The Exact Instagram Reel Cover Size Creators Should Use

Getting the instagram reel cover size right saves your grid, boosts taps from the feed, and keeps Reels from cropping your text in awkward ways. The challenge is that Instagram shows the same cover in several formats, each with slightly different crops.

This guide walks through exact pixel sizes, aspect ratios, safe areas for text, and export presets so your covers look sharp on the Reels tab, in the main feed, and on your profile grid.

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Core Instagram Reel Cover Size and Aspect Ratios

Instagram accepts a range of sizes, but one setup behaves best across devices and views.

Recommended master size for a Reel cover:

• 1080 × 1920 px

• Aspect ratio: 9:16 (vertical)

• Minimum recommended: 720 × 1280 px (also 9:16)

This 1080 × 1920 px frame matches the video itself and gives enough resolution for high‑density screens. Everything else (grid, feed preview, Reels tab) is just a crop of this master frame.

How that one size appears in different views

Using a single instagram reel cover size keeps things simple, but you need to understand the crops:

• Reels Tab (full cover):

  • Uses the full 9:16 frame

  • Shows all 1080 × 1920 px

  • Great for background imagery and subtle details

• Feed preview:

  • Still based on 9:16, but Instagram may zoom slightly

  • Top and bottom edges are most at risk if you push text too close

• Profile grid:

  • Cropped to square (1:1)

  • Roughly 1080 × 1080 px from the center of your 1080 × 1920 design

  • Top and bottom 420 px (approx.) are hidden in grid view

Concrete example:

Design a Reel cover at 1080 × 1920 px with your title near the middle. When someone opens the Reels tab, they see the full poster. When they visit your profile, the grid shows a centered square crop where the title still sits in frame.

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Safe Areas for Text on Reel Covers

The biggest problem with Reel covers is not the reels cover dimensions themselves. It is text that looks perfect in the editor but gets chopped off in the grid or hidden behind interface elements.

Designers usually think about three nested zones inside the 1080 × 1920 canvas:

1. Full frame (9:16): background imagery

2. Grid‑safe square (1:1): what appears on your profile grid

3. Ultra‑safe text zone: where titles and key elements stay readable everywhere

Exact safe area breakdown (1080 × 1920 px)

Use these measurements when setting guides in Figma, Photoshop, or Canva.

1. Full 9:16 frame

• Width: 1080 px

• Height: 1920 px

This is your base instagram reel cover size. All other zones live inside it.

2. Grid‑safe square (center crop)

Instagram takes a centered 1:1 square from your 9:16 frame for the profile grid.

• Square size: 1080 × 1080 px

• Vertical position:

  • Total height: 1920 px

  • Hidden top area: about 420 px

  • Visible square: from y = 420 px to y = 1500 px

  • Hidden bottom area: about 420 px

Anything important that falls above y = 420 or below y = 1500 gets cut off in the grid.

3. Ultra‑safe text zone (works in grid, feed, and Reels)

To keep titles readable across older phones, new phones, and UI overlays, use a smaller internal rectangle for text:

• Suggested ultra‑safe zone:

  • Width: 864 px

  • Height: 1080 px

  • Horizontal margins: 108 px on each side (1080 − 864 = 216; 216 ÷ 2 = 108)

  • Vertical position: centered inside the grid‑safe square

    • Top of ultra‑safe: y ≈ 540 px

    • Bottom of ultra‑safe: y ≈ 1560 px

Within this 864 × 1080 px area, title text, logos, and faces stay visible in:

• Profile grid (square)

• Feed preview

• Reels tab

Concrete example:

Place your main title between y = 650 px and y = 1350 px and keep it at least 100 px away from the left and right edges. Even if Instagram tweaks the interface or crops a bit more aggressively, the text still appears clean in every layout.

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Recommended Reels Cover Dimensions by Use Case

The reels cover dimensions you choose can vary slightly depending on your workflow and tools, but each option has trade‑offs.

Standard creators and brands

For most accounts, stick to:

• 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)

• PNG or high‑quality JPEG

• All key text inside the ultra‑safe zone described above

This option works well in Canva, Figma, Adobe Express, and mobile apps like Over or GoDaddy Studio.

Example:

A WebTechMatrix tutorial Reel on “Debugging CSS Grid Gaps” uses a bold title, a code snippet background, and a small logo. The cover is built at 1080 × 1920 px, with the title centered and the logo just above the lower edge of the grid‑safe square. The result looks like a tall poster in the Reels tab and a clean square card in the profile grid.

Design teams and agencies

Teams that manage multiple brands often use larger working files:

• 2160 × 3840 px (2× scale, still 9:16)

• Export down to 1080 × 1920 px for upload

This keeps vector‑like crispness when adding small UI details or device frames. Just make sure your layout grid and safe areas are scaled exactly 2×:

• Grid‑safe square: 2160 × 2160 px, centered

• Ultra‑safe zone: 1728 × 2160 px, centered

Example:

An agency preparing a series of Reels for a SaaS launch designs at 2160 × 3840 px with a shared template. Every cover uses the same 2× safe‑area guides, then gets exported to 1080 × 1920 px. The entire grid looks consistent, and the team can reuse the same layout for TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

Quick mobile‑only workflows

If covers are created directly in the Instagram app or a mobile editor:

• Still aim for 9:16

• Keep text centered and away from edges

• Preview how it will look in the grid before posting

Even without pixel‑perfect guides, following a mental rule like “no text in the top or bottom 25%” avoids most cropping issues.

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Export Presets for Common Design Tools

Correct reels thumbnail size settings at export prevent blurry covers and strange compression artifacts. Here are practical presets for popular tools.

Photoshop export preset

Document setup:

• Size: 1080 × 1920 px

• Resolution: 72 or 96 ppi (ppi does not affect on‑screen size but keeps file manageable)

• Color mode: RGB

• Color profile: sRGB IEC61966‑2.1

Export:

• File → Export → Export As…

• Format: JPEG or PNG

• Quality: 80–90% for JPEG

• Embed color profile: On

Preset summary:

• Name: IG-Reel-Cover-1080x1920

• Format: JPEG

• Size: 1080 × 1920

• Quality: 85

Figma export preset

Frame setup:

• Frame size: 1080 × 1920

• Layout grid: optional 9:16 overlay plus safe‑area rectangles

Export:

• Select the frame

• Right panel → Export → +

• Format: PNG or JPG

• Scale: 1×

Preset summary:

• Name: Reel-Cover-1080x1920

• Type: PNG

• Scale: 1×

Canva export preset

Design setup:

• Create a design → Custom size → 1080 × 1920 px

Download:

• File type: PNG (preferred) or JPG

• Size slider: 1.0× (or 100%)

• Compression: keep “Compress file” off for best clarity

Preset summary:

• Size: 1080 × 1920 px

• File type: PNG

Mobile apps (general)

When the app does not show exact pixel values, look for:

• Aspect ratio: 9:16 template

• Export quality: High or Original

If the app lists resolutions, choose 1080 × 1920 or the closest 9:16 match above 720 × 1280.

Concrete example:

A creator designs in Figma with the Reel-Cover-1080x1920 preset, exports as PNG, and uploads that file as the custom cover when posting. The result stays sharp on both Android and iOS, with no unexpected blur.

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Practical Layout Tips for Reel Covers

Once the instagram reel cover size is set, layout choices determine how clickable the cover feels.

Use a simple visual hierarchy

A busy cover becomes noise in a fast scroll. Stick to a clear hierarchy:

1. Primary text: the hook or title

2. Secondary text: short descriptor or series label

3. Brand element: logo or small icon

Example:

For a Reel about optimizing Core Web Vitals, the cover could read:

• Primary: “Fix Slow LCP”

• Secondary: “3 layout shifts to avoid”

• Brand: small WebTechMatrix logomark in the lower corner

All of this sits inside the ultra‑safe zone so the grid crop still makes sense.

Choose fonts and sizes that survive mobile scaling

Reel covers are often viewed at less than 200 px wide in the grid. Thin fonts or tiny subheadings vanish.

Guidelines:

• Use bold or semi‑bold weights

• Keep main title at least 90–120 px high in a 1080 × 1920 design

• Limit subtitle lines to two lines when possible

Keep backgrounds clean

High‑contrast, noisy backgrounds make text harder to read. Use:

• Solid or soft gradient backgrounds

• Blurred screenshots instead of sharp ones

• Overlays (e.g., semi‑transparent dark layer behind light text)

Example:

When showing a screenshot of DevTools, blur it by 8–16 px and drop the opacity slightly. Place the title over this softened area. The cover still signals “technical content” but remains readable at a glance.

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Common Mistakes with Reels Cover Dimensions

Even with the right reels thumbnail size, a few recurring mistakes reduce performance.

1. Designing only for 9:16 and ignoring the grid crop

Many covers look perfect in the Reels tab but fall apart in the profile grid. Titles end up sliced through the middle or vanish entirely.

Fix: Always check the centered 1:1 crop. If the title or face is not fully inside the grid‑safe square, move it.

2. Placing text too close to edges

Text that hugs the top or bottom disappears behind UI elements, captions, or aggressive crops on some devices.

Fix: Respect the ultra‑safe zone. Leave at least 150–200 px of vertical padding from the very top and bottom of the 1080 × 1920 frame.

3. Exporting at low resolution

Uploading a 540 × 960 px cover or a heavily compressed JPEG leads to blocky edges and muddy colors.

Fix: Stay at 1080 × 1920 px with moderate compression (around 80–90% for JPEG) or use PNG.

4. Using too much small text

Paragraphs on a Reel cover never get read. On smaller screens they turn into gray lines.

Fix: Move detailed explanations into the caption or on‑video text. The cover should work like a headline, not a slide deck.

5. Inconsistent style across a series

Random fonts and colors make it harder for viewers to recognize your content in a busy feed.

Fix: Create a simple system:

• 1–2 brand colors for backgrounds

• 1 font family with 2 weights

• Consistent placement for logos and series tags

Example:

A weekly “Frontend Fix” Reel series uses the same top banner, font, and color palette. Only the main title line changes. Regular viewers start to recognize the covers instantly in the Reels feed.

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Quick Reference: Instagram Reel Cover Size Cheat Sheet

For fast setup, keep this checklist handy.

• Master size: 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)

• Minimum size: 720 × 1280 px (9:16)

• Grid crop: centered 1080 × 1080 px square

• Ultra‑safe text zone: about 864 × 1080 px centered, with ~108 px side margins

• File type: PNG or high‑quality JPEG

• Color profile: sRGB

• Key rule: no critical text or faces in the top or bottom 25% of the frame

Use these numbers as default settings for every Reel template in your design tool, and your covers will survive Instagram’s various crops with far fewer surprises.

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FAQ: Instagram Reel Cover Size and Layout

What is the best instagram reel cover size in pixels?

The best instagram reel cover size is 1080 × 1920 pixels with a 9:16 aspect ratio. This matches the Reel video resolution and gives the cleanest results across the Reels tab, feed previews, and profile grid.

What aspect ratio should a Reel cover use?

Use a 9:16 aspect ratio for the master cover. Instagram then crops a centered 1:1 square from this for your profile grid. Designing at 9:16 ensures the full cover fits the Reels tab without black bars.

What are the recommended reels cover dimensions for the profile grid?

The profile grid shows a square crop of your Reel cover at roughly 1080 × 1080 px. Design at 1080 × 1920 px, but keep key text and faces inside the central square area so they stay visible in grid view.

What is the ideal reels thumbnail size for high quality?

For a sharp reels thumbnail size, export at 1080 × 1920 px using PNG or a high‑quality JPEG with around 80–90% quality. Avoid going below 720 × 1280 px, or the thumbnail may appear soft on modern phones.

How can text be kept from getting cropped on Reel covers?

Keep all critical text inside a centered safe zone. On a 1080 × 1920 cover, avoid placing titles in the top or bottom 25% of the frame and leave comfortable margins on the sides. Using an internal 864 × 1080 px text area works well in practice.

Can the same cover be used for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts?

Yes. A 1080 × 1920 px 9:16 cover works across Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. However, UI overlays differ, so keep titles centered and away from edges, and test how the cover appears on each platform’s feed and grid.