Instagram highlight cover size

The maker on this page draws covers at exactly that size, with the circle shown as a guide.

The numbers

| What | Size | |---|---| | Cover image | 1080 × 1920 px (9:16) | | Area that shows on your profile | A circle from the centre, as wide as the image (1080 px) | | Safe area for the icon | About the middle 540 × 540 px | | Width Instagram keeps for photos | Up to 1080 px; wider images are scaled down |

Meta's specs for stories ask for a 9:16 image, with 1080 × 1920 as the recommended size. Instagram's help pages say photos are shared at up to 1080 pixels wide, so a larger file gains you nothing and a smaller one may look soft.

Why the circle matters

A highlight cover is a story-shaped image, but your profile never shows the whole thing. It shows a small circle cut from the middle. Anything near the top or bottom of the image, or near the sides of the circle, is lost or squeezed into a sliver.

In practice:

• Centre the icon. Put it in the middle of the image, not the middle of the top half.
• Leave a margin. The icon should fill roughly half the circle's width. Any bigger and the edges of letters or emoji start to touch the round edge.
• Use a plain or soft background. Fine detail in the background is lost at thumbnail size; a flat colour or gentle gradient reads better.
• Keep lines thick. The cover is shown very small on your profile. Thin lines and small text disappear.

What if your image isn't 1080 × 1920?

When you set a cover, Instagram lets you move and zoom the image inside the circle. That means:

• A square image (1080 × 1080) works. Centre the icon and it fills the circle.
• A landscape photo works too, but you'll lose its sides.
• A small image (say, 300 px) will look blurry, because Instagram has to scale it up. Start from at least 1080 px wide.

A full 1080 × 1920 image is the safest choice, because it also looks right if you ever post it as a story or someone opens it from your highlight.

How to make covers at the right size

1. Choose an emoji, up to three letters, or your own icon for each highlight in the maker on this page.
2. Pick one background and one icon colour for the whole set, so the circles match.
3. Turn on Show the circle to check every icon sits inside it. The guide isn't part of the download.
4. Download each cover, or all of them as a zip. Each one is a 1080 × 1920 PNG.

How to set the cover on Instagram

On your phone, go to your profile, then tap and hold the highlight and tap Edit highlight. Tap Edit cover, choose your image, and adjust it so the icon sits in the middle of the circle. The step-by-step guide to changing highlight covers covers iPhone, Android and new highlights.

Sizes that don't apply

You may see much smaller sizes quoted for highlight covers, such as 110 × 110 pixels. An image that small has to be scaled up on a modern phone screen, so it looks blurry. Make the file at full story size and let Instagram shrink it.