Instagram sizes look simple until a result graphic loses part of a crest on the profile grid, or a story hides the score behind the reply bar. This guide lists the sizes that matter for sports graphics in 2026, along with the crops and safe zones that trip clubs up most often.
Quick reference
| Use | Aspect ratio | Size in pixels | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait feed post | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 | The safe default for result cards |
| Tall portrait feed post | 3:4 | 1080 × 1440 | Supported since mid-2025 |
| Square feed post | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 | Takes up less of the screen than 4:5 |
| Landscape feed post | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 | Rarely the right shape for sports graphics |
| Story or Reel | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 | Full screen, with interface at top and bottom |
Instagram's maximum width for feed images is 1080 pixels. Export at exactly that width, so the app doesn't have to resample your type on upload.
Feed posts: why 4:5 is the default
A 4:5 portrait post fills more of the phone screen than a square, and for a sports graphic that extra height is room for a bigger score, a quarter line and a sponsor band. It's the format we recommend for result cards.
In late May 2025, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced support for 3:4 photos, the native shape of most phone cameras (PetaPixel covered the change). That's good news for photographers. For graphics, 4:5 is still the safer choice, because design templates, scheduling tools and other platforms have supported it for years.
Landscape posts have their place for wide team photos. For a result card they waste most of the screen, and the score ends up smaller than it would be on any other format.
The profile grid crop
In January 2025, Instagram replaced the square profile grid with taller rectangular tiles. Most published measurements put the tile at 3:4. A 4:5 post is slightly wider than that, so on your profile it loses a thin strip on each side. Planoly measures the visible area of a 1080 × 1350 post at 1013 × 1350 pixels, which works out to roughly 33 pixels per side.
For sports graphics the fix is easy. Keep the score, crests and team names at least 50 pixels from the left and right edges, and the grid crop never touches anything important.
Square and landscape posts fit the taller tiles less well than 4:5 posts do, so a grid built from them looks uneven. Instagram has since added a way to adjust how a post's thumbnail appears on your profile, which helps with older posts. It's still less work to design for the crop than to fix every post by hand.
Consistency matters on the grid too. When every result card uses the same layout and colors, the profile reads as one club at a glance. We cover the layout side of that in how to make water polo match graphics for Instagram.
Stories and Reels: the 9:16 safe zones
Stories and Reels are 1080 × 1920. The whole frame is visible, but Instagram puts its own interface on top of it, with the account name and progress bar at the top and the reply bar and buttons at the bottom.
Meta's guidance for Stories ads is to leave roughly 14% of the height at the top (about 250 pixels) and 20% at the bottom (about 340 pixels) free of text and logos. The same margins work for organic stories. That leaves a band of about 1330 pixels in the middle for anything people need to read.
Reels carry more interface than stories. The caption and audio label sit at the bottom, and a column of buttons runs down the right side. If a graphic will appear in a Reel, keep text higher in the frame and away from the right edge as well.
For a result story, that means the score sits in the upper middle of the frame, the sponsor band goes above the bottom margin, and the very top is left to the background. If you're placing sponsor logos, our guide to sponsor posts for amateur clubs covers where they belong.
Carousels
Every slide in a carousel takes the aspect ratio of the first slide. If the first slide is 4:5 and the second is 9:16, the second one gets cropped. For a match recap carousel, make every slide 4:5. A good order is the result, then top scorers, then two or three photos, then a sponsor thank-you at the end.
Export settings that keep type sharp
- Exact pixel sizes. 1080 pixels wide, with the height to match the format.
- sRGB color. Wide-gamut or CMYK exports can shift club colors after upload.
- PNG for typographic cards, high-quality JPEG for photo cards. Instagram recompresses every upload, and flat color and thin type hold up better when they start from a clean PNG.
- A minimum text size. On a 1080-wide card, keep secondary text such as the venue and date at 28 pixels or larger. Smaller text is hard to read on a phone.
- A check on a real phone. Desktop previews hide problems that a phone screen shows immediately, especially in stories.
One card, three layouts
Turning a 4:5 card into a 9:16 story by adding empty space above and below always looks like a resize. Each format needs its own layout. In a story, the score moves up, the crests can stack, and the sponsor band gets more room. In a square, everything tightens and the photo crops closer.
Clubcain renders every card in 1:1, 4:5 and 9:16, each laid out for its own format, from the published match result. You can see how each card type adapts on the templates page. If you run a club account, request a demo to see your own results in all three sizes.
FAQ
What is the best Instagram size for a sports result graphic?
1080 × 1350 pixels (4:5) for the feed, with a separate 1080 × 1920 pixel (9:16) version for stories. Keep important content at least 50 pixels from the left and right edges so the profile grid crop doesn't touch it.
Why do my Instagram posts look cropped on my profile?
Since January 2025 the profile grid uses taller rectangular tiles, measured at 3:4 in most guides. A 4:5 post loses a thin strip on each side in the grid, and square or landscape posts fit the tiles less well. The full post still shows when someone taps it.
What is the safe zone for Instagram stories?
On a 1080 × 1920 story, keep text and logos out of roughly the top 250 pixels and the bottom 340 pixels, following Meta's guidance of about 14% at the top and 20% at the bottom. For Reels, also keep text away from the right edge, where the buttons sit.