Resize an image for Instagram Stories – 1080 × 1920 px

Stories, Reels and WhatsApp Status all use the same vertical 9:16 format at 1080 × 1920 pixels. The hard part is not the size but the placement: profile picture, name and progress bar sit at the top, the reply field at the bottom.

Format: Instagram Story (9:16) · 1080 × 1920 pixels · aspect ratio 9:16

Instagram Story / Reel (9:16) 1080 × 1920 px

Format Quick Switch

Image Source 100% local

Choose New Image

Zoom & Scaling 100%

Safe-Zone Overlay Guides for interface elements

Background For PNG crops

Remove background Simple · no model

For plain backgrounds (product photos, scans). No model, ready instantly.

Tolerance 45

Touch-up No mode active

Pick a mode, then click in the image or drag with the mouse held down. The connected area there is corrected.

Format

Quality

Transparent cut-out: set Background → Transparent. JPEG cannot store transparency.

For web developers

Instagram Story (9:16) Live Render & Retina Export

Switch Mockup Template Live Sync

Author / Name

Handle / Role

Avatar Image Round PNG/JPG

Select

Post Image No image selected

Load Image

Story export mode 9:16

Chat design & cut-out Social Proof

Color scheme:

Background Automatic

Applies to chat and story templates. Without a custom choice, the template default is used.

Post / message text

Show text 0 characters

Images → PDF No images Source images total: –

Page settings

Page format Image in the page frame Margin Background Image size in the PDF Add page numbers

PDF title (optional) Author (optional)

The images are processed entirely in this browser. Nothing is uploaded – you can verify this yourself in the network panel of your browser developer tools.

Images and order

Drag images here

or · Paste with Ctrl+V

Multiple selection possible · JPG, PNG, WebP

No images yet. The order in this list becomes the page order of the PDF.

Instagram Story size: 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)

A Story is 1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 ratio. Instagram then covers part of it: the profile bar sits at the top, the reply field and the swipe-up area at the bottom, and those bands are where most Story graphics fail. The safe-zone guides in the tool mark both regions on the canvas, so you can see what stays visible before you post.

Photographs rarely arrive in 9:16. Rather than stretching them, the tool crops: zoom in and drag the visible area until the subject sits where you want it, and keep any text inside the middle band. Stretching would distort faces, which the eye notices immediately; cropping keeps the proportions intact. Export at exactly 1080 × 1920 pixels in PNG for graphics and lettering, JPEG for photos. A 2× export is available when the Story will also be used as a still for a landing page or a paid placement.

If you post the same image across formats, the Reel cover tool produces the 420 × 654 cover and the portrait grid tool the 1080 × 1440 feed version – one photo, three correctly cropped files, and none of them leaves your device.

Good to know

The guides on this page mark exactly those two areas. Important text belongs in the free middle section – otherwise the app interface covers it.

Related tools

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Three questions about the 1080 × 1920 Story format – where Instagram covers your image, and how to keep it sharp.

How much of the Story do the profile bar and the reply field cover?

Instagram draws the profile bar across the top and the reply field plus the swipe area across the bottom; the guides in this tool reserve roughly the top and bottom seventh for them. Both bands are always present. Anything that has to be read – a headline, a price, a call to action – belongs in the middle, not at the edges.

Should I crop or stretch a photo that is not 9:16?

Crop. Stretching changes the proportions, and faces are what the eye notices first, so a squashed portrait reads as a mistake even when nobody can name why. Cropping keeps every element in proportion and only decides which part of the photo is shown – zoom and drag the frame until the subject sits where you want it.

What keeps text sharp in a Story?

Export as PNG. Instagram recompresses images on upload, and JPEG damages exactly what text is made of: sharp edges and fine contrasts. PNG produces a larger file, but for a graphic with lettering the difference in legibility after Instagram has processed it is plainly visible. Use JPEG only for photographs without text.