Crop an image

1:1 for a square post, 4:5 for a portrait post, which takes up more of the feed, and 9:16 for a story or reel. Tap the preset and the crop box locks to that shape, so whatever you frame inside it will fit without Instagram trimming it again.

Use the four number fields. X and Y set where the top-left corner of the crop starts, width and height set how much it takes. You can drag the box roughly first and then fine-tune the numbers, which is the fastest way to hit a spec exactly.

Leave the ratio on Free and type the proportions straight into the width and height fields, for example 2700 wide by 1000 tall. Facebook covers are the classic case: no preset anywhere offers 851 by 315, but the coordinate fields get you there in seconds.

The pixels you keep come through untouched. Cropping deletes everything outside the box and saves what is left without degrading it, so a sharp photo stays exactly as sharp. The one thing you do lose is pixel count: crop a 4000px photo down to a small corner and you have a small image now.

Yes, and it happens entirely on your device, so the uncropped original is never sent anywhere. One caution: cropping only removes what is outside the frame. To hide something inside the frame, like a name or account number, use the Blur and Pixelate tool instead, which destroys those pixels properly.

The editor scales the preview down to fit your screen, but the crop itself is calculated on the original pixels. Whatever you select is cut from the full-resolution image, not from the shrunken preview you drag on.