Instagram Reel size: 1080x1920 (9:16) and what gets cropped

You posted a good answer to a client question. Then the grid cut off your forehead and the caption sat on your subtitles.

The size is the easy part: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16. The crops are what catch people. Here are the numbers Instagram and Meta publish, each with its source, plus a to-scale diagram of what each view keeps and seven steps to turn a widescreen video into a Reel.

An Instagram Reel is 1080 x 1920 pixels at 9:16

Export your Reel at 1080 x 1920 pixels. That is a 9:16 frame, the shape of a phone held upright, so it fills the screen in the Reels tab.

Instagram's own number is a range, not a size. Its Help Center says "you can upload a reel with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16," with a "minimum frame rate of 30 FPS" and a "minimum resolution of 720 pixels." So a wide 1.91:1 clip will post. It just won't fill the screen.

Where does 1080 x 1920 come from, then? It's full HD in that tall shape, and it's the size Meta's Ads Guide gives for 9:16 video in Instagram's feed. It clears Instagram's 720-pixel floor with room to spare.

You can go bigger. For Reels ads, Meta's Ads Guide recommends 1440 x 2560. Instagram's Edits team goes further on Instagram for Creators: "For the best quality, export at 2K, HDR, and 60 fps." It says Instagram prioritizes playback up to those settings, and that higher quality "can help your Reels reach more people."

Two of the top-ranking size guides say Instagram caps playback at 1080p, so anything bigger is wasted. Instagram's own team says otherwise. None of the guides we read mention Meta's 1440 x 2560 or the 2K advice.

Our call: 1080 x 1920 for talking-head Reels. Go to 1440 x 2560 only if you shot in 4K. Upscaling a 1080p file to 1440 x 2560 adds no detail. Then, in the app's Data usage and media quality settings, turn on Upload at highest quality.

Instagram Reel specs, with a source for every row

"None published" means we looked on Instagram's and Meta's pages and found no number.

Checked against Instagram's Help Center, Instagram for Creators and Meta's Ads Guide on October 26, 2026.

Length has its own trade-offs, so it has its own page: how long Instagram Reels can be, and why 3 minutes is the real line for reach.

Your profile grid shows only the middle of your Reel

Full screen shows all of a 9:16 Reel. Your profile grid shows a shorter slice from the middle, and the feed preview is widely reported to do the same. Both trim the top and bottom and keep the full width.

The grid changed in January 2025, when Instagram moved it from squares to rectangles. Instagram hasn't published the new shape. Most size guides give 3:4, and so did the summary Google showed above its results for "instagram reel size" on October 26. That fits the tallest photo Instagram now takes: the Help Center allows photos "between 1.91:1 and 3:4."

The feed preview is murkier. Guides say 4:5, and Instagram says nothing. Meta's own ad spec for video in the Instagram feed asks for full 9:16. If the feed does crop, it cuts where the grid does: the top and bottom of your frame. You can move the grid crop yourself, too. Instagram added a way to adjust how each post sits on your grid when it made the switch.

Here is the same picture in pixels, for a 1080 x 1920 Reel:

That last row is the one to design for. In plain terms, your face and your words belong between about 15% and 65% of the height. The band sits a little above the middle of the frame. Whether the feed shows 4:5 or something taller, the band holds.

The Reels safe zone: keep words out of the top 14% and bottom 35%

Instagram lays its own text and buttons over every Reel, so anything near the edges can end up underneath them. The one Reels safe zone Meta publishes is in its Ads Guide for Reels: leave "at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side" free of text and logos. On a 1080 x 1920 Reel, that's 269 pixels at the top, 672 at the bottom and 65 on each side.

It's written for ads. We found no version for regular Reels from Instagram or Meta, so it's the one to plan around. Meta's safe zone help page adds that on phones taller than 9:16, Meta "may either zoom the creative to better fill the whole screen" or show it with black space around it. A zoom crops past your edges, so the margin protects you there too.

The usual casualty is subtitles placed low in the frame, right where the caption and buttons sit. Move them up until their bottom edge clears the 35% line, about 1,248 pixels down.

In CreateSocial, subtitles go on automatically in 11 styles, and you can raise or lower them. Reels safe-zone guides in the editor show where Instagram's buttons sit.

Instagram recommends a 420 x 654 cover, but design it at 1080 x 1920

Instagram's Help Center says "the recommended size for cover photos is 420px by 654px (or 1:1.55 ratio)." That shape sits between the 9:16 Reel and the reported 3:4 grid tile. It's also small for a modern phone screen.

Our call: make the cover the same 1080 x 1920 as the Reel, and put the title in the middle band from the diagram. Then every crop works. Full screen shows the whole cover. The grid and the feed show the middle, which is where your words already are. If you use Instagram's 420 x 654 instead, keep the title in its middle too.

The cover is what a profile visitor sees in your grid, often before they watch anything. For a coach, that grid is a shop window. A row of covers with clear, readable topics ("Why your new manager says 'all good'") tells a visitor what you help with in one glance. Your Instagram bio and pinned posts do the rest.

CreateSocial makes vertical covers from your video and photos of you, three at a time. When you want to add the cover yourself in Instagram, tick "I'll finish this one in the app" as you schedule. At your time, a posting link arrives on your phone with the video, its caption and your cover ready to save, plus the line that tells you where it goes: in Instagram, tap Edit cover, then Add from camera roll.

Post 9:16, even though Instagram accepts wider

Instagram will take a 4:5, square or 16:9 video as a Reel. Post 9:16 anyway. Here's the case.

First, boosting. To boost a Reel from the app, Instagram says it "must be 90 seconds or less and have a full-screen (9:16) vertical format." A 4:5 Reel that takes off can't be boosted from the app. For a coach who wants to put money behind a Reel that's already bringing in DMs, that's a real cost.

Second, recommendations. Instagram for Creators tells creators to use "high-resolution, 9 x 16 vertical videos with no borders." Black bars are borders. A 16:9 video placed at full width in a 9:16 frame is 608 pixels tall, under a third of the screen, with empty space above and below.

The argument for 4:5 is the feed. Some creators post 4:5 Reels so their lower-third graphics never get cropped and the feed looks tidy. That trades the view where Reels are actually watched, full screen, for the preview. You don't have to choose. Shoot 9:16 and keep your face and words in the middle band, and the feed, the grid and full screen all show what you meant.

The hard case is a wide shot you can't reframe, like a panel of four people on stage. Crop to whoever is speaking anyway. One face at full height beats four faces in a strip.

How to resize a 16:9 video for Instagram Reels in 7 steps

To turn a widescreen video into a Reel, put it on a 1080 x 1920 canvas, scale it until it fills the frame, then slide it until your face sits in the middle band. In order:

1. Start from the biggest file you have. Our arithmetic: a 9:16 slice of a 1920 x 1080 video is only 608 x 1080 pixels. It has to be stretched about 1.8 times to reach 1080 x 1920, so it looks softer. From 4K (3840 x 2160), the same slice is 1,215 x 2,160 and stays sharp.
2. Set the canvas to 1080 x 1920. Not 1080 x 1350, and not square.
3. Fill the frame. Don't fit it. Scale the video until it covers the canvas from top to bottom. Fitting it leaves the 608-pixel strip with bars above and below.
4. Slide the crop to your face. Put your eyes in the top half of the band from 285 to 1,248 pixels down. If you move during the video, to a whiteboard for example, move the crop with you shot by shot.
5. Move every word into the band. Titles and subtitles go below the top 269 pixels and above the bottom 672.
6. Export an MP4 at 30 fps or more. Meta's Reels ad spec asks for H.264 and a fixed frame rate, a safe choice for any Reel. Use 1440 x 2560 only if you started from 4K.
7. Turn on Upload at highest quality before you upload, then check the cover crop before you share.

No editor on your computer? Instagram can do steps 3 and 4 itself. In the Reels editor, the Help Center says to select the clip, "Tap Crop on the bottom right," then "pinch the screen to scale, resize, or crop your video."

In CreateSocial, steps 2 to 5 happen in the editor. Open the video and click Switch to 9:16, which sets a 1080 x 1920 canvas and moves your subtitles and overlays into the new frame. Click Zoom to Fit to fill it, then drag the video until your face sits in the band. Raise the subtitles in their properties panel and drag any title into place.

Frame for 9:16 while you record, and you never resize

The easiest resize is the one you never do. Frame yourself for the vertical crop while you record, and the 16:9 and 9:16 versions both come out of one take. Recording the same answer twice, once per shape, is the kind of chore that kills a weekly habit.

The trick is a fixed setup. Put your camera in one place, mark where your head sits, and leave it there every week. As I put it in my video on making content without becoming a full-time creator, "Your goal isn't to build a beautiful studio. Your goal is to make recording boring." A boring setup is one where the crop is right every time.

CreateSocial's Dual mode shows you both frames while you record. It records 16:9 and draws a dashed 9:16 box on the preview, full height and centered, plus a small vertical preview. Stay inside the box and both versions keep you in frame. Later, Switch to 9:16 and Zoom to Fit in the editor turn that same file into the Reel. Recording a batch? Here is how to batch record a week of short videos in one sitting.

Your old recordings work too. Say a hypothetical career coach has a 40-minute workshop recorded in 16:9. Upload it, and Find Clips suggests up to five standalone clips of about 15 to 90 seconds, each with a strength score. Each clip becomes its own 9:16 video with subtitles, ready for Reels. The same clips work as YouTube Shorts too. On TikTok, they sit well inside TikTok's length limits.

How CreateSocial makes your Reels at the right size, every week

CreateSocial helps coaches and consultants build a personal brand that brings in clients, speaking gigs and customers, without content eating the week. It learns what you know and runs the whole content week, video and written: ideas, scripts, posts, recording, editing, covers and scheduling. Here is a week of Reels inside it, framed for every view.

• Ideas that start with a hook. Add your website, past videos and client stories to your knowledge base, and CreateSocial turns them into 80 personalized ideas a month, each with a hook and talking points or a full script. Pick a length like 30-60s and the script is written to it. Trending Now adds what your niche is talking about every Monday, and "Ask me first" asks you a few questions so the Reel tells your real story.
• Recorded in the right shape. Read off a teleprompter near your camera, at the pace you set. Each point is its own section, so a stumble costs one tap and one retake. At your desk, Dual mode frames the Reel and a YouTube version in one take, or you can record on the iPhone app.
• Cut to fit the frame. Delete a sentence from the transcript and it leaves the video. Remove Silences takes out the pauses in one click, and eye contact correction fixes the glances at your script. Subtitles go on in 11 styles, with Reels safe-zone guides to place them, and Switch to 9:16 turns a widescreen upload into a Reel.
• Reels from talks you already gave. Find Clips pulls standalone 9:16 clips from your webinars and talks, and can join a question from early on to its answer much later.
• Posted for you. Schedule to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and X, with a caption written for each platform, and we post it for you once your accounts are connected. Want your own cover on a Reel? Make a vertical one from your video and photos of you, tick "I'll finish this one in the app", and the posting link brings the Reel, its caption and the cover to your phone.
• The numbers in one place. The Analytics page gathers followers, views, likes, comments and shares from your connected Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.

Also in the one plan: competitor tracking, written posts with no video (LinkedIn posts, X threads, blog posts and emails to your list), LinkedIn carousels with PDF and PNG export, screen recording with your camera as a bubble, reaction videos in Layout or Stitch mode, virtual backgrounds with or without a real green screen, B-roll from free stock video, and YouTube thumbnails made from your video and photos of you.

Got an idea for how your Reels should come out? You can tell the person who builds it. I'm Ben Moore, and I built CreateSocial on my own, bootstrapped, here in Cincinnati, Ohio, so you talk to me directly. Feature requests come to me, and a lot of what customers ask for gets built. Before CreateSocial, my agency generated millions of followers and millions of dollars in revenue for its clients, and I've generated hundreds of millions of views.

It's $129 a month, or $99 a month billed annually, with no add-ons and no per-feature charges. Start your free trial and turn one widescreen video into a Reel today. Want a month of Reels mapped to your offer first? Book a free strategy call with me.

Check your last three Reels on your grid tonight

Open your profile and look at your last three Reels the way a visitor does. Then:

1. Note any cover where the grid cut off a face or a word, and adjust how it sits on the grid.
2. Open each one full screen and check whether the caption or buttons sit on your subtitles.
3. Set your next Reel at 1080 x 1920, with your face and words between 15% and 65% of the height.
4. Post it when your followers are on. Our guide to the best time to post Instagram Reels shows why the studies disagree.
5. Make sure the Reel sends viewers somewhere. The Instagram strategy for coaches maps the path from a Reel to a booked call.

A free CreateSocial trial gets that next Reel scripted, recorded, subtitled and framed for every view this week.