• Landscape / Horizontal (1.91:1 Aspect Ratio): Ideal for wide, scenic shots. Your photo is much wider than it is tall. This format takes up the least amount of vertical space in the feed.
  • Ideal Resolution: 1080 x 566 pixels

What About Stories and Reels?

Instagram Stories, Reels, and TikToks all use a tall, vertical format designed for full-screen phone viewing.

• Stories &, Reels (9:16 Aspect Ratio): This is the standard vertical video size.
  • Ideal resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels

Pro Tip: For maximum impact on the feed, always aim for the 4:5 portrait aspect ratio. It gives your photos the most prominence, stopping scrollers in their tracks. While landscape photos are great for certain wide scenes, they get minimized in the mobile feed. Save landscape for carousels where it can be appreciated, and let portrait shots lead the way.

The Quick Fix: Using Instagram's Built-in Resizer

If you’re in a hurry and need a quick adjustment, you can use the cropping tool right inside the Instagram app. It’s simple but comes with limitations.

Here's how it works:

1. Open Instagram and tap the '+' icon to create a new post.
2. Select the photo you want to upload from your gallery.
3. By default, Instagram will try to crop it to a 1:1 square. In the bottom-left corner of the photo preview, you'll see a small frame icon (it looks like two corners: <,, >,). Tap it.
4. This will automatically fit your entire photo into the frame, toggling between the best-fit aspect ratio (like portrait or landscape) and the default square. You can also use two fingers to pinch and zoom to manually adjust the crop.
5. Once you're happy with the frame, tap "Next" to continue editing and posting.

The Downside: This method is fast but offers very little control. If your photo isn't an exact 1:1, 4:5, or 1.91:1 ratio, Instagram simply zooms in to fill the frame, which can cut off important elements from the image. For professional-looking results, you should always edit your photo's size before uploading it.

The Pro Method: Resize Your Photo Before You Upload

Editing your photo into the perfect dimensions before you even open the Instagram app is the best way to guarantee a flawless post. This gives you complete creative control and prevents any weird surprises during the upload process. The best part is you don’t need expensive software, your phone’s built-in editor or a free app can do it perfectly.

1. Cropping with Your Phone's Native Photo Editor (iOS and Android)

Your smartphone is already equipped with powerful tools to get the job done. This is the fastest, easiest way to pre-crop your photos without downloading anything extra.

For iPhone Users:

1. Open the Photos app and select the image you want to edit.
2. Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
3. Tap the Crop icon at the bottom (it looks like a square with rotating arrows).
4. In the top-right corner, tap the Aspect Ratio icon (a rectangle with smaller rectangles inside).
5. A menu will appear at the bottom. Scroll through and select either 4:5 for a portrait post or Square for a 1:1 post.
6. The app will place a crop box on your photo. You can drag the photo around within the box to adjust the composition.
7. Tap Done to save your newly resized image.

For Android Users (Google Photos):

1. Open the Google Photos app and choose your image.
2. Tap Edit from the bottom menu.
3. Select Crop from the tools at the bottom.
4. Tap the Aspect Ratio icon (the first one on the left, looking like a box with corners).
5. You’ll see a list of presets. Select 5:4 (which is the same as Instagram’s 4:5, just flipped) or Square.
6. Move the image within the frame until it's perfectly composed, then tap Save copy.

2. Level Up with a Free Editing App like Snapseed or VSCO

While the native phone editor is great, dedicated photo apps give you a bit more precision. Google's Snapseed is a fantastic, free tool for this.

Here’s how to do it in Snapseed:

1. Download and open Snapseed. Tap anywhere to open a photo from your library.
2. Tap Tools to open the menu of editing options.
3. Select Crop.
4. At the bottom of the screen, tap the Aspect Ratio icon (it looks like two overlapping cards).
5. Scroll through the list and select 4:5. This will set the crop box to the perfect portrait dimensions for Instagram.
6. Adjust the frame to your liking, then tap the checkmark in the bottom-right.
7. When you’re finished, tap Export to save the final photo to your phone.

Using a tool like this ensures your image is already pixel-perfect before it ever gets to Instagram, leaving no room for error.

The "No-Crop" Method for Difficult Photos

What if you have an extra-wide or extra-tall photo and cropping it would ruin the composition? Think of a big group photo where cropping would cut people out, or a tall shot where chopping the top or bottom loses the context. In this case, you don’t crop the photo itself, you add borders to it to make it fit Instagram’s required dimensions.

The goal is to place your original photo onto a blank canvas that is already sized perfectly for Instagram, usually a 4:5 canvas. The result is your photo, in full, with elegant white or colored bars at the top/bottom or sides.

Canva is the best free tool for this job.

Here's the step-by-step process:

1. Open the Canva app or website and select "Create a design."
2. Choose Custom size and enter the perfect portrait dimensions for the Instagram feed: 1080 px width and 1350 px height.
3. Now you have a blank, perfectly sized canvas. On the left menu, select Uploads to add your photo.
4. Once uploaded, drag your photo onto the blank canvas.
5. Resize and position your photo. If it's a wide landscape photo, you'll have space above and below it. If it's a super-tall vertical photo, you'll have space on the sides. Center it neatly.
6. Once you're happy, you can even tap the blank background and change its color from the default white to match your brand's aesthetic.
7. Click Share and then Download to save the image. Now you have a perfectly sized 1080x1350 image that will upload to Instagram without any cropping at all.

Final Thoughts

Mastering Instagram's different post sizes is all about understanding aspect ratios and being proactive. By cropping your photos to 1:1 for a classic square or 4:5 for an engaging portrait before you upload, you take full control of your grid's look and feel, preventing unexpected cuts and keeping your feed looking perfectly polished.

And once your visuals are edited and ready to go, the next step is getting them online consistently. At Postbase, we built our platform to make scheduling those carefully crafted photos simple and reliable. Our visual calendar lets you preview your grid and plan campaigns, and since our tool was designed for today's social media landscape, it handles everything from images to Reels easily across all your platforms. Take a look at Postbase when you’re ready to streamline your whole analytics social process.