An Instagram carousel is a single post of up to 20 photos and videos that people swipe through, with one set of likes and comments. You build it from Create by choosing several files at once, and every slide shares one shape. You can reorder slides after posting, but you cannot add new ones.
Every limit below was read from Instagram's Help Center on 12 October 2026.
How to make a carousel on Instagram
Tap Create, tap POST, tap SELECT MULTIPLE, then choose up to 20 photos and videos from your phone's library. Instagram's Help Center gives these steps for the iPhone and Android apps:
- Tap Create at the top, or swipe right anywhere in Feed.
- Tap POST, then SELECT MULTIPLE.
- Select up to 20 photos and videos. To change how one is cropped, tap it and drag it within the frame. Tap Next.
- Tap a filter at the bottom to apply it to every slide, or tap one slide to edit it alone.
- To change the order, tap and hold a slide and drag it to another spot. Tap Next.
- Choose Single caption for one caption on the whole post, or Multiple captions for a caption on each slide.
- Add one location, and tag people in individual slides with Tag People.
- Tap Share.
On a computer, the route is Create, then Post, then Select from computer, and the same limit of 20 photos and videos applies.
Once it is live, your feed shows the first slide with a row of dots under it, and your profile shows the first slide with a carousel icon in the top right corner.
What counts as an Instagram carousel post?
Any feed post with more than one photo or video is an Instagram carousel post, and Instagram's Help Center uses the word carousel for exactly that. You can mix photos and videos in the same post. Three things set it apart from other formats:
- Likes and comments belong to the whole post, not to individual slides.
- A video inside a carousel is not a Reel. A carousel video does not appear in your Reels tab and gets no Reels features.
- You can tag different people in different slides, because tags attach to each photo or video.
A post with several videos can take longer to upload, so Instagram suggests a reliable connection before you tap Share.
What is the best Instagram carousel size?
Make photo slides 1080 pixels wide and keep their shape between 1.91:1 (wide) and 3:4 (tall), because Instagram keeps photos in that range at full resolution. Here is what that means in pixels at 1080 wide:
| Shape | Ratio | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Widest allowed | 1.91:1 | 1080 by 566 |
| Square | 1:1 | 1080 by 1080 |
| Portrait | 4:5 | 1080 by 1350 |
| Tallest allowed | 3:4 | 1080 by 1440 |
The two end rows are Instagram's own figures. The square and 4:5 rows are our arithmetic, and both sit inside the range.
Three rules from the same Help Center article decide what happens to your files:
- Wider than 1080 pixels: Instagram sizes the photo down to 1080 wide.
- Between 320 and 1080 pixels wide: Instagram keeps your resolution, as long as the ratio is inside the range.
- Narrower than 320 pixels: Instagram enlarges it to 320 wide.
A ratio outside the range gets cropped to fit. To be sure of full quality, update the app and upload slides at least 1080 pixels wide.
The shape is shared. Instagram's carousel article says the orientation you choose, square, portrait or landscape, affects every photo and video in the post, and you cannot set a different one for each. So design all your slides at the same size from the start.
How to reorder a carousel on Instagram
Before you post, tap and hold a slide and drag it to a new spot. After you post, open the three-dot menu on the right side of the carousel, tap Edit, long press a slide to move it, then tap Done.
While you are in Edit, Instagram's Help Center says you can also remove photos or videos, edit your caption or captions, and change the location and the accounts you tagged. What you cannot do is add a new photo or video to a shared carousel. The article lists deleting the post as the other option, so a slide you forgot means posting again.
Is there an Instagram carousel template?
Instagram's Help Center article on carousels covers sharing and editing and does not mention templates, so a carousel template here means a layout plan you reuse. The plan below works for most topics:
| Slide | Its job |
|---|---|
| 1 | One promise a stranger understands in a second. Your feed and profile show slide 1. |
| 2 | Why it matters to them, in one line. |
| 3 to the second last | One idea per slide, in the same layout every time, so swiping feels easy. |
| Last | One next step: save it, send it to a friend, or comment a keyword. |
The limit is 20 slides, and Instagram's pages give no ideal number, so let the idea decide the length. If you can say it in six slides, post six. Keep the words on slide 1 away from the edges: Instagram's Help Center does not publish how your profile crops a carousel's first slide, so give it room.
If the last slide asks for a comment, choose the word with care. A keyword people will type lets you send the guide or link to each commenter by DM. Instagram counts comments for the whole post, so one keyword on the final slide covers all of them.
What about scheduling a carousel?
The Instagram app schedules carousel posts the same way it schedules photos and Reels, up to 30 days ahead (longer with a paid Meta One plan), and the steps are in can you schedule Instagram posts. Other routes are tighter. Meta's Business Suite desktop article limits Instagram posts to 10 photos, and Meta's developer documentation limits a carousel published through its connection to 10 images or videos. A 20 slide carousel is best built in the app.
For the pixel sizes of photos, Reels, stories and profile pictures, see Instagram post size.
Where this stops working
- No adding slides after you post. Reordering and removing are allowed, adding is not.
- No mixing shapes. One orientation applies to the whole carousel.
- Fewer slides outside the app. Business Suite and tools that publish through Instagram's official connection stop at 10. Meta's developer page adds that those carousels are cropped from the first image, with 1:1 as the default.
- Questions the Help Center does not answer. The articles we read give no size for video slides, no crop for the profile grid, and no best slide count. We give none either.
- No engagement figures here. We found no figure from Instagram on how carousels perform against other formats, so this page states none.
Put one keyword on the last slide, and inDM sends each commenter what you promised, the same way it does on a Reel.
Sources
All read on 12 October 2026:
- Instagram Help Center, sharing a post with multiple photos or videos: the 20 item limit, the steps on iPhone and Android and on a computer, single or multiple captions, reordering after posting and what a carousel is not.
- Instagram Help Center, image resolution of photos you share: the 1080 pixel width, the 1.91:1 to 3:4 range and the 320 pixel rule.
- Meta Business Help Center, posts on desktop: the 10 photo limit for Instagram.
- Instagram Platform, Content Publishing: the 10 item carousel limit and the crop from the first image. The page was marked updated 30 June 2026.
- Instagram Help Center, scheduling posts and Reels: carousels are among the content the app can schedule.