Instagram has a lot of formats and options that allow creators – like you – to produce amazing content. Daily, 500 million users watch Stories, and you have the option of posting up to 100 of your own per day.
But what are the Instagram Story dimensions and requirements?
What are the Instagram Story Dimensions?
Your Story should be in the 9:16 ratio. For reference, this ratio in pixels is often 1080px by 1920px, but it can be any size within these ratio constraints. You’ll need to be sure that the Story you’re trying to post is no larger than:
- 30 MB for an image
- 4 GB for a video
If you create a Story that is outside of the 9:16 ratio, you’ll have some of it cropped out automatically. Creating great content is all about precision, and instead of letting an algorithm crop the Story, you can do it yourself using an editing tool.
You can use virtually any smartphone that has been manufactured in the past 5+ years and take your video vertically to ensure that it’s in the ideal size for Instagram. Most phones will use the 1080 x 1920 ratio when using the camera vertically.
Photos or videos that aren’t in this aspect ratio will often be blurry, out of focus or cropped.
How Long Can Instagram Stories Be?
Instagram Stories were once constrained to just 15-second segments, but that changed toward the end of 2022 with an update. Now, Stories can have 60-second segments. If you have a video that is longer than 60 seconds, it will be broken down into additional segments.
Why are Instagram’s Story Dimensions Important?
Instagram shares their Story dimensions for a reason – they want you to create great content that looks awesome on any device.Â
When you create something for Instagram to share on your Stories, you want it to be of the highest quality.Â
If you’re not following the dimensions requirements, your content may look:
- Cropped
- Pixelated
Some parts of your image or video may be difficult to see.
That shrunken image or video may not look professional, or you may have to zoom in, which can reduce the quality even further.
Simply put, you want to make sure that your photos or videos look great when you share them to your Story. Choosing the right dimensions is how you achieve that goal.
How Much Text Can You Add to Stories?
Instagram allows you to add text to your Stories, which can make your content more engaging. But how much text should you add?
Experts recommend adding no more than 125 characters to Stories. Why? Because you don’t want to lose sight of the image or video you’re posting.
Keep it short and sweet.Â
Also, try to keep your text in the “safe zone,” which means keeping about 250 pixels on the top and bottom free from Stories elements.
Let’s say that you want to ask a question. Adding the question element too far down on the post will make it difficult to interact with.Â
Always keep Instagram’s Stories dimensions in mind when adding text and elements, so you don’t lose engagement.
Wrapping Up
Following Instagram’s Story dimensions and requirements will help you create better content that your followers love. These requirements aren’t meant to hinder your creativity. They’re just meant to ensure that your content is seen and heard by people on all devices and is of high quality.
