Instagram Photo Format Is No Longer Limited To A Square

Did you know that you’re no longer restricted to square photos on Instagram?

Now when you upload a photo or video to Instagram, you have a few more options than before…like showing an entire photo, even if it’s on the longer (portrait) or wider (landscape) side.

Any image with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 4:5 will be supported. I know, you’re like WHAT? Here’s an illustration, including the optimal Instagram sizes in pixels and inches, to help you understand this ratio aspect.

One of the coolest features of this newest update is that the different shapes won’t mess up the look of your feed. No matter what shape you choose, your profile grid will still appear as a center-cropped square. And once you click on the photo, it will appear as the shape you chose.

How to upload a photo to Instagram as a portrait or landscape?

Once you’ve selected a photo (or video) from your phone library, you will now see a format icon button above the camera roll.

1. The new photo shapes are accessed by tapping the format icon in the lower left of the photo. You can use this button to toggle between square and full-size images.
2. You can touch the screen to move the photo and adjust how it fits within the frame.
3. Tap NEXT in the upper right corner to apply the effects.

Once you share it, the photo will appear as a portrait or landscape in the feed.

Background/History.

Instagram originally used square photos to distinguish itself from other photo-sharing apps. Also, the square shape looked better on smaller phone screens and helped provide a more consistent look as you scrolled down the feed.

But as phone screen sizes have increased, and the platform has evolved, the restrictive format left many people frustrated because they had to modify their photos to fit into the square frame.

Now that the Instagram photo format is no longer limited to a square, I have a lot more visual content freedom to the photos I share… and don’t have to crop out parts of my images to fit the old format! What do you think of the new Instagram photo format?