Instagram Carousel Size: Dimensions, Ratios and Slide Limit

What is an Instagram carousel?

An Instagram carousel is a single post that holds several photos or videos, which people swipe through one by one. Instagram's Help Center describes it as sharing up to 20 photos and videos as a single post.

Each slide in a carousel can be a photo or a video, and you can mix both in the same post. Likes and comments apply to the whole carousel rather than to single slides, so all slides add up to one post's results.

Carousels are popular for tutorials, before-and-after sets, product ranges, event recaps and step-by-step guides. Because people swipe, a carousel can hold far more information than a single photo.

Carousels also suit saves. A post that holds a full guide in one place is easy to bookmark and come back to, which is why tutorials and checklists so often appear as carousels.

Instagram carousel size and dimensions for 2026

The ideal Instagram carousel size is 1,080 pixels wide, with a height between 566 and 1,440 pixels. Instagram's Help Center says photos in that range keep their original resolution.

How Instagram handles other sizes

The Help Center sets out three rules. Photos wider than 1,080 pixels are reduced to 1,080 pixels wide. Photos narrower than 320 pixels are enlarged to 320 pixels. Photos outside the 1.91:1 to 3:4 range are cropped to fit a supported ratio.

Export your slides at exactly 1,080 pixels wide. That way Instagram has nothing to shrink, stretch or trim.

Most phone cameras shoot photos at 3:4, so a photo straight from your camera roll usually fits the tallest carousel shape with no crop. Design apps let you set a custom canvas of 1080 x 1440 for graphics.

Why 3:4 is now the tallest carousel size

The 3:4 ratio (1080 x 1440) became the tallest supported size for Instagram photos in 2025. Before that, the tallest option was 4:5.

Two changes led here. In January 2025, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that the profile grid would move from square tiles to taller rectangles, since most uploads are vertical. Then on 29 May 2025, Mosseri announced on Threads that Instagram now supports 3:4 photos for single posts and carousels. He described 3:4 as the shape almost every phone camera uses by default, as reported by 9to5Mac.

Instagram's Help Center now lists 1.91:1 to 3:4 as the supported range. Square and 4:5 posts still work. They simply take up less screen height than 3:4.

Instagram carousel slide limit: how many slides you can add

The Instagram carousel slide limit is 20 photos and videos per post. Instagram raised it from 10 to 20 for everyone in August 2024.

According to Social Media Today, Instagram first raised the limit to 15 in March 2024, then rolled out 20 slides to all users. The Help Center confirms the current figure of up to 20 photos and videos in one post.

More slides are not always better. A clear 6 to 10 slide carousel often tells a story better than 20 crowded ones. Use the extra room when the content truly needs it, such as a 15-step tutorial or a full product range.

If a scheduling tool stops you below 20 slides, post the carousel directly in the Instagram app instead.

Mixing photos and videos in one carousel

You can mix photos and videos in one Instagram carousel, up to 20 items in total. Every item follows the same orientation.

Instagram's Help Center sets these rules for mixed carousels:

• The orientation you choose (square, portrait or landscape) applies to all photos and videos in the post. You cannot set a different shape per slide.
• You can adjust how each item is cropped before you continue.
• Videos inside a carousel are not counted as Reels and do not appear in your Reels tab.
• Posts with several videos can take longer to upload, so use a steady connection.

Plan every slide at the same size from the start. A landscape video dropped into a 3:4 carousel will be cropped, and the sides of the frame may be cut off.

How to post an Instagram carousel

To post an Instagram carousel, start a new post, turn on multi-select and pick up to 20 photos or videos. Then edit, caption and share.

1. Tap Create (the plus icon), or swipe right from your Feed.
2. Choose Post, then tap the multi-select option.
3. Pick up to 20 photos and videos in the order you want them.
4. Adjust the crop on each item if needed, then tap Next.
5. Apply one filter to all items, or edit each item on its own.
6. Tap and hold an item, then drag it to a new spot to reorder it, or drag it to the bin to remove it.
7. Write your caption, add a location and tag people on individual slides.
8. Tap Share.

You can write one caption for the whole post. Instagram's Help Center also lets you add a separate caption for each item if each slide needs its own note.

Editing a carousel after posting

After sharing, you can reorder slides, remove photos or videos, and edit the caption, location and tags from the post's three-dot menu. You cannot add new photos or videos to a carousel that is already live, so check every slide before you share.

Carousel ideas that earn saves

Carousels earn saves when they give people something to use again. Reference content beats one-off moments.

• Step-by-step tutorials. One step per slide, with the result on the last slide.
• Checklists. A packing list, launch checklist or weekly plan people can return to.
• Before and after. Show the change, then the steps that made it.
• Comparisons. Two products, two methods or two prices side by side.
• Cheat sheets. Key numbers, sizes or settings on one slide people can screenshot or save.
• Myth versus fact. One myth per slide with a short, plain correction.

Put the promise on slide one, such as "7 steps to a cleaner kitchen", so people know the post is worth keeping. To track how many people saved it, see how to see who saved your Instagram post.

Design tips for a clean carousel

A clean Instagram carousel keeps the same size, fonts and margins on every slide. Consistency makes the post feel like one piece rather than a pile of images.

• Export every slide at 1080 x 1440 or 1080 x 1350, and never mix sizes.
• Keep key text away from the edges. Since 2025 the profile grid shows tall rectangular tiles, so a square first slide is cropped at the sides in the grid preview.
• Use large text that reads easily on a phone screen.
• Number your slides when order matters, such as 1/8, 2/8 and so on.
• End with a clear final slide that sums up the post.

Once a carousel is live, some accounts buy Instagram saves to add social proof to it. Bought saves raise the total, but they do not create real fans or sales by themselves, and they are not risk-free. A carousel worth keeping still does the real work. To read your results afterwards, see our guide to what Instagram Insights mean.