Uploading To Instagram Without Losing Image Quality

Something I noticed when posting to Instagram from my desktop was that the epitome quality was significantly worse than the version I had uploaded, with the blurred epitome inevitably getting less than favourable engagement. After some thorough research though, I've managed to compile some reasons as to why Instagram might exist reducing the paradigm quality on your posts.

There are a few reasons why the prototype quality is reduced when uploading directly from your PC, ane of which is that y'all are non following Instagram'southward max resolution guidelines, which is currently set at 1080 x 1350px. Any paradigm that is greater than the said resolution will be made smaller by Instagram and thus may affect the quality of the paradigm.

Secondly, it also depends on the format of the image that you are using. Instagram's default format for images is JPEG (.jpg), significant that whatever image that is uploaded in PNG (.png), BITMAP (.bmp), or anything other than JPEG, will exist converted to JPEG and every bit such loses some of the quality during the conversion.

  • READ: How I Gained Over 100,000 Followers On Instagram
  • READ: How To Employ The Right Hashtags For YOU
  • READ: The BIGGEST Mistake I Run into People Making On Instagram

When you consider the number of images that are being uploaded to Instagram every single day and the server ability that is needed to run the platform, you'll shortly forgive Instagram for reducing file sizes where possible. Attempt to keep your paradigm file size to a minimum (without affecting image quality) to avoid having information technology be poorly compressed by Instagram.

Last but not to the lowest degree, Instagram is predominantly a mobile-based app, and as such prioritises uploads from mobile (or tablet) devices when it comes to quality. This means that images uploaded via your desktop, such as with the developer tools method, can sometimes encounter a reduction in image quality when uploading to Instagram.

How to avoid losing Image Quality on Instagram (with Photoshop)

For many people, who take pictures of themselves, their dog or the local beach, image quality doesn't really tend to matter. Yet, if you're a creative similar me who designs content for their business and wants to plant themselves as a professional person, and so maintaining quality with your uploads is very important.

I like to create my Instagram content using Photoshop, but the same principles will utilize to whichever photo editing software you are using. In Photoshop you lot will want to ready a new file or artboard and set it to Instagram'southward maximum resolution (1080 x 1350px). Once y'all have created your pattern, y'all demand to go to File > Export > Save For Web (Legacy)…

For those that don't know, saving in this way will permit you to alter the quality and file size of your final image. In the superlative right of the Save For Web window, under Preset, you volition want to select JPEG as the file blazon. Below that, you tin can change the overall quality of the paradigm, starting from Depression all the style upward to Maximum.

Here is a screenshot of the Save To Web window for my Bruce Lee post in Photoshop. I take highlighted the areas you lot need to monitor in order to reduce size and maintain image quality, such equally the quality setting and dimensions of the image.

Once again, the reason for lowering the quality of the dropdown is to reduce the file size of the image and thus avoid Instagram taking the compression into their own hands. Y'all tin monitor the size of the prototype in the bottom left (higher up case: 837.8K).

A lot of the time, yous volition actually detect that the Very High or High setting reduces the file size significantly; without really affecting the sharpness of the epitome itself. You will want to choose the setting that achieves the best residuum between the two.

Once yous're happy with the prototype file size and quality, y'all tin hit the relieve button to save it to your computer. Following that, you will desire to upload your new image to Google Drive where you volition and then download it to your mobile (or tablet) device. You lot tin can then upload the paradigm directly to Instagram from your mobile.

If you really desire to make the most of your mail service and get equally much engagement every bit possible, then you lot'll want to also bank check out this ultimate guide I wrote for using hashtags on Instagram.

Conclusion

Instagram can oft reduce the quality of your images during uploads for a wide number of reasons, but if you're looking to maintain quality then you lot should look to upload a high-quality, compressed JPEG file (max resolution: 1080 x 1350px) directly from your mobile or tablet to avoid whatsoever further compression past Instagram.

You lot can follow me on Instagram here!

Accept whatsoever feedback or questions about this post? Allow me know in the comments beneath!

Something I noticed when posting to Instagram from my desktop was that the image quality was significantly worse than the version I had uploaded, with the blurred image inevitably getting less than favourable engagement. After some thorough research though, I've managed to compile some answers reasons as to why Instagram might be reducing the image quality on your posts.
Did y'all find this mail service on improving the image quality of your Instagram posts helpful? If so, I would be very grateful if you could pivot this image to Pinterest!

Mike Walters

Mike Walters

I Build Killer Landing Pages That ACTUALLY Get Results... Guaranteed

Mike Walters

Mike Walters

I Build Killer Landing Pages That ACTUALLY Become Results... Guaranteed

This Post Has 56 Comments

  1. Bully post, I was asking myself how much it shrink quality of photos when I send epitome to myself over messenger so post it on Instagram. And so I read this article and used the Google Drive. I must say there is a flake more depth and then sending over messenger. So yes Google Drive works fine.

    1. Mike Walters 28 Sep 2020 Reply

      Hey Abraham, glad to run across that it worked for you using Google Drive. That's what I currently employ! Posting straight from Creator Studio works well too of grade.

  2. Lily Crocker 1 October 2020 Answer

    Hi! Is there a manner to do to this from a mobile device? I do not take photoshop on my figurer and am not looking to pay for it. Any tips?

    1. Mike Walters 1 October 2020 Reply

      Howdy Lily, you should find that uploading a photo from your telephone should work well regardless of which editing software that you're using. Instagram is primarily a mobile-based app, and so it'due south but natural for the mobile uploads to be of good quality. There volition always be some level of compression, given the sheer number of photos that Instagram'south servers take to store, but not enough to ruin a photo. Hope this helps 🙂

    2. Wesley 1 Nov 2020 Reply

      I'd recommend using Google's Snapseed app or Adobe Photoshop Express. Both of them are free and allow y'all customize the export settings of your photos to specific resolutions and quality.

      1. Mike Walters 1 November 2020 Reply

        Cracking suggestions Wesley 🙂

  3. Ollie 16 October 2020 Respond

    Hi, accept you tried this method with other tools such as powerpoint? The nuts seem to be the same. I've tried to gear up the same hight width but when I export the image to jpeg and save, send to phone and finally transfer to instagram, instagram comprasses the image after a while. Any thoughts?

    1. Mike Walters eighteen Oct 2020 Reply

      Howdy Ollie, I haven't created carousels or posts using PowerPoint merely the theory should be the aforementioned. In that location is e'er going to exist a small scrap of pinch past Instagram when uploading to their platform, however, you lot can minimize this but uploading the prototype through the mobile app or via Instagram [Facebook] Creator Studio. Attempt uploading through i of those platforms and run across how it goes

      1. Pavle Bogdanovic 4 Nov 2021 Reply

  4. Sophia 19 Oct 2020 Respond

    Howdy! My friend took some photos using her iPhone 7 plus and sent me the photos which I then I edited on my iPhone xi, and when I went to postal service the images to instagram, the photos came out blurry! What can I do to my photos to make certain they post at a improve resolution because this photo was taken on an iPhone, not a DSLR so i'm confused every bit to how it would be blurry. Thank you!

    1. Mike Walters 20 Oct 2020 Reply

      Hello Sophia, I approximate it might depend on how your friend sent those photos to you. I know that in the past, I'd transferred some files over using Facebook Messenger and they lost some of the film quality during that transfer. If you make sure to upload them to the Google Bulldoze (or something similar) and then download them from at that place, yous might discover that the picture quality is a lot better – depending on how yous upload it of class. Upload the picture via your mobile or Facebook/Instagram Creator Studio. Allow me know how it goes 🙂

  5. Antonia xx Oct 2020 Respond

    I use Canva to pattern my posts what would you suggest to save the quality?

    1. Mike Walters 20 Oct 2020 Reply

      Hi Antonia. Luckily for you, there are many keen content creators that utilize Canva to design their posts. I would suggest saving as JPG and uploading either directly from the Instagram mobile app or via Facebook/Instagram Creator Studio

  6. Mike Walters 20 Oct 2020 Respond

    Haha! Well I can't imagine information technology's cheap to host billions of photos/videos 😅

  7. Alfonso 4 Nov 2020 Answer

    Artwork
    Fine lines: get muddied and/or slightly moved.
    Thick lines: flattened.
    Colors: mixed, simplified, exagerated or all of them.

    This causes young artists to await worse than they are but because Instagram can't even requite a F***g guide on how to use their site other than "tap here to upload". How nigh giving a proper tutorial or creative tips instead of creating 100 filters every month? I swear with social media…

    1. Mike Walters 6 November 2020 Respond

      Haha, I experience your hurting Alfonso. It's truthful that some people's Instagram posts don't practice their work justice!

  8. This is really helpful but i have a question, i was familiar with this workflow of reducing the resolution of your prototype manually, but this helped me to ameliorate that workflow, that being said, after doing all that and brand sure that my prototype looks correctly for spider web and howdy-quality, when i post information technology on Instagram in getting a terrible Banding peculiarly in the sky area, i have remove all banding before every bit i said looks perfect in all web applications, and then seems that IG still compressing my file for some reason, practice you have whatsoever idea virtually this? Thanks in Advanced

    1. Mike Walters 10 Nov 2020 Reply

      Hi Tony, thanks for reaching out. I too suffer from the aforementioned banding issues on Instagram. I believe that the platform just isn't suited to such high-level photography. Which is ironic, given the premise of the platform. I've since tried to avoid gradients where possible. I'm sad I can't assist much further!

  9. Sofia 16 Nov 2020 Reply

    Hi! I use Canva on both my laptop and iPhone. After downloading images from the mobile app and uploading them to Instagram, they nonetheless experience lower quality and a slight change in color. Practise you lot have more tips on this? Cheers!

    1. Mike Walters 18 Nov 2020 Reply

      Hi Sofia, I tin can't actually say without seeing the images simply there volition always be some course of pinch when uploading to Instagram – no matter what you do. As for the colour difference, could it be that you lot're viewing the image from a different device? I know that the colours between my iPhone, tablet and desktop all differ. Let me know!

  10. Mike, cheers for this. It'due south incredibly helpful info. I've been using this workflow, more or less, in Photoshop for the last couple of years, but accept always noticed a drop in quality once I put my files on Instagram. Farther, I've been interested in making stop motility videos and accept noticed that, over again, the drop in quality is evident in the final product whenever I try to upload to IG, with just plenty blur showing that I oasis't even so posted whatever of these. I'1000 going to arrange my workflow and try the videos again. Bookmarked this commodity for reference.
    – Laura

    1. Mike Walters 24 Nov 2020 Reply

      Hey Laura, never tried uploading stop motion videos to Instagram myself but I expect forrard to hearing your results!

  11. ER 27 November 2020 Respond

    What about bit depth? Doesn't Instagram limit images to 8 bit jpgs?

    1. Mike Walters 2 Dec 2020 Reply

      Unfortunately, I tin can't find whatever confirmation from Instagram regarding the limitation of chip depths. I'm curious as to how you establish this data?

  12. Annabelle Mostert ane Dec 2020 Answer

    Howdy,

    Maybe this is a silly quetion, just i have created the file in photoshop to the size specification you set out higher up.
    How practise i re-size my image ti fit instagram later on making it (1080 x 1350px). I understand how to save for web but not how to re-size information technology.
    Thanks

    1. Mike Walters 1 December 2020 Respond

      Hi Annabelle, not a light-headed question at all. 1080x1350px is a bang-up size for Instagram for portrait photos. If you are later on a square image then yous would need to change the Sail Size in Photoshop earlier you lot Salvage For Web. Y'all tin change the Sheet size by going to Image > Sail Size. There might be a link icon which is selected to lock the ratio (to 1080x1350px). Yous volition need to unselect this to alter information technology to i:1 ratio.

  13. Eric seven Dec 2020 Reply

    What if y'all do all this and it's however desaturated? I've exported in .jpg, sRGB color space, aforementioned dimensions y'all describe, and it's nonetheless messed up. Just about every one of my pictures is from what I tin tell. They look fine on my telephone, on the reckoner, even in the screen on IG where I upload the film. I brand my posts alee of time and save them, and fifty-fifty that little thumbnail looks fine. It's only when information technology gets uploaded, it goes all wrong.

    1. Mike Walters viii Dec 2020 Reply

      Hey Eric, that is a tough ane and I understand your frustration. I would accept to guess that it's downwardly to the size of the (prototype) file. Maybe effort compressing it as much as possible, without reducing the quality of the image, and come across how that fairs when uploaded to IG?

  14. Eric 9 Dec 2020 Reply

    I'm not 100% but that might take worked. I posted i this morning that got desaturated again, tried exporting it from Lightroom with lower quality (I had information technology set to 100, now I'm around 75) and then posted that version. It looked to be a little more saturated than the previous one, and so I call up you're on to something. Thanks!

    1. Mike Walters 9 Dec 2020 Reply

      I'm glad that it helped a bit! Cheers for getting back to me Eric

      1. Eric 29 Dec 2020 Respond

        Cheers for responding, that's pretty rare anymore. Anyways they are still desaturating my pictures. I think what I did before might have helped a bit, but it'due south still very noticeable. My export settings from Lightroom are: .jpg, sRGB, quality at 76, resize to fit checked, width gear up to 1080, height left bare, resolution 72, sharpen for screen, standard, the default settings for metadata, and so a watermark which is just my proper noun in the bottom right corner, no paradigm or anything like that. I don't get it. I edit in Lightroom initially, export at 300 ppi and in AdobeRGB, open that file in Photoshop, make edits in that location, salve a copy, import that into Lightroom so I can export with those settings. Information technology's a piffling convoluted but information technology works for me I guess. Whatever thoughts?

        1. Mike Walters 11 January 2021 Reply

          No trouble, happy to be 1 of the rare ones! I'm actually not sure to be honest, it sounds similar you've washed a lot of things right. What are the sizes of the files that you're trying to upload?

          1. Eric 21 January 2021

            I of the ones that got desaturated is 446Kb and is 1080×720. I'g at a loss lol Cheers for helping me effort to figure this out.

          2. Mike Walters 12 February 2021

            Hmm, 446kb might be a fleck too much for Instagram. If you were using Photoshop and so I presume that was at a Very High to Maximum quality setting. Perhaps lower the quality before uploading to Instagram to reduce file size

  15. Jalal Mustafa 10 Dec 2020 Answer

    I was exporting PNGs from corel describe for instagram uploads and quality was decreasing. now i will use jpegs after seeing this article. also using 1200×1200 resolution. should i opt for 1080×1350.?

    1. Mike Walters 10 Dec 2020 Reply

      Hey Jalal, 1080×1080 is perfectly fine for Instagram. The 1350 resolution is merely the recommended size for portrait images.

  16. Matt Fifty ane Feb 2021 Reply

    Before exporting a pic to post on IG, do you lot relieve/downsize the file to to IGs recommended attribute ratio/max resolution specs? Ie 1080, To avoid potential compression loss?

    Or do yous just post what's nearly likely a much larger/college resolution file and let it automatically go through the pinch algorithm to scale information technology down/lower the prototype quality to fit the app?

    If y'all've experimented can you lot fifty-fifty tell much of a difference on a smartphone?

    1. Mike Walters 12 Feb 2021 Reply

      Hey Matt, skilful question. I actually just keep all of my sail sizes to the recommended 1080×1080 or 1080×1350, so I haven't experimented with larger sizes. That beingness said, it'due south all-time to keep the file size as low equally possible to avoid unnecessary compression by Instagram's platform. All of my posts are created on desktop using Photoshop so I'm not sure about smartphone files, but in the past I've noticed that photos taken on my iPhone tend non to exist ruined with compression. Let me know if you find anything useful when experimenting!

  17. Arash 7 Feb 2021 Reply

    Thank you Mike!

    So…
    1080 x 1080
    1080 x 1350 just for portrait images

    300dpi or 72dpi? and how about ppi?
    is there whatever limit for Kb or Mb?

    1. Mike Walters 12 Feb 2021 Respond

      Hey Arash, to be honest I'm not certain on the exact ppi, kB or MB that Instagram volition have just it'south best practice to keep it as depression as possible. I can confirm that those ratios are all-time for both square & portrait images.

  18. I don't accept a question merely a thank you for your incredibly helpful article and responses.

    1. Mike Walters 12 Feb 2021 Reply

      Thanks Elizabeth! Appreciate the feedback 🙂

  19. Laini 14 Apr 2021 Reply

    I have tried uploading a logo using all the right dimensions for Instagram. Tired saving in all ways similar JPEG and PNG. Looks slap-up in monitor. Sizing right and when I upload the logo information technology looks terrible. Whatsoever tricks with logos with text?

    1. Mike Walters twenty Apr 2021 Answer

      Hi Laini, it often comes down to the size of the file. Information technology may be best to lower the quality when saving the file, to ensure that the file size is as low every bit possible, then that Instagram doesn't compress the epitome too much. Have a play around with this and see what works best for y'all.

  20. Alex iv May 2021 Respond

    Hi, Mike! I remember I have two questions for y'all. 😀
    1. I am curious nigh your opinion on this: I post a regular portrait photo on feed, one of 1080 x 1350px, then I want to post the aforementioned picture on IG Story and IG automatically does a zoom-in on this picture so that information technology fits nice in the IG Story dimensions, i.eastward. 1080 10 1920px, but the image looks a petty blurry after it is posted on IG Story. Is it better and similar a best practice to have the pictures for the feed in 1080 x 1350px and those for stories in 1080 10 1920px? I work in social media and I am going crazy with some pictures I post that are loosing quality when posted 🙁 It is irksome, simply information technology may be meliorate if my pictures for feed would be in the recommended dimensions of 1080 ten 1350px / 1080 ten 1080px and for stories 1080 x 1920px? two.As well, you're saying that if I take my picture with my phone (I take a Samsung S21 Ultra) and I post it just like it was shot, there won't exist quality loss? The pictures taken with this phone have, for eg. 4000 ten 3000px ii.75 MB. Should I low resolution and perchance fifty-fifty the quality even on these pictures I accept with the phone? Maan, this is nuts! Detest IG for this😒
    Thank you in accelerate for your reply!

    1. Mike Walters 25 May 2021 Reply

      Hey Alex, sorry for the late reply! Yes, y'all should create two unlike versions of the same graphic if you want to share them to your post & story respectively. Alternatively, you could upload your post and then "share it to your story" which may be easier, if that's the effect y'all were later on. As for your Samsung, I'g an iPhone guy but I've only noticed that my images used to upload in fairly loftier quality when uploading directly from my telephone. I'm non sure why this is, as the file sizes (and dimensions) seem to exist very high – as you lot say. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

  21. FAHAD xvi Aug 2021 Respond

    I Want TO POST VIDEO IN 2K ON INSTGRAM FROM MOBILE I EXPORT IT IN 2K BUT Information technology STILL COMPRESSES THE QUALITY CAN Y'all Assistance ME ?

    1. Mike Walters 17 Aug 2021 Respond

      Hello Fahad, I would assume that a 2K video is just likewise big to be uploaded to Instagram without being compressed. Y'all will desire to compress the video yourself earlier uploading to Instagram to avoid them doing so themselves.

  22. What are you hateful 1350 ? I tin can upload 1080×1920 to my stories , and that is the maximum pixel than I know.

    1. Mike Walters 26 Sep 2021 Reply

      1350×1080 is the max for regular posts.

  23. Thank you! This has been driving me NUTS!!! Any recommendations on export and upload workflow for Facebook?

    1. Mike Walters 30 Jan 2022 Reply

      Hey Andrew, how exercise you hateful exactly?

  24. Mike 17 January 2022 Reply

    Hello, this is a great post!
    I take a question though, when i resize my epitome to 1080×1350, information technology gets wider? I don't sympathise how to fix that, could you please help.
    Thanks!

    1. Mike Walters 30 January 2022 Answer

      Hey Mike, no problem. Depending on which software y'all're using, the solution could be equally simple as using the reverse dimensions instead, i.eastward. 1350×1080. That should ingather your epitome to be taller than it is wide. Hope this helps!

  25. Suresh 4 Mar 2022 Reply

    Hello,
    I would like to know if the image needs to be cropped @ 4 ten five ratio earlier proceeding to the Export option.
    Thanks

    1. Mike Walters iv Mar 2022 Reply

      Hey Suresh! Yeah, y'all would need to crop information technology accordingly Before exporting for web. You can resize it inside the export window but I don't think you can adjust the ratio at this bespeak

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Mike Walters

I Build Killer Landing Pages That ACTUALLY Get Results... Guaranteed