Instagram Carousel Post: Meaning, Size and How to Make One

What is a carousel post?

A carousel is a single post holding more than one photo or video. A small row of dots under it shows how many there are, and people swipe sideways. Its meaning on Instagram is simply “a post with slides”.

The word carousel meaning in general is a ride or a rotating belt, like the one at an airport. Instagram borrowed it because the slides move past in a row. Other platforms use the same idea: LinkedIn calls its version a document or multi-image post.

What is a carousel on Instagram used for?

A carousel suits anything that needs steps or a sequence: a recipe, a tutorial, a before and after, a trip, a product range or a set of tips. People can stop on the slide they care about.

Put the strongest slide first. It is the cover everyone sees, and it sets the shape for the rest.

Instagram carousel size

Use one shape for every slide. 1080 by 1350 pixels (4:5) is the tallest allowed and fills the most of the feed; 1080 by 1080 is square. Instagram's published range is 1.91:1 to 4:5 for photos, and the first slide's shape is applied to all of them.

Keep text away from the edges. The profile grid crops the cover slide, so leave margins around anything you want read.

How to make a carousel on Instagram

Tap the plus button, choose Post, then tap the multi-select button on the photo picker and choose your photos or videos in order. Edit them together or one by one, write the caption and share.

To design slides first, use any design app and export each slide as a separate image at 1080 by 1350.

Schedule a carousel on Instagram

In Dripost, add up to 10 images to one post, write the caption once and schedule it. Dripost sends the files as you uploaded them, so crop to one shape first. The guide to scheduling carousels on Instagram has the steps.

Sources

• Instagram API: IG User media (specifications)