Instagram re-compresses every upload, and you cannot stop that. You can control the file it starts from, and that decides most of how the post looks.
Export an sRGB JPEG at or near Instagram's own display size, sharpen lightly after resizing, and save at high rather than maximum quality. Instagram re-compresses every upload, so the aim is to give it a file that needs as little further processing as possible.
The platform's re-encode is out of your hands. Colour space, size, sharpening and compression quality are not, and those four settings decide most of what survives the upload.
The four settings that matter
1. Colour space: convert to sRGB
This causes the most visible damage, and it is the easiest to avoid.
Upload a file saved in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto and the platform will read the numbers as sRGB. The result looks flatter and duller, most obviously in reds and greens.
Convert to sRGB when you export. Convert, not assign: converting keeps the colours the same, while assigning only changes the label. The difference is explained in sRGB vs Adobe RGB.
2. Size: close to what the platform displays
Upload something far larger than the platform displays and it will downsample the file with its own algorithm, which is tuned for speed rather than for your image.
Export at, or close to, the platform's own display dimensions. You control the resize, and the platform has less left to do.
Those dimensions change from time to time, so check the platform's current guidance rather than a number copied from an old article. The principle stays the same even when the pixel counts change.
3. Sharpening: after resizing, and lightly
Downsizing softens an image, and a little output sharpening brings back the impression of detail.
Sharpen after resizing, not before, and use less than feels right. Compression exaggerates sharpening halos, so a file that looks crisp on your desktop can look crunchy after upload.
4. Compression: high quality, not maximum
A maximum-quality export makes a large file that the platform compresses heavily anyway. A low-quality export hands it artefacts to make worse.
High quality, just below the top of your export software's scale, is the sensible middle. The visible difference is small; the difference in file size is not.
Why uploads look worse than the export
Re-compression. Unavoidable, but reduced when the file already sits close to the display size.
A colour space mismatch. The most common cause, covered above.
Heavy sharpening meeting compression. Each makes the other worse.
Grain and noise. Compression handles fine random detail badly. It uses a lot of data and gets smeared into blotches first. If you add grain, keep it light for social versions.
Large flat gradients. Skies and plain paper studio backdrops band under compression. A very small amount of added noise across the gradient helps more than you would expect.
Posting from a phone that has already processed the file. That is two rounds of compression instead of one.
A workflow that holds up
- Finish the edit at full resolution in your working colour space.
- Export a full-resolution master and archive it.
- From that master, export the social version: resized to the platform's dimensions, converted to sRGB, sharpened for screen, saved at high quality.
- Upload that file directly, without passing it through another app first.
Always export from the master, never from an earlier export. Every re-encode loses something, and the losses add up.
Crops and aspect ratios
Compose for the crop the platform will apply, or crop it yourself. Leaving the platform to choose is how the top of someone's head disappears.
If a frame has to work in several ratios, export each one separately. A single crop rarely survives every format.
Retouching belongs before all of this, on the full-resolution file. Whether you retouch yourself or send the set to a studio such as Basic Retouching for high-volume cleanup, the social export is a copy made from the finished frame, not the frame itself.
Check the post, not the export
Settings are only proven after upload. Post a test frame, then look at it on a phone and on a desktop beside your exported file.
If it looks duller, check the colour space first. If edges look crunchy, reduce the output sharpening. If a sky or backdrop has banded, add a little noise to the gradient. Change one setting at a time, or you will not know which change helped.
When a combination works, save it as an export preset and name it after the platform and ratio. Then the next export starts from settings you have already tested.
Common questions
Why do my uploads look duller than my export? Almost always a colour space mismatch. A file saved in Adobe RGB gets read as sRGB, which flattens reds and greens. Convert to sRGB when you export.
Should I upload the largest file I have? No. A very large file gets downsampled by the platform. Export close to the display size so you control the resize.
How much output sharpening should I use? Less than feels right, applied after resizing. Compression exaggerates sharpening, so a crisp export can look crunchy once it is posted.
Why do skies and studio backdrops band? Large smooth gradients compress badly. A very small amount of noise added across the gradient reduces banding more than you would expect.
Does it matter which device I post from? Upload the exported file directly from wherever you post. Avoid moving it to your phone through a messaging app first, because that can compress it again before the platform does.
Related reading: How to Make an Entire Photo Gallery Look Consistent and RAW vs JPEG for Professional Retouching.
BeEdits Editorial Team
Post-production studio
A photography post-production company: high-end retouching, creative editing and scalable production support for photographers, studios and brands.
