How to save an Instagram photo in full size

What size does Instagram actually keep?

When you upload a picture, Instagram re-saves it at a fixed width and throws the rest away. In our own tests across hundreds of public posts, the largest file the platform serves is 1080 pixels wide for most posts and 1440 pixels for some, with the height following the aspect ratio: 1080 × 1350 for a 4:5 portrait, 1080 × 1080 for a square, 1440 × 1800 for the larger variant.

That is the ceiling. Uploading a 6000-pixel photo from a camera does not get you a 6000-pixel file back; it gets you the same 1080 or 1440 copy that everyone else sees. So the goal is not to find a magic high-resolution version, it is to get that stored file untouched instead of a re-photographed version of it.

A screenshot loses on all three counts. It is limited to your screen's resolution, it includes the app's buttons unless you crop, and cropping shrinks it further. On a 6.1-inch phone a screenshot of a 4:5 photo is roughly 828 × 1035 after cropping, against 1080 × 1350 for the real file.

Saving the original, step by step

The link is the only thing you need. It works the same in the app and in a browser.

1. 01

   Copy the post link

   In the Instagram app, tap the share icon under the post and choose Copy link. On a computer, open the post and copy the address from the browser bar.

2. 02

   Paste it into the photo downloader

   Open the photo downloader, paste the link and press Download. Every picture in the post is listed.

3. 03

   Save the file

   Tap Download under the picture you want. Android saves to Downloads and it shows in your Gallery; iPhone puts it in the Files app, where Share → Save Image moves it into Photos.

Posts with several pictures

A carousel is a single post that holds up to twenty pictures and videos. Most tools save only the first one, because that is the only image in the post's preview data. The full list sits deeper in the same page, which is why the carousel downloader shows every slide with its own button and a Download all for the lot.

If your browser saves the first file and then stops, it is not an error: Chrome and Safari ask once whether a site may download several files. Allow it and the rest arrive one after another.

Keeping the quality you downloaded

The file you save is the file Instagram stored, so nothing is lost at that point. Quality goes missing afterwards, usually in one of two ways.

• Re-uploading it. Posting the downloaded photo back to Instagram, WhatsApp or a chat app re-compresses it. Send it as a document or file rather than as a photo when you want the original to survive.
• Editing and re-saving repeatedly. Every save of a JPEG loses a little. Edit once, save once.

If a downloaded picture looks softer than the app did, compare it at 100 percent rather than zoomed in. Phone screens sharpen what they show, which makes the app look crisper than the file really is.

What cannot be saved

Private accounts are out of reach, by design. A downloader sees exactly what a logged-out visitor sees, and a private post is not part of that. Any site that offers private downloads is asking for your login, and handing over an Instagram password is how accounts get taken.

Profile pictures in full size and Stories also need a signed-in account, so they are not available here either. Posts, Reels, videos, IGTV and carousels are.