Reel Cover Size and Safe Zones: A 1080x1920 Guide

What size is a Reel cover?

A Reel cover is a vertical 9:16 image, and 1080x1920 pixels is the size to design it at. It's the same frame as the video, so it works for Instagram Reels and Facebook Reels alike.

1080x1920 (9:16): the canvas to design on

Build on 1080x1920 because it matches the video frame and gives the sharpest result. Export as JPG or PNG in sRGB. Skip tiny text, because a grid thumbnail is about a third of the screen width and small type turns to mush.

Why Instagram's Help Center says 420x654 (1:1.55)

The Instagram Help Center lists 420x654 pixels (a 1:1.55 ratio) as the recommended cover size. That's the same near-vertical shape at a smaller scale, not a rival format. 1080x1920 is slightly taller (about 1:1.78), but uploading the larger file just means a crisper cover. Platform guidance changes, so check the Help Center when in doubt.

How the profile grid crops your cover

The profile grid doesn't show your full cover, only a centre crop of it. How much gets trimmed depends on which grid shape your account uses.

The current 3:4 (1080x1440) grid crop

Creators now report that the grid shows a 3:4 crop, 1080x1440. On a centred 1080x1920 cover, that trims about 240 px from the top and 240 px from the bottom.

Treat this as creator-reported, not official. Instagram tests layouts and rolls them out unevenly, so open your own profile after posting and see what you actually get.

The older 1:1 square crop and why old advice still circulates

The older grid showed a 1080x1080 square. That trims about 420 px from the top and bottom, which is why so many tutorials say "keep everything in the middle." Those tutorials are still ranking, and still half-right. They're the reason the rule below works on both grids.

Reel cover safe zone: where to keep text and faces

Keep the headline, faces and key objects inside the central 1080x1080 square, roughly the middle 56% of the canvas height. Here's the map, measured from the top of a 1080x1920 cover:

One rule that works for every grid

Put everything that matters in rows 420 to 1500. That zone survives the full 9:16 view, the 3:4 grid and the legacy 1:1 grid, so you don't need to know which one a viewer sees. Background colour, texture and extra scenery can run to the edges. Words and heads can't.

Feed overlays: bottom caption and right-side buttons

In the Reels feed, the caption and account name sit at the bottom, and the like, comment and share buttons stack down the right side. Leave some margin on those edges, even inside the centre square. We'd keep about 60 px of breathing room at the sides and avoid pushing text into the lower part of the square.

The most common mistake: text cut off on the grid

The classic failure is a title sitting near the top or bottom edge, or a face centred too high so the crop slices the forehead. It looks perfect in the editor and broken on the profile.

The fix is simple. Move the text into the centre square, preview a 3:4 crop, then post. Do it before publishing, because the Help Center indicates the cover can't be edited after upload in some flows. In-app options change, so check what yours offers.

A 10-second check before you post

1. Draw or drop a 1080x1440 guide over the centre of your design. Anything outside it must be disposable.
2. Zoom out until the cover is thumbnail-sized. Can you still read the headline?
3. Check that no face or key object touches the guide edge.

After posting, open your profile once. If the grid crop is different from what you expected, you've learned how your account behaves for every cover after.

Reel cover size on Facebook

Facebook Reels also use 9:16 at 1080x1920. You can pick a frame from the video or upload an image, and the same centre safe zone applies.

One caveat: the crop on your Page's Reels tab can differ from Instagram's grid. Preview it after posting, as above. When we build covers for Reels across both platforms, we design once for the centre square and let the platform crop however it wants.

Reel cover size in inches, cm and Canva

Pixels have no fixed physical size, so inches and centimetres only matter if you set a print resolution. At 72 ppi, 1080x1920 works out to about 15 x 26.7 inches (38.1 x 67.7 cm), but nobody prints a Reel cover. Work in pixels.

In Canva, use the Instagram Reel preset or a custom 1080 x 1920 px size. Any cover maker does the same job, including WowReveal's, as long as it exports 9:16 and you keep text in the centre.

Two ratio mix-ups come up constantly:

• 4:5 or 9:16? Reels are 9:16. The 4:5 (1080x1350) ratio belongs to feed photo posts.
• Are Reels 1920x1080? No, that's landscape. A Reel is 1080 wide by 1920 tall.