Instagram may have been all about reels and stories lately, but Meta’s most ambitious platform hasn’t forgotten about those who love to populate their feeds with photographs. For years, Instagram has earned its repute for the 1:1 square aspect ratio mandated for photo uploads. While many admire that 1:1 aspect ratio for aesthetic purposes, a lot of users have always complained about the inability to upload photos taken on smartphones as it is. It seems that Instagram was listening.
On a post shared via Threads, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the arrival of a new 3:4 aspect ratio for photo uploads. The new option will now be enabled by default for all photos taken in the 3:4 aspect ratio. Compared to the previous 1:1 square and 4:5 rectangular aspect ratios, the new 3:4 ratio will allow for more vertical space.
“Instagram now supports 3:4 aspect ratio photos – the format that almost every phone camera defaults to. From now on, if you upload a 3:4 image, it’ll now appear just exactly as you shot it,” said Mosseri.
Instagram 3:4 ‘vertical photos’ are here
The new 3:4 vertical aspect ratio will apply to both single-photo posts and multi-photo carousel posts. With 1:1 square and 4:5 rectangular photo posts, Instagram says that users now have more flexibility to upload photos the way they want.
The new aspect ratio is part of Instagram’s move to make the platform more vertical content-friendly. Ever since Reels became the mainstay of the platform, Instagram has been making the layouts more vertically friendly to fit the dimensions of modern smartphone screens better. The profile grid now shows photo and video posts in rectangular slots instead of the previous square layout.
