How to post video on instagram without losing quality

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 reasons as to why Instagram might be reducing the image quality on your posts.

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How to avoid losing Image Quality on Instagram (with Photoshop)
This Post Has 62 Comments
How do I upload high quality videos to Instagram?
Why do my videos lose quality on Instagram?
How can I post on Instagram without losing quality 2022?

There are a few reasons why the image quality is reduced when uploading directly from your PC, one of which is that you are not following Instagram’s max resolution guidelines, which is currently set at 1080 x 1350px. Any image that is greater than the said resolution will be made smaller by Instagram and thus may affect the quality of the image.

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

READ: How I Gained Over 100,000 Followers On Instagram
READ: The BIGGEST Mistake I See People Making On Instagram

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

Last but not least, 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 see 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. However, if you’re a creative like me who designs content for their business and wants to establish themselves as a professional, then maintaining quality with your uploads is very important.

I like to create my Instagram content using Photoshop, but the same principles will apply to whichever photo editing software you are using. In Photoshop you will want to set up a new file or artboard and set it to Instagram’s maximum resolution (1080 x 1350px). Once you have created your design, you need to go to File > Export > Save For Web (Legacy)…

For those that don’t know, saving in this way will allow you to alter the quality and file size of your final image. In the top right of the Save For Web window, under Preset, you will want to select JPEG as the file type. Below that, you can change the overall quality of the image, starting from Low all the way up to Maximum.

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

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. You can monitor the size of the image in the bottom left (above example: 837.8K).

A lot of the time, you will actually find that the Very High or High setting reduces the file size significantly; without actually affecting the sharpness of the image itself. You will want to choose the setting that achieves the best balance between the two.

Once you’re happy with the image file size and quality, you can hit the save button to save it to your computer. Following that, you will want to upload your new image to Google Drive where you will then download it to your mobile (or tablet) device. You can then upload the image directly to Instagram from your mobile.

If you really want to make the most of your post and get as much engagement as possible, then you’ll want to also check out this ultimate guide I wrote for using hashtags on Instagram.

Conclusion

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

You can follow me on Instagram here!

Have any feedback or questions about this post? Let me know in the comments below!

Did you find this post on improving the image quality of your Instagram posts helpful? If so, I would be very grateful if you could pin this image to Pinterest!

Mike Walters

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

Mike Walters

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

This Post Has 62 Comments

Great post, I was asking myself how much it shrink quality of photos when I send image to myself over messenger then post it on Instagram. Then I read this article and used the Google Drive. I must say there is a bit more depth then sending over messenger. So yeah Google Drive works fine.
1. Mike Walters September 28, 2020
  Hey Abraham, glad to see that it worked for you using Google Drive. That’s what I currently use! Posting straight from Creator Studio works well too of course.
  1. Florin August 28, 2022
    I did all of this, and i still lose quality when i upload images… 1080×1080 under 800kb looks like shit on instagram, but looks very well on my phone gallery…
    😔
Lily Crocker October 1, 2020
Hi! Is there a way to do to this from a mobile device? I do not have photoshop on my computer and am not looking to pay for it. Any tips?
1. Mike Walters October 1, 2020
  Hi Lily, you should find that uploading a photo from your phone should work well regardless of which editing software that you’re using. Instagram is primarily a mobile-based app, so it’s only natural for the mobile uploads to be of good quality. There will always be some level of compression, given the sheer number of photos that Instagram’s servers have to store, but not enough to ruin a photo. Hope this helps 🙂
2. Wesley November 1, 2020
  I’d recommend using Google’s Snapseed app or Adobe Photoshop Express. Both of them are free and let you customize the export settings of your photos to specific resolutions and quality.
  1. Mike Walters November 1, 2020
    Great suggestions Wesley 🙂
3. Bailey May 4, 2022
  I also have a solution you could use, if your an apple user, try using procreate. If your an artist its a great drawing program and it’s significantly cheaper (and easier for beginners) than photoshop, only costing 6 dollars. As far as i know you cant monitor the image size, quality, and format all at once, but they are all fairly easy to change. Highly recommend. :]
  1. Mike Walters May 6, 2022
    Procreate is awesome, more so if you have an Apple pen!
Ollie October 16, 2020
Hi, have you tried this method with other tools such as powerpoint? The basics seem to be the same. I’ve tried to set 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 October 18, 2020
  Hi Ollie, I haven’t created carousels or posts using PowerPoint but the theory should be the same. There is always going to be a small bit of compression by Instagram when uploading to their platform, however, you can minimize this but uploading the image through the mobile app or via Instagram [Facebook] Creator Studio. Try uploading through one of those platforms and see how it goes
  1. Pavle Bogdanovic November 4, 2021
Sophia October 19, 2020
Hi! My friend took some photos using her iPhone 7 plus and sent me the photos which I then I edited on my iPhone 11, and when I went to post the images to instagram, the photos came out blurry! What can I do to my photos to make sure they post at a better resolution because this photo was taken on an iPhone, not a DSLR so i’m confused as to how it would be blurry. Thank you!
1. Mike Walters October 20, 2020
  Hello Sophia, I guess 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 picture quality during that transfer. If you make sure to upload them to the Google Drive (or something similar) and then download them from there, you might find that the picture quality is a lot better – depending on how you upload it of course. Upload the picture via your mobile or Facebook/Instagram Creator Studio. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Antonia October 20, 2020
I use Canva to design my posts what would you suggest to save the quality?
1. Mike Walters October 20, 2020
  Hi Antonia. Luckily for you, there are many great content creators that use 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
Mike Walters October 20, 2020
Haha! Well I can’t imagine it’s cheap to host billions of photos/videos 😅
Alfonso November 4, 2020
Artwork
Fine lines: get dirty and/or slightly moved.
Thick lines: flattened.
Colors: mixed, simplified, exagerated or all of them.
This causes young artists to look worse than they are just because Instagram can’t even give a F***g guide on how to use their site other than “tap here to upload”. How about giving a proper tutorial or creative tips instead of creating 100 filters every month? I swear with social media…
1. Mike Walters November 6, 2020
  Haha, I feel your pain Alfonso. It’s true that some people’s Instagram posts don’t do their work justice!
Tony November 10, 2020
This is really helpful but i have a question, i was familiar with this workflow of reducing the resolution of your image manually, but this helped me to improve that workflow, that being said, after doing all that and make sure that my image looks correctly for web and hi-quality, when i post it on Instagram in getting a terrible Banding specially in the sky area, i have remove all banding before as i said looks perfect in all web applications, so seems that IG still compressing my file for some reason, do you have any idea about this? Thanks in Advanced
1. Mike Walters November 10, 2020
  Hi Tony, thanks for reaching out. I too suffer from the same 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 sorry I can’t help much further!
Sofia November 16, 2020
Hi! I use Canva on both my laptop and iPhone. After downloading images from the mobile app and uploading them to Instagram, they still experience lower quality and a slight change in color. Do you have more tips on this? Thanks!
1. Mike Walters November 18, 2020
  Hi Sofia, I can’t really say without seeing the images but there will always be some form of compression when uploading to Instagram – no matter what you do. As for the colour difference, could it be that you’re viewing the image from a different device? I know that the colours between my iPhone, tablet and desktop all differ. Let me know!
Laura November 23, 2020
Mike, thank you for this. It’s incredibly helpful info. I’ve been using this workflow, more or less, in Photoshop for the last couple of years, but have always noticed a drop in quality once I put my files on Instagram. Further, I’ve been interested in making stop motion videos and have noticed that, again, the drop in quality is evident in the final product whenever I try to upload to IG, with just enough blur showing that I haven’t yet posted any of these. I’m going to adjust my workflow and try the videos again. Bookmarked this article for reference.
– Laura
1. Mike Walters November 24, 2020
  Hey Laura, never tried uploading stop motion videos to Instagram myself but I look forward to hearing your results!
ER November 27, 2020
What about bit depth? Doesn’t Instagram limit images to 8 bit jpgs?
1. Mike Walters December 2, 2020
  Unfortunately, I can’t find any confirmation from Instagram regarding the limitation of bit depths. I’m curious as to how you found this information?
Annabelle Mostert December 1, 2020
Hi,
Maybe this is a silly quetion, but i have created the file in photoshop to the size specification you set out above.
How do i re-size my image ti fit instagram after making it (1080 x 1350px). I understand how to save for web but not how to re-size it.
Thanks
1. Mike Walters December 1, 2020
  Hi Annabelle, not a silly question at all. 1080x1350px is a great size for Instagram for portrait photos. If you are after a square image then you would need to change the Canvas Size in Photoshop before you Save For Web. You can change the Canvas size by going to Image > Canvas Size. There might be a link icon which is selected to lock the ratio (to 1080x1350px). You will need to unselect this to change it to 1:1 ratio.
Eric December 7, 2020
What if you do all this and it’s still desaturated? I’ve exported in .jpg, sRGB color space, same dimensions you describe, and it’s still messed up. Just about every one of my pictures is from what I can tell. They look fine on my phone, on the computer, even in the screen on IG where I upload the picture. I make my posts ahead of time and save them, and even that little thumbnail looks fine. It’s just when it gets uploaded, it goes all wrong.
1. Mike Walters December 8, 2020
  Hey Eric, that is a tough one and I understand your frustration. I would have to guess that it’s down to the size of the (image) file. Maybe try compressing it as much as possible, without reducing the quality of the image, and see how that fairs when uploaded to IG?
Eric December 9, 2020
I’m not 100% but that might have worked. I posted one this morning that got desaturated again, tried exporting it from Lightroom with lower quality (I had it 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, so I think you’re on to something. Thank you!
1. Mike Walters December 9, 2020
  I’m glad that it helped a bit! Thanks for getting back to me Eric
  1. Eric December 29, 2020
    Thank you for responding, that’s pretty rare anymore. Anyways they are still desaturating my pictures. I think what I did earlier might have helped a bit, but it’s still very noticeable. My export settings from Lightroom are: .jpg, sRGB, quality at 76, resize to fit checked, width set to 1080, height left blank, resolution 72, sharpen for screen, standard, the default settings for metadata, and then a watermark which is just my name in the bottom right corner, no image 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 there, save a copy, import that into Lightroom so I can export with those settings. It’s a little convoluted but it works for me I guess. Any thoughts?
    1. Mike Walters January 11, 2021
      No problem, happy to be one of the rare ones! I’m really not sure to be honest, it sounds like you’ve done a lot of things right. What are the sizes of the files that you’re trying to upload?
      1. Eric January 21, 2021
        One of the ones that got desaturated is 446Kb and is 1080×720. I’m at a loss lol Thanks for helping me try to figure this out.
      2. Mike Walters February 12, 2021
        Hmm, 446kb might be a bit too much for Instagram. If you were using Photoshop then I presume that was at a Very High to Maximum quality setting. Perhaps lower the quality before uploading to Instagram to reduce file size
Jalal Mustafa December 10, 2020
I was exporting PNGs from corel draw 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 December 10, 2020
  Hey Jalal, 1080×1080 is perfectly fine for Instagram. The 1350 resolution is just the recommended size for portrait images.
Matt L February 1, 2021
Before exporting a pic to post on IG, do you save/downsize the file to to IGs recommended aspect ratio/max resolution specs? Ie 1080, To avoid potential compression loss?
Or do you just post what’s most likely a much larger/higher resolution file and let it automatically go through the compression algorithm to scale it down/lower the image quality to fit the app?
If you’ve experimented can you even tell much of a difference on a smartphone?
1. Mike Walters February 12, 2021
  Hey Matt, good question. I actually just keep all of my canvas sizes to the recommended 1080×1080 or 1080×1350, so I haven’t experimented with larger sizes. That being said, it’s best to keep the file size as low as 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 not to be ruined with compression. Let me know if you find anything useful when experimenting!
Arash February 7, 2021
Thank you Mike!
So…
1080 x 1080
1080 x 1350 only for portrait images
300dpi or 72dpi? and how about ppi?
is there any limit for Kb or Mb?
1. Mike Walters February 12, 2021
  Hey Arash, to be honest I’m not sure on the exact ppi, kB or MB that Instagram will accept but it’s best practice to keep it as low as possible. I can confirm that those ratios are best for both square & portrait images.
I don’t have a question merely a thank you for your incredibly helpful article and responses.
1. Mike Walters February 12, 2021
  Thank you Elizabeth! Appreciate the feedback 🙂
Laini April 14, 2021
I have tried uploading a logo using all the correct dimensions for Instagram. Tired saving in all ways like JPEG and PNG. Looks great in monitor. Sizing correct and when I upload the logo it looks terrible. Any tricks with logos with text?
1. Mike Walters April 20, 2021
  Hi Laini, it often comes down to the size of the file. It may be best to lower the quality when saving the file, to ensure that the file size is as low as possible, so that Instagram doesn’t compress the image too much. Have a play around with this and see what works best for you.
Alex May 4, 2021
Hi, Mike! I think I have 2 questions for you. 😀
1. I am curious about your opinion on this: I post a regular portrait photo on feed, one of 1080 x 1350px, then I want to post the same picture on IG Story and IG automatically does a zoom-in on this picture so that it fits nice in the IG Story dimensions, i.e. 1080 x 1920px, but the image looks a little blurry after it is posted on IG Story. Is it better and like a best practice to have the pictures for the feed in 1080 x 1350px and those for stories in 1080 x 1920px? I work in social media and I am going crazy with some pictures I post that are loosing quality when posted 🙁 It is tedious, but it may be better if my pictures for feed would be in the recommended dimensions of 1080 x 1350px / 1080 x 1080px and for stories 1080 x 1920px? 2.Also, you’re saying that if I take my picture with my phone (I have a Samsung S21 Ultra) and I post it just like it was shot, there won’t be quality loss? The pictures taken with this phone have, for eg. 4000 x 3000px 2.75 MB. Should I low resolution and maybe even the quality even on these pictures I take with the phone? Maan, this is nuts! Hate IG for this😒
Thanks in advance for your reply!
1. Mike Walters May 25, 2021
  Hey Alex, sorry for the late reply! Yes, you should create two different 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 you were after. As for your Samsung, I’m an iPhone guy but I’ve just noticed that my images used to upload in fairly high quality when uploading directly from my phone. I’m not sure why this is, as the file sizes (and dimensions) seem to be very high – as you say. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
FAHAD August 16, 2021
I WANT TO POST VIDEO IN 2K ON INSTGRAM FROM MOBILE I EXPORT IT IN 2K BUT IT STILL COMPRESSES THE QUALITY CAN YOU HELP ME ?
1. Mike Walters August 17, 2021
  Hello Fahad, I would assume that a 2K video is just too big to be uploaded to Instagram without being compressed. You will want to compress the video yourself before uploading to Instagram to avoid them doing so themselves.
PPAP September 25, 2021
What are you mean 1350 ? I can upload 1080×1920 to my stories , and that is the maximum pixel than I know.
1. Mike Walters September 26, 2021
  1350×1080 is the max for regular posts.
Thank you! This has been driving me NUTS!!! Any recommendations on export and upload workflow for Facebook?
1. Mike Walters January 30, 2022
  Hey Andrew, how do you mean exactly?
Mike January 17, 2022
Hello, this is a great post!
I have a question though, when i resize my image to 1080×1350, it gets wider? I don’t understand how to fix that, could you please help.
Thank you!
1. Mike Walters January 30, 2022
  Hey Mike, no problem. Depending on which software you’re using, the solution could be as simple as using the reverse dimensions instead, i.e. 1350×1080. That should crop your image to be taller than it is wide. Hope this helps!
Suresh March 4, 2022
Hello,
I would like to know if the image needs to be cropped @ 4 x 5 ratio before proceeding to the Export option.
Thanks
1. Mike Walters March 4, 2022
  Hey Suresh! Yes, you would need to crop it accordingly BEFORE exporting for web. You can resize it within the export window but I don’t think you can adjust the ratio at this point
Colm June 27, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2OgCLqPK4g
Hi Mike, this guy has done a great video explaining the different upload settings. whether it’s 1080×1350, 2160×2700, compressing the quality before upload or just sending it full size.
His conclusion:
For sharper images use the 1080×1350 method. (this is how PixImperfect does it too)
For cleaner gradients with less banding, just send it full size and let IG do all the resizing and compression. (this is how Peter McKinnon does it btw)
What do you think?
1. Mike Walters October 7, 2022
  Thank you for sharing this, Colm!
Food for thought. Credit where credit is due, it’s great when a blog is concise and well thought out.

Comments are closed.

How do I upload high quality videos to Instagram?

To upload the highest possible quality video to Instagram, you'll want to post your video to IGTV instead of your standard grid. IGTV offers a much better resolution and bitrate than the traditional method for uploads.

Why do my videos lose quality on Instagram?

If your Internet connection is not stable, the uploaded Instagram story videos might get blurry because they are not fully loaded. That's not all, while you are uploading videos to Instagram under bad Internet connection, Instagram will automatically reduce the video quality in order to upload it.

How can I post on Instagram without losing quality 2022?

You can follow these steps to change the upload quality. Settings > Account > Data Usage > High-Quality Uploads. You must follow the correct photo ratio and upload posts with at least 1080px. Avoid using Instagram filters to keep the quality of your images.