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Crop or fit a photo to the 9:16 ratio

The 9:16 ratio is 9 wide for every 16 tall, the full-screen shape of stories, reels and short videos: 1080 × 1920 in pixels. The editor opens on it; crop or fit, and Save exports 1080 × 1920. Part of the image resizer.

9:16 ratio in pixels, by platform
The editor opens on
1080 × 1920 px
Meta Stories ads
1440 × 2560 px
Snapchat full-screen ads
1080 × 1920, images from 720 × 1280
TikTok in-feed ads
9:16 from 540 × 960
Instagram Reels
1.91:1 to 9:16, 720 px or more
Output format
– / –

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JPEG · PNG · WEBP · AVIF · HEIC · up to 50 at once · max 30 MB each

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AVIF
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Auto tunes each image.

A hard cap for the number your form demands.

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Empty side keeps the ratio. Never enlarges.

Presets

Every named size, one editor

The same editor, the size already pressed. Pick the document or the platform.

Aspect ratios

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Size guide

9:16 size guide for stories and reels

A 9:16 story drawn at 1080 × 1920 pixels with Meta's Stories safe zone: 14% of the top (269 pixels), 35% of the bottom (672) and 6% of each side (65) left free, so 950 × 979 pixels stay clear for text. Meta's ads guide asks 1440 × 2560 for a Stories ad, up to 30 MB.
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<a href="https://blinkimg.com/9-16-aspect-ratio"><img src="https://blinkimg.com/images/size-guides/9-16-aspect-ratio.png" alt="A 9:16 story drawn at 1080 × 1920 pixels with Meta's Stories safe zone: 14% of the top (269 pixels), 35% of the bottom (672) and 6% of each side (65) left free, so 950 × 979 pixels stay clear for text. Meta's ads guide asks 1440 × 2560 for a Stories ad, up to 30 MB." width="640" height="1163" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>

The size, exactly

1080 × 1920 px, in every unit a form states it in

Millimetres and inches at 300 DPI, the print resolution the portals assume.

What Save exports

Pixels
1080 × 1920 px
Millimetres
91.4 × 162.6 mm
Inches
3.6 × 6.4 in
Ratio
9:16
Fit
cropped to the shape
Metadata
EXIF and GPS stripped

The rules, with their sources

Instagram Reels
1.91:1 to 9:16, 720 px minimum
Instagram Help Center, Reel size
Meta Stories ads
9:16 at 1440 × 2560
Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Stories
TikTok in-feed ads
9:16 from 540 × 960
TikTok Ads Manager, In-Feed Ads
YouTube Shorts
square or vertical; 9:16 suits best
YouTube Help; Google Ads Help
Snapchat ads
9:16 required, 1080 × 1920 canvas
Snapchat Business Help Center
LinkedIn vertical video
up to 1080 × 1920
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, video ads

Each rule as it read on its source when we checked it in September 2026. The source’s own page wins over this card.

More image tools

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Measured

The reference image at this size, measured

SourcePresetFitResultDimensions
photo.jpg (576.8 KB)1080 × 1920crop223.1 KB1080×1920

Source: photo.jpg, 576.8 KB at 1920×1280, through the preset this page opens on (the centre cropped to the ratio and scaled to the size), then the engine at its defaults. The row is the real output.

Every byte count is the size of the actual file our engine produced from the named source, the same bytes you would download, not an estimate. The reference photo is one of our own photographs, an iguana on a branch, and the camera photo is a real one too. Drop your own file into the tool above to rerun any of them. How we measure names the sources and the settings.

Answered

What is the 9:16 ratio in pixels?

Any width, with the height at the width × 16 ÷ 9: 1080 × 1920 is the size this page opens on.

The 9:16 ratio drawn to one scale at 1080 × 1920 and 2160 × 3840: one shape at two sizes. The height is always the width × 16 ÷ 9.

A ratio fixes the shape, not the size. Pick the width the destination asks for and the height follows: 540 wide is 960 tall, 2160 wide is 3840 tall. Starting from a height, the width is the height × 9 ÷ 16: 1920 tall is 1080 wide. The table lists the widths people ask for and where each one is asked for; type any of them into Custom size with the sides linked, and the export keeps 9:16 exactly.

SizeMegapixelsWhere it fits
540 × 9600.52the TikTok in-feed ad minimum, 540 × 960
720 × 12800.92Snapchat's image minimum; TikTok carousel images
1080 × 19202.07where the editor opens; Snapchat's full-screen canvas
1440 × 25603.69Meta Stories and Reels ads, 1440 × 2560
2160 × 38408.29YouTube's recommended Shorts thumbnail, 2160 × 3840

Computed: the height is the width × 16 ÷ 9, rounded to a whole pixel; megapixels are width × height ÷ 1,000,000. Where each size is asked for, from the sources on this page.

Answered

Where is the 9:16 aspect ratio used?

The full-screen phone shape: stories, reels, Shorts, TikTok and Snapchat all fill a 9:16 frame.

Where 9:16 is asked for: Instagram Reels, Meta Stories ads, TikTok in-feed ads, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat ads, LinkedIn vertical video. Each rule and its source are on the page.

Instagram takes reels from 1.91:1 to 9:16 at 720 pixels or more, and Meta recommends 9:16 for Stories ads, at 1440 × 2560. TikTok’s in-feed ads are 9:16 from 540 × 960, YouTube counts square and vertical videos as Shorts and says 9:16 suits them best, and Snapchat’s full-screen ads require 9:16 on a 1080 × 1920 canvas. LinkedIn takes vertical video up to 1080 × 1920. A reel’s cover is the exception: Instagram recommends 420 × 654 for it, which is not 9:16.

Answered

Where should text go on a 9:16 story?

In the middle: Meta asks for about 14 percent of the top, 35 percent of the bottom and 6 percent of each side to be left free.

Meta's Stories safe zone on a 1080 × 1920 frame: keep text and logos 269 pixels from the top, 672 from the bottom and 65 from each side, which leaves 950 × 979 pixels in the middle.

The app lays its own controls over those edges. On a 1080 × 1920 frame the percentages come to 269 pixels at the top, 672 at the bottom and 65 at each side, which leaves 950 × 979 pixels for text and logos. A photo can run to the edges; the words should not. Crop so the subject sits in that middle block, and add the text afterwards in the app.

Answered

How do I make a photo 9:16 without stretching it?

Crop it to the shape, or fit the whole picture inside it on a fill; the editor never stretches.

A 3:2 photo and two ways to make it 9:16 at 1080 × 1920: Crop keeps 37.5% of its width; Fit keeps the whole picture with bands of fill, 600 px above and below.

How much Crop takes depends on the shape the photo starts in. The table works it out for the shapes cameras and phones make, at 1080 × 1920: the share of the photo a 9:16 crop keeps, and the bands of fill Fit adds to keep all of it. Drag the frame to the subject before you save; Fit leaves nothing out.

Your photoCrop keepsFit at 1080 × 1920 adds
16:9 landscape31.6% of its width656 px above and below
4:3 phone landscape42.2% of its width555 px above and below
3:2 camera landscape37.5% of its width600 px above and below
1:1 square56.3% of its width420 px above and below
4:5 portrait70.3% of its width285 px above and below
3:4 phone portrait75% of its width240 px above and below
2:3 camera portrait84.4% of its width150 px above and below

Computed for a photo of each shape cropped or fitted to 9:16 at 1080 × 1920.

Be sure first

When 9:16 is the wrong shape

  • An exact 1080 × 1920 file?

    The 1080 × 1920 page makes it and measures it in four formats.

  • A reel cover?

    Instagram recommends 420 × 654 for the cover, 1:1.55, not 9:16.

  • A Pinterest image?

    Pinterest recommends 2:3 for images, 1000 × 1500; it lists 9:16 for video.

Related: Resize image to 1080x1920 · TikTok video size · 4:5 aspect ratio · Instagram story size · Change aspect ratio of image

FAQ

Questions, answered

The size is already pressed above. One drop settles most of these.

What is the 9:16 size in pixels?

Any size whose height is the width × 16 ÷ 9. 1080 × 1920 is the common one, 720 × 1280 the floor Snapchat takes for images, and 1440 × 2560 what Meta asks for Stories ads. The ratio fixes the shape; pick the width the platform names, and the height follows.

Is 9 × 16 the same as 9:16?

Yes, as a shape: 9 × 16 and 9:16 both mean 9 wide for every 16 tall. As a print, 9 × 16 inches is that shape on paper, 2700 × 4800 pixels at 300 DPI. On a screen, 9:16 is most often 1080 × 1920, the frame this page opens the editor on.

Is 9:16 the same as 16:9?

The same numbers, turned: 9:16 is portrait, a phone held upright, and 16:9 is landscape, a TV or a laptop. At Full HD they are 1080 × 1920 and 1920 × 1080. A photo cropped for one does not fit the other, because the long side changes direction.

How do I make a 9:16 image from a landscape photo?

Crop keeps a tall slice from the middle: 31.6% of its width of a 16:9 photo, or 42.2% of its width of a 4:3 one, so put the subject in the centre. Fit keeps the whole photo with bands of fill instead, 656 px above and below for a 16:9 photo at 1080 × 1920. The shape table on this page works out the rest.

Is 9:16 the shape of my phone screen?

Not on newer phones. The iPhone 17 screen is 1206 × 2622 pixels by Apple's spec page, taller than 9:16, so a 9:16 image scaled to fill it loses about 18 percent of its width. Phones with a 1080 × 1920 screen, such as the iPhone 8 Plus, were exactly 9:16.

Do Instagram stories and reels use the same 9:16 size?

The same shape. Instagram Help names no story size and takes reels from 1.91:1 to 9:16 at 720 pixels or more, while Meta's ads guide asks 1440 × 2560 for both Stories and Reels ads. A 1080 × 1920 image fits both. A reel's cover is different: Instagram recommends 420 × 654.

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Page updated

The 9:16 frame, full screen

The 9:16 frame is set above at 1080 × 1920. Drop the photo, crop it or fit it, and Save exports it compressed.

Make it 9:16