Instagram Carousel Sizes, Formats and How to Plan the Slides

An Instagram carousel is one post holding several pictures or videos that people swipe through. It is the format most suited to teaching something, telling a short story in steps or showing a before and after — and it rewards planning more than any other post type, because the order of the slides is the whole argument.

This guide covers the practical part first (which size to make) and then the part that decides whether anyone reaches slide three.

The three sizes worth using

All three are 1080 pixels wide. What changes is the height, and so how much of a phone screen the post takes up in the feed.

Instagram's profile grid shows posts as tall rectangles rather than squares, so on your profile a square post loses a strip on each side, and a 4:5 one a thinner strip. A 3:4 post fits the grid as it is. If people find you through your profile as much as through the feed, keep the cover's important words away from the edges.

Instagram allows a fair number of slides in one carousel — the limit has gone up over the years, so check the app if you are planning a long one. Hitting the limit is rarely the problem; holding people's attention for that many slides is.

Keep words in the safe middle

Between the grid crop, the dots under the post and the way some screens show it, the edges of a slide are where things get cut or covered. A simple rule: keep headlines and anything people must read inside the middle of the slide, with a generous margin all round. Decoration and photos can run to the edge; words shouldn't.

Plan the slides before you design anything

Write every slide as one line of text first, in a list. If the list reads well on its own — each line a clear step towards the point — the carousel will work. If it doesn't, no amount of design will rescue it.

1. 1Slide 1: the cover makes a promiseWhat people get by swiping, in a few large words. “Light, medium, dark: what actually changes”, not your logo and a mood picture.
2. 2Slide 2: give them a reason to keep goingThe problem, the surprising part or the first useful thing. Many people decide here whether to continue.
3. 3Slides 3 onwards: one idea per slideA short headline that states the point and, if needed, a line that explains it. If a slide needs a paragraph, split it.
4. 4Near the end: the proofA real example, a photo of the thing, a before and after from your own work.
5. 5Last slide: wrap it upRestate the takeaway in a sentence and give one next step — save it, share it with someone, or visit the link in your bio. One, not all of them.

Design choices that help people swipe

• Make the cover different. A bigger headline or a bolder layout than the inside slides, so it works on its own in the feed and on the grid.
• Keep the inside consistent. Same font, same position for the headline, same colours. Swiping should feel like turning pages of one thing.
• Hint that there is more. A small arrow, a page number or a line that clearly continues tells people the post doesn't end on slide one.
• Use your own photos where you can. A picture of the real product, place or person tells people more than a stock image.
• Check it at phone size. Shrink a slide to the width of your thumb. If the headline is unreadable, it is too long or too small.

The caption

Only the start of the caption shows before more, so its first sentence should add something the cover didn't say rather than repeat it. Use the rest for context people would want after swiping: why you made it, a detail that didn't fit on a slide, a question you'd like answered. Hashtags are optional; a few relevant ones are better than a block of them.

Reusing the slides elsewhere

A square or 4:5 carousel can go to LinkedIn as a PDF document with little change, though the caption and cover usually need rewriting for a different audience. The LinkedIn carousel guide covers what changes, and repurposing one idea into platform-native posts covers the writing.

If you'd like the slides drafted for you, Postclo writes a carousel from your project and your own photos, draws it at 1080 × 1080, 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1440 in your logo's colours, and lets you change any word, picture or layout before you download the slides as PNGs. You post it on Instagram yourself.