From looking for a man in finance, Cillian Murphy moments, and all those Stanley cups—Instagram Reels have proved to be an extremely popular video format in 2024 for all industries and business verticals.
Instagram Reels help you showcase short, captivating videos brimming with entertainment and ingenuity to show off your brand personality, promote your offers, and, if you have luck by your side—go viral.
To make the best use of the video format, you need to make sure you choose the right Instagram Reel size and your video dimensions are perfect.
Why do Instagram Reel sizes and dimensions matter
Creating an Instagram Reel takes a lot of work. You have to find an attention-grabbing hook, set up characters, act it out, select catchy background music, and add other enhancements like text or stickers.
All of your prep can go to waste if your Reel images or videos look stretched or distorted because you uploaded the assets with the wrong dimensions or size.
If the Reel video is too large, you could experience an awkward crop, or if you have low-resolution assets, your final Reel could look pixelated or blown up to fill the screen.
If you want your Reel to fulfill its reach potential and attract attention, you need to be mindful of the Instagram reel sizes and dimensions in 2024.
Also, be mindful that Instagram goes through regular updates so these specs could change.
Instagram Reels dimension and size specs 2024
Instagram Reels currently accept video uploads in MP4 or MOV file formats. Both allow for easy, high-speed uploading without stripping detail and compromising the quality of the video.
Instagram Reel cover size
Recommended upload size: 1080 pixels x 1920 pixels
Aspect ratio: 9:16
This vertical aspect ratio is ideal for viewing Reels on mobile devices. Here’s how to select your Instagram Reel cover:
- Create an Instagram Reel and tap Next
- Go to the share settings. Tap on the preview image (the one that says Cover)
- Add a frame from your video, or tap Add from the camera roll to browse through your photos
- If you want to crop the image, just tap Crop profile image on the Share settings screen and then reposition or zoom in or out
Instagram Reel Thumbnail size
Recommended upload size: 1080 pixels x 1920 pixels
Aspect ratio: 1:1
Display size: 1080 pixels x 1080 pixels
Once you’ve selected your preferred image for the Instagram Reels cover, you can crop it for a grid-worthy thumbnail for your main feed.
While the cover is in 9:16 proportion, the thumbnail visible on your feed crops is a 1:1 square. So, to get the best visual results you should select an image that’s 1080 pixels x 1920 pixels but has a 1080 pixel x 1080 pixel area so you have enough room for a comfortable crop.
Instagram Reels compression size
Instagram will automatically size down any visual asset over 1080 pixels wide to 1080 pixels. Your images and videos also need to be a minimum of 320 pixels wide; if you upload something smaller, it will be resized up to 320 pixels automatically.
When you upload a photo with a width between 320 and 1080 pixels,
Instagram keeps the photo at its original resolution as long as its aspect ratio is between 1.91:1 and 4:5 (e.g., a height between 566 and 1350 pixels with a width of 1080 pixels).
However, if your photo’s aspect ratio isn’t supported, it will be cropped to fit a supported ratio. If you share a photo at a lower resolution, the platform enlarges it to a width of 320 pixels. If you share a photo at a higher resolution, they size it down to a width of 1080 pixels.
Instagram Reels size ratio: 9:16
In full-screen mode, the Reels appear in a 9:16 ratio.
However, when an Instagram user looks at your Reel in their main feed, the video is cropped to a ratio of 4:5. That’s almost two-thirds of the size of a full-screen viewing experience, so it’s best to keep the vital parts of the video away from the edges of the frame.
Instagram Reel length
Instagram allows your Reels to be from 15 to 90 seconds long when you’re recording your Reel directly from Instagram’s camera.
But if you upload Reels through a third-party tool, like CapCut or VEED, your Reel can be anywhere from 3 seconds to 15 minutes long.
Instagram Reels caption length
Adding a caption helps you add context to your reel. You can include emojis for visual engagement and hashtags for visibility. You can type a caption up to 2,200 characters (including spaces and emojis) to describe your Instagram Reel.
Use Instagram Reels to engage audiences
Instagram Reels allow you to hop on trends, entertain prospects, and show off the bits that make you different.
If you want to use the engagement from the Reels to help you with conversions, start setting up Instagram ads and connecting them to dedicated landing pages.
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