You’ve just got to grips with Instagram Stories, on your Instagram profile (where your profile icon is), and now you’re hit with a curveball. That curveball is knowing the best Instagram story size dimensions!  Heck, you’ve never heard about them before – but suddenly your story highlights don’t look as good as you imagined.  Argh, it’s annoying, isn’t it?

Why is it that your IG Stories just don’t look as good as everyone else’s?  Surely, you’ve done everything you should do?

You’ve Got Your Instagram Story Dimensions Wrong!

Well, guess what?  We know exactly why!  It’s all about the image and vertical video size – important visual elements for photos and videos.  If you get it wrong, you can be sure that your Instagram stories will fail to deliver the impact you wanted.  Get them spot on and fantastic, when you create Instagram stories, they look absolutely incredible!

We’re going to give you a sneak peek and share some important and thoroughly deeper level useful information relating to IG story size dimensions, so you optimize your IG stories to the highest quality and your followers enjoy them.

First, though, let’s just talk about Instagram’s new features and algorithms but it’s not just about Instagram.  With more and more social media platforms appearing every few months, there are an abundance of exciting, relevant page new features and algorithms.

Once you’ve got to grips them, you then need to keep an eye on them because they keep getting updated, and that’s to ensure the best user experience in an Instagram feed.

Staying Abreast of Instagram’s New Features

You’ve just got to grips with Instagram Stories, on your Instagram profile (where your profile icon is), and now you’re hit with a curveball. That curveball is knowing the best Instagram story size dimensions! Heck, you’ve never heard about them before – but suddenly your story highlights don’t look as good as you imagined. Argh, it’s annoying, isn’t it? Why is it that your IG Stories just don’t look as good as everyone else’s? Surely, you’ve done everything you should do? You’ve Got Your Instagram Story Dimensions Wrong! Well, guess what? We know exactly why! It’s all about the image and vertical video size – important visual elements for photos and videos. If you get it wrong, you can be sure that your Instagram stories will fail to deliver the impact you wanted. Get them spot on and fantastic, when you create Instagram stories, they look absolutely incredible! We’re going to give you a sneak peek and share some important and thoroughly deeper level useful information relating to IG story size dimensions, so you optimize your IG stories to the highest quality and your followers enjoy them. First, though, let’s just talk about Instagram’s new features and algorithms but it’s not just about Instagram. With more and more social media platforms appearing every few months, there are an abundance of exciting, relevant page new features and algorithms. Once you’ve got to grips them, you then need to keep an eye on them because they keep getting updated, and that’s to ensure the best user experience in an Instagram feed. Staying Abreast of Instagram’s New Features

If you want to take your business profile or brand to the next level, it goes without saying that you have to stay abreast of what’s emerging on the popular social media networking platform.  As Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms of all – if you’re using it to build your own Influencer brand or to build up your business’s social media presence then you need to know more about the features of Instagram, most especially Instagram Stories.

Let’s get started with this blog post then.

Using Instagram Stories

A magnetic post is getting likes and views which are incredible things.

Video is huge at the moment and a key trend for social media.  So, it will come as no surprise to you to hear that creating Instagram Stories is huge!

As it is, Instagram has more than 1 billion active monthly users so it is not a platform that any business can ignore, most especially when it comes to growing your brand.  Combine that figure with the video trend and if you’re not using it, you are missing out on prospective customers and growing your online presence.

You can use Instagram Stories to highlight interviews, new product launches, new services, as an instruction video, behind-the-scenes look at your business, to create an individual story about your company culture – anything you want!  Don’t forget, you can add call to action and also add links if you want.

Here’s another way to look at it. Did you know that 90% of personal Instagram accounts follow at least one business on Instagram? You can also bet that they follow many more than just one business or brand – so you really do need to get it absolutely spot on for best engagement.

Are You Missing Out on Gaining Real Instagram Followers?

A lost man is trying to find ways to gain more real Instagram followers.

So you must be convinced by now.  If you’re not leveraging Instagram Stories, you are missing business.  You are also missing out on gaining real Instagram followers which, is your end goal right?

Why Instagram Stories Are Brilliant for Brands and Businesses

A colorful circle written "why Instagram story?" in it.

There are so many excellent reasons why you should be using the power of Instagram Stories.  They are brilliant for brands and businesses to highlight their products and services plus they give you an extra avenue where you can interact with your audience and grow relationships.

When you use Instagram Stories (with the right Instagram Stories Dimensions’ of course), you share valuable, trusted content that gives your followers confidence in your business and builds brand loyalty.

The other bonus is that you get to build likes to grow your social media presence.

TOP TIP COMING UP!

Are you struggling to gain more Instagram likes?  Why not use a tried and tested – and genuine –  Instagram likes app.

Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Must Include Instagram Stories

Social media marketing strategies are always important for you to boost your engagement.

Whether you’ve already built your social media marketing Instagram strategy for the coming months, or you are in the process of creating one, you need to include Instagram Stories as part of your marketing mix.

Your strategy for Instagram Stories should involve carefully evaluating what images and Instagram videos you want to share or if you want to share photos with your audience.  It should also detail what you want to share and when.

As well as the above, you need to conduct a competitive analysis to see what your competition do well on stories – and what they don’t do as well.  Capitalize on any hidden opportunity!

Get to Grips With Instagram Stories’ Dimensions

A business man is using Instagram story dimensions to announce his news.

However good your Instagram Stories marketing strategy, you do need to understand Instagram story dimensions and why they are important details when it comes to your overall social media marketing strategy.

They are vitally important to ensure your business looks like a slick, professional operation.  Mess up your Instagram stories’ dimensions, and you could instantly lose credibility amongst your audience.

It’s All About the Dimensions of Your Story

As it sounds, Instagram stories’ dimensions relate to the size of your story.

Take Note of the Following Dimensions

There is a post written "Please Note" on it.

The optimal custom dimensions for an IG story are:

  • 1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels tall, and an aspect ratio of 9:16.
  • There’s a minimum width of 500 pixels and a maximum length of 15 seconds per video.
  • You can also only use MP4, MOV or GIF formats.

Those are the perfect dimensions to use for your Instagram Stories and to ensure that your user generated content always displays well, that’s what you should always use.

Use Your Phone to Capture Instagram Stories and Get the Right Instagram Story Dimensions 

Almost every Instagram Story user uses a phone (iOS or Android) to record their information and that means the dimensions are probably 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels to get the best views on Instagram.  This is good news because it means you don’t need to resize your video.

What Happens When You Don’t Record Instagram Stories Using a Smartphone?

Always use the quality recording apps for better visuality on Instagram.

However, there are still plenty of Instagram users that don’t use a smartphone to create content and their video content.  So, if you use another camera or custom setup you’ll need to use a video editing app to ensure you’re using the right dimensions such as Adobe.

We urge you not to ignore Instagram Story Dimensions as it makes sure your user experience is as good as possible and therefore increases engagement, build your audience, and turn your audience into paying customers.

The Importance of Instagram Story Dimensions 

As mentioned above, Instagram Story Dimensions are there for a reason and that is to make sure your story is of high quality. They’re suited to most mobile devices and give you confidence that your story is displayed as perfectly as possible, no matter the operating system or screen resolution.

Preventing Pixelation

Using Canva as an editing app will help you shine on Instagram.

The Instagram Story dimensions also give your story a professional finish and stop pixelation.  If your Instagram Story Dimensions aren’t optimized then your images or video files won’t be displayed as you wish, so we’d recommend pre-sizing your images and video using Instagram photo editing apps such as Canva.

The Best Instagram Story Dimension Image Size

Always be awawre of the sizes of the images to get more quality from Instagram

For your Instagram Story image, the best size is 1080 pixels with a 9:16 same aspect ratio.

Instagram allows PNG, GIF and JPEG formats and if you want to, you can use Instagram’s Layout feature or add up to 10 images at once for your Instagram Story.

The Safe Zone

Instagram stories have safe zones for you to have better experience.

Do pay attention to the image size so you don’t end up with an image or video that’s cut off.  There is a safe zone, and this relates to the area in your Instagram Story where the content isn’t obstructed.

If your quality content is obstructed, Instagram will display blue lines when you try and move your content out of the recommended dimensions.  Often this happens when you add stickers or GIFs.

On a positive note, Instagram gives many users guidelines when adding bonus important elements to your Story so you can position them correctly, without obstruction.

Your Instagram Business Account Needs Instagram Story Dimensions

You will get 5 stars performance from Instagram when you use the story dimensions right!

If you have a personal account, your Instagram Story Dimensions won’t matter as much because you probably don’t care too much about a professional finish, you might care about other elements such as the fun factor or being spontaneous as a great example.

However, if you have an Instagram business account, you’ll likely only want a professional finish and to make sure that what you’re highlighting has an unobstructed view with strong presence.

Adding Polls, Questions and Stickers – and Story Dimensions

If you want to add polls, questions, or stickers, you also need to allow for extra room in your frame, so you don’t obstruct whatever’s taking center-stage.

Useful Tips 

Check out the websites to learn more about useful tips to use on Instagram.

Here are some useful tips for Instagram Story Tips:

  • Make sure you are creating content that is of good enough quality before you post it to Instagram.  Instagram automatically compresses images while uploading, so if you have a grainy image or if your video is already pixelated, the end result will be even worse!  To combat this, check you are creating images that are at the minimum 72 ppi resolution before uploading.
  • Always upload the correct dimensions, size, shape, and aspect.  When you upload an image or video that’s vertical, don’t worry because Instagram will automatically format both.  For horizontal photographs that don’t fit the Instagram Story Dimensions, you’ll find that Instagram crops them and zooms in or out.  The end result will be a low-quality image so adhere to the 9:16 ratio required.
  • Use the photo editing apps that are available as they help you control the image quality of your Instagram posts, and make sure that you use the correct Instagram Story Dimensions.
  • Always upload vertical content (vertical posts) and horizontal photos (you don’t get the same overall finish with a portrait photo, vertical photo, or square photos) to get the best results.  Stories on Instagram are always better when they’re displayed vertically.  If your content doesn’t work well in a vertical photos’ format, think about using something else for Stories, and post your horizontal image as a regular Instagram post instead to avoid problems.
  • Take care to keep your posts under 30MB in file size because Instagram only accepts up to 30 MB.  This should still give you plenty of scope.

Fixing The Quality of Your Great Instagram Stories 

Fix the quality of Instagram stories by using editing apps.

You obviously want best quality stories. If you have a quality issue when uploading videos or images, there are certain things you can do to correct the problems.  Let’s look at how to troubleshoot blurring quality problems with Instagram Stories.

Blurry Story?

Here’s what to do if your Story has a blurred effect.

This could be because Instagram has compressed your video or image, or the dimensions or aspect ratio is incorrect.  To rectify this, check the quality of your image and the file size.  It should be at leastb72 ppi, if it’s not, then you’ll need to create a better version so that it doesn’t appear pixelated.  Then, double check the story dimensions and use the recommended 1080 x 1920-pixel size.

You should also check the quality using a different device to make sure, because sometimes the reason you get a blurring effect is because your connection is slow.  Other users might be viewing your story without any blurring.  Still got a problem?  Turn off Data Saver, this feature could be reducing your Story quality.

If you’re still hitting a brick wall, try different cameras.  The in-app camera might give you a better result than your device camera, and vice versa.

Final Thoughts

Any business using Instagram Stories wants to get the best finish, as when images don’t look great, it sends the wrong message to your followers.

We strongly recommend that you spend time getting to grips with Instagram Story Dimensions so that you only post Instagram Stories with superior quality images and videos– your followers will enjoy your posts so much more when they look terrific – and you will enjoy far greater engagement.