Instagram Finally Adds Support for 3:4 Aspect Ratio Photos
Instagram now natively supports 3:4 aspect ratio photos, an extremely common smartphone image format.
Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, shared the news on Threads:
“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,” Mosseri writes.
View on Threads
While Mosseri unsurprisingly does not specifically call out Micro Four Thirds cameras, this move also benefits those cameras, along with medium-format mirrorless cameras from Fujifilm and Hasselblad, which also feature 3:4 image sensors.
As Creators Broadcast Channel explains, 3:4 aspect ratio photos are supported with single-photo posts and carousels, which are multi-photo posts.
Users retain the ability to post in Instagram’s long-time 1:1 format or the more recent 4:5 option.
While many of the comments on Mosseri’s Threads post are unrelated requests or complaints, some people are responding directly to the move to allow 3:4 photo posting.
“Excellent news,” writes user sdw.
While there is some positivity, there are also suggestions for further improvements that can build upon this move.
Threads user mikehos4 would like to see Instagram support carousels with mixed aspect ratios “instead of forcing all images to share one.”
A few users think Instagram should add native 2:3 photo support, which would make considerable sense given that all mainstream APS-C and full-frame cameras, whether DSLR or mirrorless, utilize a 2:3 aspect ratio, whether it is a 16 by 24-millimeter sensor (APS-C) or a 24 by 36-millimeter chip (full-frame).
“Now do 2:3 — you know — the native resolution of every full-frame camera,” adds mattpaynephoto. “Thanks for working one expanding these!”
“We photographers would appreciate it,” says raoulfilm.
And, of course, there are memes.
View on Threads
Another user jests about how long it took for Instagram to add 3:4 photo support.
“Alt language: ‘World’s top photo-sharing app adopts world’s top photo aspect ratio 15 years after launch,” writes gregshum.
Instagram users should see the new 3:4 aspect ratio support rolling out to their apps imminently. The maximum width of photos on Instagram remains 1,080 pixels, as PetaPixel outlines in its social media photo guide.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
