Instagram Story size
An Instagram Story is 1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 ratio — a full phone screen. The dimensions are the easy part; the part that catches people out is that Instagram draws its own interface on top of your design, so a strip at the top and a strip at the bottom are not really yours to use.
- Dimensions
- 1080 × 1920 px
- Aspect ratio
- 9:16 (full screen vertical)
- Safe zone
- Keep key content clear of the top and bottom ~250 px
- File type
- PNG for flat colour and text, JPEG for photos
- Colour space
- sRGB
Composition
The top strip belongs to Instagram
Your profile picture, your handle, the timestamp and the progress bars all sit across the top of a Story. Treat roughly the first 250 px as reserved — a headline placed up there ends up behind Instagram's own chrome.
So does the bottom strip
The reply bar, the share and more buttons, and the swipe-up affordance sit across the bottom. Keep the last ~250 px clear of anything that has to be read, and put your call to action above it rather than in it.
That leaves a centre band
In practice you are designing into the middle ~1420 px of the canvas. Background art can and should run edge to edge; it is the type and the logo that need to stay inside the band.
Common mistakes
Uploading a square post as a Story
A 1:1 image in a 9:16 frame either gets letterboxed with bars or cropped. If a design needs to run in both places, build it twice — the compositions are genuinely different, not a resize apart.
Centring text vertically without checking the safe zone
Dead-centre is usually fine, but a two-line headline that starts high or a caption that sits low will collide with the interface. Preview it on a phone before it goes out.
Putting the call to action at the very bottom
That is exactly where the reply bar lands. Move it up a little — the design reads as deliberate and the instruction stays visible.
Frequently asked
What size is an Instagram Story?
1080 × 1920 px, a 9:16 ratio. That matches a full phone screen, which is why Stories fill the display edge to edge.
What is the Instagram Story safe zone?
Roughly the top 250 px and the bottom 250 px, where Instagram draws your handle, the progress bars, the reply bar and the share buttons. Background art can run through those areas — text and logos should not.
Can I use the same design for a post and a Story?
Not as a straight resize. A 1:1 post cropped to 9:16 loses the composition. Build the Story on its own canvas so the layout suits the taller frame.
Does Modo have a Story canvas?
Yes — 1080 × 1920 is a preset, available on every plan, with watermark-free export.