what to know
- Select the photo you want to publish and click the expand icon in the lower left corner of the preview.
- Or, pinch your fingers on the image to zoom out and fit it.
- Alternatively, use a third-party image resizer (such as Kapwing.com) to resize the picture to 4:5.
This article explains how to resize an entire picture on Instagram without cropping. These instructions apply to the Instagram app for iOS and Android.
Instagram automatically crops posts to a 4:5 aspect ratio so they don't take up too much space in your feed. Luckily, the app offers a way to fit your photo into the preview window in post, and it's pretty simple:
Select photos to post.
Click the Expand icon in the lower left corner of the preview window or pinch your fingers together to zoom out and fit.
You'll see a white border around the image (or a black border if dark mode is turned on in the Instagram app).
Click "Next" to continue posting.
Instagram's built-in methods usually work well, but if you're not satisfied with the results, there are plenty of other ways to resize your photos. Kapwing is great for resizing Instagram images because it adds space around the image to fit the 4:5 ratio (you can even choose a custom border color).
Visit Kapwing.com and select Get Started .
Kapwing will add a watermark to the lower right corner of the photo. Depending on how the border looks on the picture, a photo editing tool may be able to mask it.
If this is your first time using this picture resizer, please log in using one of the methods listed and complete all first-time user steps.
Click the arrow next to New and select Upload .
Click "Click to Upload" .
Select the photo you want to resize.
If the images are stored in a different app, such as Photos in our example (on Android), tap Media Selector > Photos .
Select the image you just uploaded.
Select Edit Background > Resize Canvas .
Select Instagram Post Portrait from the drop-down menu, size 4:5 .
Make sure the selection fits the center .
If you don't want the extra space around the image to be blurry, scroll down a little and tap Close . You can also choose to change the border color here.
Click Apply .
Make sure the image looks how you want it, then click Export .
Click Export JPEG > Download . You can now post new photos on Instagram.
Since all Instagram posts have a 4:5 ratio, landscape and portrait images will always have borders. However, you can choose a background color other than white on the Kapwing website.
To post multiple photos on Instagram, tap "Select Multiple" instead of selecting a single photo and select up to 10 images.
