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I have some graphic design stuff to post on Instagram but no matter what I try, the image comes out blurry. I'd started with a file size of 1080x1080px when making in (currently using InDesign). I tried many export formats (JPEG and PNG in multiple different resolutions/ppis and quality). I even tried exporting to PDF and converting to JPEG but no luck. I've browsed some of the questions on here but I wasn't able to find a solution that worked for my problem. Can anyone help me?

Original image: enter image description here

Screenshots from Instagram (they look a lot worse on my phone btw): enter image description here

enter image description here

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  • Related: graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/21204/…
    – curious ♦
    Commented Jul 30, 2021 at 15:55
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    It is more likely to be compression rather than blur. Not much that you can do as sites like instagram do convert all your uploaded images and compress them so they load faster. Also. in Indesign or pdf it will look a lot sharper as they use vector fonts. Two things to look out for to get the best quality are: use recommended image dimensions and export as jpg in highest quality. (I assume you done both of them already)
    – Julian Steinmann
    Commented Jul 30, 2021 at 16:39
  • I did. Well, guess I'll just have to deal with it! haha. thanks for your input.
    – Giuliana
    Commented Jul 30, 2021 at 16:53
  • Image size is too big for instagram, which will cause instagram to automatically resample and add compression to the image, which causes the problem you are seeing. The image should be 1080 x 1080px, then export as JPEG using a proper image editor, and set the compression to a reasonable level. Then post on instagram.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 30, 2021 at 17:38
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    Could be a minor mistake when posting here, or you are saying you also tried 1080x1080, but the original image you posted is 1800x1800, not 1080x1080 that you stated in the question.
    – Yorik
    Commented Jul 30, 2021 at 17:56

2 Answers 2

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You literally need to deal with it, as it is, and there's some guidance on this, here: https://www.adobe.com/express/discover/sizes/instagram.

Instagram and pretty much every social media app, will process photos & videos based on whatever sizing/cropping/compression/etc rules they've built into the app at that particular moment. Not just your photos, everybody's photos.

Then, they could update the image rules with every new update of the app.

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*Not really an answer to the question but interesting in this context:

I was wondering if @Billy Kerr could be right and highly compressed images wont be re-saved and compressed further. Would have surprised me if that would have been the case. But the result is even more surprising than this.

Just tried:

Left before upload: 1080x1080px img compressed at worst quality in photoshop is 32kb.

Right After upload: Now only 14kb size? How is that even possible? They must have some insane compression algorithm or does photoshop add something else to the file that insta removes?

enter image description here

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  • I give up, just tried something similar. Made a perfectly sized image 1080 x 1080px for an insta post, added moderate compression, around 70% quality, saved as jpeg, file size 71kb, looks pretty decent, no artifacts or blurring to speak of. On upload to instagram, the jpeg artifacts and blurring are horrible. Then I tried with a PNG, which has no compression at all, and the result is the same - horrible artifacts and blurring. Looks like there's nothing that will really fix this at all, unless instagram stops recompressing already compressed images.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 0:43
  • I also used red and blue in the graphic, which seems to be the worst possible combination for causing the problem.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 0:46
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    +1 BTW for proving me wrong ;)
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 1:15
  • @BillyKerr red and bright green too. Like a red shape with green thick stroke.
    – Vikas
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 3:26
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    You guys know they update the app every month :) Whatever seems to be working today, will likely be different in the next update.
    – lmlmlm
    Commented Jul 31, 2021 at 8:47

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