Instagram Reels Size & Dimensions (2026)

The recommended Instagram Reels resolution is 1080 × 1920 pixels, which is the standard 9:16 vertical ratio. This fills the entire phone screen without letterboxing or pillarboxing. Instagram will accept wider or squarer videos, but it crops them to fit the vertical player — so starting at 9:16 gives you control over exactly what viewers see.

The minimum resolution Instagram accepts is 600 × 1067 for a 9:16 video, but anything below 1080 × 1920 will look soft on modern phones. Shoot or export at full 1080p to keep text and detail sharp.

Keep important content — faces, text, CTAs — in the center 80% of the frame. Instagram overlays its UI at the bottom (like buttons and captions) and sometimes at the top (audio attribution), so anything near the edges can get covered. The practical safe zone is roughly the middle 1080 × 1420 pixels of the frame.

Instagram Reels requires H.264 video codec in an MP4 or MOV container. H.264 is the universally safe choice — it compresses efficiently, plays on every device, and is the default export of virtually every video editor and screen recorder.

For audio, use AAC stereo at 128 kbps or higher. If your video has no audio track, Instagram will still upload it, but without sound it is less likely to get recommended in the Reels feed. Even a simple background music track from Instagram's built-in library can lift reach.

The maximum file size is 4 GB and the minimum video length is 3 seconds. Frame rate should be 24, 25, or 30 fps — avoid variable frame rate (VFR) files exported from some screen recorders, as they can cause sync drift after upload.

Limelight for Mac includes a built-in 9:16 vertical export mode, which is exactly the Instagram Reels aspect ratio. After you finish a screen recording, open the export panel and select “9:16 Vertical”. Limelight auto-crops and reframes the recording so the most active region — wherever your mouse moves and clicks — stays centered in the vertical frame.

This means you can record your Mac screen in landscape and get a Reels-ready 9:16 output without any third-party editing. The export is H.264 MP4 at 1080 × 1920 by default, so it goes straight to Instagram without any conversion step.

Limelight also shows your keystrokes on screen during the recording — useful for app demos and tutorials where viewers want to follow along with your shortcuts. The keystroke display is styled to look clean in the vertical frame, not cluttered.

Hook in the first second. Instagram decides in the first 1–2 seconds whether to push a Reel further. Start with movement, a surprising moment, or text that names the viewer's problem. Do not open on a title card with your logo.

Add captions. Most Reels are watched with sound off. On-screen captions keep viewers engaged and signal to the algorithm that the video has depth. Instagram can auto-generate captions, or you can bake them into the export.

Export before you add stickers. Native Instagram stickers (polls, questions, music) cannot be added to uploaded videos — they are only for Stories. Add any interactive elements after upload through the post editor instead.