An Instagram Reel cover is 1080 x 1920 px. The same file is shown through two different crops, a 4:5 slice in the main feed and a 3:4 tile on your profile, so a cover designed to fill the full frame rarely survives both.
Where it shows
- Reels tab full screen player
- Main feed, cropped to 4:5
- Your profile grid tile
- Explore tab, as a reel tile
- Audio page and remix listings
The safe zone
Design the whole 1080 x 1920 px, then protect the middle. The main feed shows a 4:5 slice at 1080 x 1350 px, taking about 285 px off the top and the bottom. The profile grid shows a 3:4 tile at 1080 x 1440 px, taking about 240 px off each end. The narrower of the two is the 4:5 slice, so anything living inside the central 1080 x 1350 px band is visible on both surfaces. In the Reels player the full 9:16 is shown, but the username, caption and audio line run across the bottom and the like, comment and share rail runs up the right edge, so keep type out of the bottom 400 px and the right 150 px there as well.
Quirks worth knowing
- The cover is two assets in one file. The in-feed thumbnail and the grid tile are different crops of the same 1080 x 1920 px image, and Instagram never shows both at once.
- Instagram's cover editor has a separate profile grid step where you drag the 3:4 tile independently of the frame you picked, so the tile crop is adjustable on its own.
- Meta's reference lists Reel cover photos as JPEG at 8 MB maximum in sRGB with 9:16 recommended, which is the only cover spec Meta publishes. The app itself also accepts a PNG from your camera roll.
- A Reel cover can be changed after the Reel is live. Open the published Reel, use the three dot menu, choose Edit, then Cover, and scrub to a different frame or upload a still. Instagram does not publish anything about what a cover swap does to a post's reach, so treat the swap as cheap to make and unproven in its effect.
- The 4:5 feed crop and the 3:4 grid crop are not Instagram published numbers. Buffer and Hootsuite report them, and the 1080 x 1440 px tile size follows from the 3:4 ratio.
- The Reels player shows the uncut 9:16, so a cover can look complete there and still be trimmed on both other surfaces.
Common mistakes
- Centering a headline in the full 1080 x 1920 px frame, then losing its top line to the 4:5 feed crop.
- Building the cover around a face placed near the top of the frame, which the 3:4 grid tile cuts straight through.
- Skipping the profile grid step in the cover editor and letting Instagram choose the centre of the tile for you.
- Scrubbing to a video frame instead of uploading a still, then wondering why the text baked into that frame looks soft.
What we recommend
- Put the entire message inside a 1080 x 1350 px band centred in the 1920 px frame, since that band is the only part both crops keep.
- Upload a still you designed rather than picking a frame, so the cover is a real layout instead of a paused video.
- Open the profile grid tab in the cover editor and drag the tile deliberately, because that crop is stored separately from the feed one.
- Make sure the cover still reads with its bottom 400 px covered, which is what happens in the Reels player.
- Swap the cover a day or two after posting if the tile sits badly next to its neighbours on the grid.
Common questions
Why does my Reel cover look different on my profile than in the feed?
They are two different crops of one file. The main feed shows a 4:5 slice of your 9:16 cover and the profile grid shows a 3:4 tile. Roughly 285 px goes from each end for the feed and 240 px for the grid, so a design that fills the full height is trimmed twice, by different amounts.
What size should an Instagram Reel cover be?
1080 x 1920 px. Meta's media reference recommends 9:16 for Reel cover photos, as JPEG, up to 8 MB, in sRGB. Design at that size and keep the readable part inside the central 1080 x 1350 px band so both crops keep it.
Can I change a Reel cover after posting?
Yes. Open the Reel, use the three dot menu, choose Edit, then Cover, and pick a different frame or upload a new still. The profile grid tile is repositioned in the same editor. Nobody outside Meta knows whether a swap costs anything in reach, and Meta does not say, so the honest version is that changing it is cheap and its effect on distribution is unmeasured.
How do I stop Instagram cropping my Reel cover on the grid?
You cannot change the 3:4 tile shape, but you can choose what falls inside it. In the cover editor, switch to the profile grid tab and drag the image within the frame. That crop is saved separately from the frame shown in the feed.
Should I use a video frame or upload a cover image?
Upload one. A frame grabbed from the clip carries whatever motion blur and compression the video has, and any text in it was rendered at video quality. An uploaded 1080 x 1920 px JPEG gives you real type and a layout you controlled.
More answers on thumbnail, carousel and cover questions are on the FAQ.