Split one photo into an Instagram grid whose tiles meet edge to edge.

Why plain thirds leave gaps in a 3:4 grid

Since early 2025 your profile shows three posts to a row as 3:4 tiles, each cut from the middle of its post. A split that ignores that crop loses a strip at every join, and the picture breaks.

Picture sizes for 1 to 6 rows

To design a grid picture from scratch, make it exactly the size below and the tool cuts it with nothing cropped. For 4:5 posts the picture is 3105 pixels wide and 1350 tall per row: 3105 by 4050 for the classic 3 by 3 grid of nine posts. For square posts it is 2700 wide and 1080 per row: 2700 by 3240 for nine.

A phone photo, usually 3:4 upright, suits 3 rows of 4:5 posts with very little lost; the tool picks the row count that crops the least and says how much it removed. When fewer than 900 source pixels sit behind each 1080 pixel post, it warns that the posts will look soft.

Keeping the picture whole after you post

Post the set in number order, 1 first, one after another. Instagram puts each new post at the top left and moves everything else along by one tile, so the bottom-right tile goes up first and the top-left tile last. The ZIP holds a text file that lists every post with its row and side.

Each later post moves the picture by one tile, so it reads as one image only until the next post, unless you post in threes. Pinned posts take the first places in the grid and push the picture along by a tile each, so unpin them while it is on top. A carousel shows only its first slide in the grid and a Reel the middle of its cover, so keep every tile of the set a single photo. If you move a tile with Adjust Preview, set it back to the middle, or it will no longer meet its neighbours.

Is a split grid right for this photo?

A grid picture makes a strong first view of a profile: a launch, an opening, a new collection, a season. The cost is that each tile also appears alone in the feed, where a slice of a photo can look like a mistake. Pick a picture whose tiles each hold something, a face, a product or a word, rather than plain sky.

To show a wide picture in one post instead, the carousel splitter cuts it into slides people swipe through. For a profile that looks planned week after week without slicing photos, a repeating pattern of looks does the job, which is what Instagram feed design is about.