Posting AI images and reels on Instagram: a practical checklist
An AI picture or an AI video often needs a few small steps before it is ready to post. This checklist covers size, a clean file, quality settings and an honest label for both images and reels. Sizes below are the commonly used ones; check Instagram’s help pages for the current recommendations, because they change.
- Pick the shape first: 4:5 for portrait posts, 9:16 (1080 × 1920) for reels and stories.
- Do not upload 4K or a screen recording. Start from the original download.
- Clean the corner sparkle and the hidden file data, then look at the result at full size.
- Use Instagram’s AI label and a short caption line.
1. Pick the right shape
| Use | Common size | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 px | 4:5 |
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 px | 1:1 |
| Landscape post | 1080 × 566 px | 1.91:1 |
| Reel, story or reel cover | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 |
Ask the AI tool for the shape you need when you make the picture or video. For reels, generate in portrait. If you only have a landscape clip, do not crop away the corner to hide a logo, because that cuts the picture. The smallest accepted size for reels is about 540 × 960, and 1080 × 1920 is recommended.
2. Remove the corner logo
If the picture has the small Gemini sparkle, or the video has the Veo sparkle, clean it before you post. Look at the corner at full size afterwards. For videos, play the whole clip once.
The pictures in this guide are demo pictures we made for this website (no real people, no client work). We added a sparkle of the same shape and size as the Gemini one and ran the real Image Cleaner on them. Real pictures differ, so always look at the result before you deliver it.
More on the methods: images and videos. Image Cleaner handles videos up to 60 seconds and 1080p, keeps the sound and drops hidden file data.
3. Remove hidden data for privacy
- GPS location, if the file has one.
- Camera or software names and dates.
- The prompt, if your tool saved it as a text note in the file.
- For videos: title, comment, creation time and encoder tags.
Image Cleaner lists what the original carried and checks that the cleaned file has none. See what image metadata is.
4. Keep quality up
- Start from the original file, not a screenshot or a screen recording.
- Avoid saving a picture again and again as a JPEG. Each save loses a little quality.
- Do not upload 4K. Instagram brings it down to 1080 wide anyway, so you gain nothing but a heavier file.
- In the Instagram app, switch on Upload at highest quality in the media quality settings, so slow connections do not make it worse.
- Check the picture or video on your phone before you post.
5. Length, sound and captions (reels)
Reels are short. Sources disagree on the exact longest length and Instagram changes it, so check the current limit in the app. Keep the first seconds strong, and check the sound level on your phone. Add on-screen captions if there is speech, because many people watch without sound.
6. Be open in the label and the caption
- Use Instagram’s AI label when your post contains realistic AI content.
- Add a short caption line such as “Created with AI”. Many followers appreciate it.
- Do not present an AI image or video as a real photo, a real event or a real person saying real words.
Cleaning a file does not change the fact that it is AI-generated, and invisible watermarks such as SynthID stay in the picture or video. Read the full explanation of the AI info label.
7. Alt text and a short description
Add a short description of what the picture shows. It helps people who use screen readers and does not cost anything.
A 2 minute routine
- Download the original from the AI tool.
- Clean it (corner logo and hidden data) and look at the corner at full size.
- Check the size and shape on your phone.
- Upload with Upload at highest quality on.
- Add the AI label and one caption line.
More guides
- How to remove the Gemini sparkle logo from an AI image, and what to expect
- How to remove the Veo / Gemini sparkle from an AI video, and what to expect
- What is image metadata? How to see it and remove it (EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC)
- What is hidden in an AI video file? Tags, credentials and SynthID explained
- What is SynthID? An honest explanation of Google's invisible AI watermark
- Instagram's “AI info” label explained: why it appears and how to handle it honestly
- Using AI images for client work: a simple disclosure checklist
- Veo video resolution: 720p, 1080p or 4K, and which one you really need