Instagram Shifting To High Resolution Images

This article originally appeared on 60 Second Social.

Given that the unique selling point of Instagram is to take photos and make them look fantastic with the great editing tools they provide, one would assume that those photos are high resolution on the app. Well up to now they have only actually been 640×640, strange for a service which is all about photos. However because of the editing tools, the platform we view images on (primarily mobile) and the filters you can use, Instagram have gotten away with using 640×640 up to now.

To be honest, they would still get away with using 640×640, I mean its not as if any of us is complaining. However, Instagram has now started to store images at 1080×1080 pixels. The images will still display at the lower resolution of 640×640 but you can find the higher resolution image by digging around the photo source code.

So why the change then if the image is still displaying in a lower resolution? Well it is possibly for an improved viewing experience which could come in the future version of the app, or maybe a future update which will allow you to buy prints from Instagram using services like Shutterfly.

To find the larger image in your browser you need to look up the page’s source code, hit Ctrl/Cmd+F to bring up the Find dialog and then type ‘.jpg’ and the first result is the direct URL to the larger image. So it is still something new which has been pretty much hidden away for the moment but there is a good chance it will have significance in a future Instagram update.

Co-founder of Instagram Mike Krieger tweeted the following;

So with the new size images the feed should look a bit sharper, maybe not a whole lot more sharper but certainly an improvement on the previous low-res images. There have been some concerns over the new images affecting data usage when the user is not on WiFi but according to Mike, Instagram have worked on image optimisation so data usage should not be affected.

At last! High resolution photos for a service which is built around sharing photos in the first place!

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About The Author

Mark is the founder of 60 Second Social media where he provides social media news and digital marketing analysis. He has an Advanced Diploma in Psychology and a Diploma in Digital Marketing And Social Media. You can follow him on Twitter here. You can also follow 60 Second Social on Twitter here. Or you can drop Mark an email at, daltomark@me.com