Make every Reel 1080 × 1920 pixels in a vertical 9:16 frame and you avoid most blurry, cropped, or badly framed videos. The remaining problems come from details people skip: where Instagram's buttons sit on top of your video, how your cover gets cropped on your profile, and what your editing app does to the file on export.
The core specs at a glance
| Spec | Use this | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 vertical | Fills a phone screen edge to edge |
| Resolution | 1080 × 1920 px | Avoid going below 720 px wide |
| File type | MP4 (H.264 video, AAC audio) | MOV also works |
| Frame rate | 30 fps | 24 or 60 fps are fine if you stay consistent |
| Length | Up to 3 minutes | This limit has changed several times |
| Cover image | 1080 × 1920 px, JPG or PNG | The profile grid shows the center 3:4 area |
Instagram adjusts its limits often, especially maximum length. If a number here doesn't match what you see in your editor, trust the app.
Aspect ratio and resolution
A 9:16 frame is the shape of a phone held upright. If you hold your phone vertically and record normally, you're already shooting 9:16. The usual mistakes are filming horizontally out of habit or using a square or 4:3 mode that some camera apps offer.
Here's what happens with other shapes:
- Horizontal 16:9 video shows up as a thin strip with empty space above and below, or you have to zoom in and lose most of the frame.
- 4:5 or square video leaves bars at the top and bottom. It plays, but it looks like a feed post that wandered into the wrong place.
If you have to use horizontal footage, don't just zoom until it fills the screen. That throws away resolution and usually cuts off your subject. Instead, place the clip on a 9:16 canvas in your editor and use the empty space on purpose: a headline above the clip, subtitles below it.
For resolution, 1080 × 1920 is the target. Shooting in 4K is fine and gives you room to reframe, but export the final video at 1080 × 1920. Instagram plays Reels back at around 1080p, so a 4K upload mostly means a bigger file that gets compressed anyway. Anything under 720 pixels wide tends to look soft on current phones.
Safe zones: where Instagram covers your video
Your Reel never plays on a clean screen. Instagram lays its interface over it:
- Top: the Reels header and camera icon.
- Right side: the like, comment, share, and more buttons, plus the audio thumbnail.
- Bottom: your username, the follow button, the caption, the audio name, and on many phones the system navigation bar. A long caption that someone taps to expand covers even more.
Exact positions shift between phone sizes and app versions, so there's no single pixel-perfect answer. A conservative working box on a 1080 × 1920 canvas looks like this:
- Keep the top 250 px clear.
- Keep the bottom 400 px clear.
- Keep the right 150 px clear.
- Leave about 60 px on the left so nothing touches the edge.
That leaves a safe area roughly 870 pixels wide and 1,270 pixels tall, sitting slightly left of center. Headlines, subtitles, prices, product names, and anything else people need to read belong inside it.
The easiest way to stick to this is to build a guide image once. Make a transparent 1080 × 1920 PNG with those margins shaded in, add it as the top layer in your editor while you work, and hide or delete it before you export. After a few Reels you'll place text in the right spot without it.
If you plan to boost a Reel or run it as an ad, leave extra room at the bottom, because ads add a call-to-action button there. For styling and placing subtitles, see how to add captions and subtitles to Reels.
File format, codec, and frame rate
Container and codec
MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the most dependable combination, and MOV files upload fine too. Many iPhones record in HEVC (H.265) by default. That usually works, but if an upload fails or looks wrong after posting, re-export as H.264. For audio, stereo AAC at 44.1 or 48 kHz is standard, and most phone editors choose it for you.
Frame rate
30 fps is the safe default. 24 fps gives a slightly more cinematic feel, and 60 fps helps with fast motion like sports or quick hand movements. Consistency matters more than the number: mixing 24, 30, and 60 fps clips on one timeline can cause stutter. Pick one rate, set your project to it, and export at that same rate. Converting a 30 fps clip to 60 fps on export adds nothing.
Bitrate and HDR
If your editor lets you choose a bitrate, something around 10–20 Mbps for a 1080p export is a sensible target. Go much lower and Instagram's compression has less detail to work with; go much higher and you just get a bigger file and a slower upload.
Many phones now record HDR video by default, and HDR footage can look different after upload, sometimes too bright, sometimes flat. If your Reels look off once posted, turn off HDR video in your camera settings or export in standard (SDR) color, then compare.
One more setting: Instagram has an option to upload at the highest quality, in the app's settings under media quality. Turn it on. Uploads take longer on a slow connection, but the app stops shrinking your file before it reaches Instagram.
Length limits
At the time of writing, Instagram lets you make Reels up to 3 minutes long, after raising the cap from 90 seconds in early 2025. What happens with longer uploads depends on your account and app version, and this is the spec most likely to change, so check the limit your editor shows when you add clips.
The maximum is a ceiling, not a target. Most Reels work better well under it. The guide on how long a Reel should be covers picking a length based on what the video needs to do.
Cover image and grid crop
Your cover is the still image people see on your profile before they tap. Make it 1080 × 1920 pixels, JPG or PNG, either a frame from the video or an image you upload.
The catch is cropping. Since early 2025, the main profile grid has shown posts as vertical 3:4 tiles instead of squares. On a 9:16 cover, the grid shows roughly the middle 1080 × 1440 pixels and trims about 240 pixels from the top and the bottom. Some other places, like message previews or older app versions, can crop tighter.
Two rules keep you covered:
- Put the cover's essential text and faces inside the center 1080 × 1440 area.
- For maximum safety, keep the most important words inside the center 1080 × 1080 square.
When you set the cover in the app, you can usually drag to adjust how it sits in the grid preview, so check it there before posting. For layout and consistency ideas, read the full guide to Reels cover images.
Quick checklist
- Project and export set to 1080 × 1920 at 9:16.
- One frame rate throughout, usually 30 fps.
- MP4 file with H.264 video and AAC audio.
- Text inside the safe box, clear of the top, the bottom, and the right edge.
- Cover's key content inside the center 3:4 area.
- Highest-quality upload turned on.
- Final export watched full screen on your phone before you post.