File this one under “tiny, but significant”: if you default your iPhone camera to 3:4, Instagram will finally let you post exactly what you shot.
Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri announced today on Threads that the app will now support photos in the native 3:4 format, used by most smartphone cameras, including iPhones:
“Instagram now supports 3:4 aspect ratio photos – the format that almost every phone camera defaults to. From now on, if you upload a 3:4 image, it’ll now appear just exactly as you shot it.”
Whether you’re posting a single image or a carousel, 3:4 photos will now appear just as they were captured. That means no more cropping or black bars to make your vertical shots fit.
3:4 is the new 4:5
Previously, Instagram’s “tallest” photo format maxed out at a 4:5 ratio, slightly more square than most phone cameras’ output. This forced users to either crop the photo, or use workarounds to preserve the original framing.
Instagram shared an example on its broadcast channel comparing the two formats, and the difference is subtle but welcome.
This change marks another step in Instagram’s slow evolution away from its square roots. Back in January, the company started framing photos within rectangles in user profile grids, citing the growing dominance of vertical content across both photos and video.
In the end, today’s update is a minor one, but it is welcome news for nitpicky photographers, both professional and amateur, who really care about the precise way they frame their photos.
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