White border for Instagram, without cropping

Instagram shows posts at fixed shapes, so a photo that is not already one of them is cropped to fit — the top of a head, the end of a horizon. A white border is the usual way round that: put the whole picture on a canvas of the right shape and let the border take up the rest. This page opens the studio with that already set up. Open a photo and it lands, uncropped, on a 1080 × 1350 portrait canvas with a white border.

Instagram portrait 4:5

1080 × 1350 pixels

Instagram square 1:1

1080 × 1080 pixels

Instagram grid 3:4

1080 × 1440 pixels

Story or Reel 9:16

1080 × 1920 pixels

The frame's own width is the narrowest the border gets: a 4% white border on a 4:5 canvas keeps at least 4% on the tight sides, and the extra space goes where the shapes differ. Position sets whether the picture sits centred or a little above centre, the convention for mounted prints.

1. 1Open the photograph. It is fitted to 4:5 at once.
2. 2Pick another size under Fit to a size if you want a square, the 3:4 grid shape or a Story.
3. 3Change the border colour, add rounded corners or a texture if you like — the canvas stays the exact size.
4. 4Save. The file is named after your photo with the size in the name, for example holiday-instagram-4x5.jpg.

• A picture that is already 4:5 gains only the frame's own band; the fit adds space only where the shapes differ.
• A very small picture is not enlarged, so it sits in the middle of a wide border. Keep original pixels makes the canvas match the picture's own resolution instead.

Which size should I use, 4:5 or 1:1?

4:5 portrait (1080 × 1350) takes the most room in the feed, so a picture fitted to it shows larger than the same picture fitted to a square. 1:1 (1080 × 1080) is the safe choice when a set of posts should look uniform. The profile grid previews posts at 3:4, which is why 1080 × 1440 is offered too. These sizes are as given in Buffer's Instagram image size guide, checked on 18 October 2026.

Will any of my photo be cut off?

No. The whole picture is placed on the canvas and scaled down only if it is bigger than the space left inside the border; it is never cropped and never enlarged. The border takes up the rest, so a landscape photo on a 4:5 canvas gets wide white bands above and below.

Will Instagram compress it?

Probably — services recompress what is uploaded to them, and this site cannot see or promise anything about another service's processing. What this page controls is the file you upload: exactly the size you picked, at the quality you set.

Can the border be another colour?

Yes. The fill is the border colour, so change it under Colour — black, a cream, or a colour taken from the photograph with Match photo. Any style works with a fit; the white Clean border is just where this page starts.

• Add white borderAn exact white border in pixels, percent, millimetres or inches, on every side or each side.
• Polaroid frameAn instant-print style card in square, wide or mini proportions, with the deep bottom margin.
• Photo frame editorAll 32 frames drawn on your own photo, recoloured from the picture and saved at full size.
• The border studio32 border styles in 5 families, drawn onto your own picture.