Tinkers

What size is an Instagram story ad?

Meta recommends 1440 × 2560 pixels at a 9:16 ratio for Instagram Stories ads, with images at least 500 pixels wide.

Checked against Meta's Ads Guide on 3 November 2026.

The specs

Instagram story size: Meta's published specs by placement
PlacementRecommended sizeAspect ratiosMax file sizeVideo lengthSafe zoneText
Instagram Stories
1440 × 2560recommended
9:16recommended
Image: 30 MBmaximumVideo: 4 GBmaximum
1 second to 60 minutesrange
Roughly 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% each side kept free of text and logosMeta's guidance
Primary text: 125 charactersrecommended
Facebook Stories
1440 × 2560recommended
9:16recommended
Image: 30 MBmaximumVideo: 4 GBmaximum
1 second to 3 minutesrange
Roughly 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% each side kept free of text and logosMeta's guidance
Primary text: 125 charactersrecommendedHeadline: 40 charactersrecommended
Messenger StoriesMeta's current placement list names Messenger Stories, not the inbox
Video: 1080 × 1920recommended
9:16recommended
Image: 30 MBmaximumVideo: 4 GBmaximum
1 second to 60 secondsrange
Video: roughly 14% (250 px) top and bottom kept free of text and logosMeta's guidance
Primary text: 125 charactersrecommendedHeadline: 40 charactersrecommended

Check your file

Pick a placement and enter a size, or drop a file. The drawing shows whether it fits, gets cropped, or sits with space around it.

Width × height (px)

Wider than the 9:16 screen of Instagram Stories, so it shows whole with empty space above and below: about 44% of the screen.

Meta's guidance for 9:16 Stories and Reels: leave roughly 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and other key elements.

The Instagram story safe zone

Meta's Ads Guide asks advertisers to consider leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side of a Stories asset free of text, logos and other key elements, so the profile icon and the call to action do not cover them. On a 1440 × 2560 file that is about 358 pixels at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 on each side.

How long a story ad plays

An image ad in Instagram Stories may show for between 5 and 16 seconds, or until the viewer swipes away. A video under 16 seconds plays in full; one of 16 seconds or longer may be split into separate Stories cards, with Instagram showing one, two or three cards automatically. Video files can run from 1 second to 60 minutes.

Stories, Reels and the numbers after

The same 9:16 file fits Instagram Reels, though the text counts differ there: see Reels ad specs, or every placement at once. Once a story ad is live, the CTR calculator and the CPM calculator show whether people tap and what the reach costs.

Questions

Meta recommends 1440 × 2560 pixels, a 9:16 ratio, for images and videos in Instagram Stories ads. The minimum width is 500 pixels for images and 250 pixels for video.

9:16. Meta's Ads Guide gives Instagram Stories an aspect ratio tolerance of 1%.

Yes: 1080 × 1920 is the same 9:16 shape, so it fills the screen. Meta's Ads Guide recommends 1440 × 2560 as the resolution.

Meta recommends 125 characters of primary text for Instagram Stories. The Ads Guide lists no headline for this placement.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from Meta's own pages, read on 3 November 2026. Meta changes these specs from time to time, so check the source before a large production run.

More ad specs and calculators

Every placement →
/meta-ad-specs/reels-ad-specsReels ad specs9:16 at 1440 × 2560, the Reels safe zone and the shorter text./meta-ad-specs/facebook-ad-sizeFacebook ad sizeFeed, Stories, Reels, Marketplace and the right column, by pixel./meta-ad-specsMeta ad specsEvery placement in one table, with the 9:16 safe zone drawn to scale.clicks ÷ impressions × 100CTR calculatorHow often people click.spend ÷ impressions × 1,000CPM calculatorThe price of 1,000 impressions.

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