Which collage size for which app

Three shapes cover almost everything a phone posts. The differences between them are not cosmetic — each one changes how much room every slot in your collage gets.

The three shapes, in pixels

Aspect ratios are easy to say and hard to picture, so here they are as the numbers this tool actually writes. Every output is 1080 pixels on its short edge, which is what the apps compress towards; the long edge is what changes.

Output sizes and where they land
Shape	Pixels	Long edge vs square
Square 1:1	1080 × 1080	—
Tall post 4:5	1080 × 1350	25% taller
Story 9:16	1080 × 1920	78% taller

A story is nearly twice the height of a square at the same width, and that is why the layouts are drawn three times rather than reflowed. Three columns across a square are 344 pixels wide and perfectly reasonable; the same three columns down a story would be 344 by 1900, which is not a collage, it is a barcode.

What each destination takes off

Feeds

A feed post keeps the whole picture. What varies is how much of the screen it gets: a square takes its width in height, a 4:5 takes a quarter more. Nothing is cropped and nothing is at risk, so the choice here is purely about how much room you want to occupy against how wide each slot needs to be.

Full-screen stories and statuses

These are shown edge to edge on a phone, with the app’s own controls on top: a name and progress bar across the top, a reply field across the bottom. Budget around 250 pixels at each end as covered. A collage whose top slot runs to the frame edge will have part of that slot behind the furniture — push the outer edge slider to forty or so and the whole arrangement pulls clear.

Display pictures

Every one of them is a circle cut from a square, so the four corners are removed and roughly a fifth of the area goes with them. Square shape, centre-weighted layout, and nothing important in a corner slot. This is the one case where an even grid is actively the wrong choice.

Questions the sizes raise

Should I save at more than 1080 pixels wide if I can?

Not for anything that is going straight to a social app. Every one of them re-encodes what you send and most target around 1080 on the short edge, so a larger file is compressed harder on their side rather than arriving sharper. Where a bigger file does earn its place is printing: the print sizes here are made at 300 pixels per inch, from 1200 × 1800 for a 4 × 6 up to 3508 × 2480 for A4 landscape.

Why does my square collage get cut off as a display picture?

Because a display picture is a circle cut out of a square, and the corners of your collage are outside that circle. On a nine-slot grid that removes a bite from four of the nine pictures. If the collage is destined for a profile photo, use a layout whose interesting slots are in the middle, or push the outer edge slider up so the whole arrangement sits inside the circle.

Is the tall post really better than the square?

It occupies about a quarter more screen height as somebody scrolls, which is the only mechanical advantage and it is a real one. What it costs is width per slot: at 1080 by 1350 the layouts get taller cells, so a wide landscape has less room to be wide in. If your pictures are mostly portraits the tall post is the better pick twice over; if they are mostly landscapes the square usually wins.

What size is right for a WhatsApp status?

The story shape, 1080 by 1920. A status is displayed full-screen on a phone in the same proportion, so anything squarer gets letterboxed with a blurred or plain band above and below. For a WhatsApp display picture it is the square you want instead, for the same circular-crop reason as anywhere else.

Can I make one collage and post it in all three shapes?

Yes, and it is three taps. Changing shape re-lays the collage through the arrangement drawn for that shape, keeping your photos in their slots and their framing intact, so you can save the square, switch to the story, save that, and switch again. Each save is a separate file and neither one is a crop of the other — they are genuinely different arrangements of the same pictures.

What each app covers, with the date it was checked

The collage studio can shade these areas on the stage while you work — the Layout step’s Show what gets covered row — and never puts the shading in the file. Platforms move their own buttons now and then, so every figure carries the month it was last checked, and the approximate ones say so.

Destination overlays
Destination	What is covered	Checked
WhatsApp profile photo	WhatsApp shows the profile photo as a circle; size guides recommend uploading 1080 × 1080 (secondary source).	2026-10, approx.
WhatsApp status	Name and time header across the top, reply bar across the bottom (secondary source; approximate).	2026-10, approx.
Instagram story	The story is 1080 × 1920 full screen; the profile row sits at the top and the reply box at the bottom. Band heights are approximate.	2026-10, approx.
Instagram profile grid	The profile grid crops posts to 3:4; keep key content in the centre 1080 × 1080.	2026-10
Facebook cover	Cover photos display at 851 × 315 on a computer. The profile-photo position and the narrower phone crop are approximate.	2026-10, approx.

Landscape and print shapes are in the size list too: widescreen 1920 × 1080, the Facebook cover at 1702 × 630, a grid-safe 1080 × 1440, and six print sizes at 300 pixels per inch.