A seamless Instagram grid from one photo
A grid post — also called a puzzle feed or split post — spreads one large picture across several posts, so your profile shows it as one big image. It works for launches, announcements, panoramas and portfolio pieces. The trick is to cut the photo into exactly the shape of the profile grid, which is always three columns wide, and to post the pieces in reverse order.
This tool does both. Choose 1 × 3 (one row, 3 posts), 2 × 3 (6 posts) or 3 × 3 (9 posts). The preview dims the parts of your photo that won’t fit, draws the cut lines and shows the posting number of every tile.
Which tile shape to choose
Instagram changed the profile grid in January 2025: thumbnails are no longer squares but 3:4 portrait rectangles. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, explained the switch by the fact that most uploads are now vertical. The shape you pick decides how well the joins line up:
| Tile shape | Tile size | Whole 3 × 3 grid | How it looks on the profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait 3:4 (default) | 1080 × 1440 px | 3240 × 4320 px | Matches the current grid; joins line up |
| Portrait 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 px | 3240 × 4050 px | Fills the feed; trimmed slightly top and bottom on the grid |
| Square 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 px | 3240 × 3240 px | The classic grid; trimmed at the sides on today’s grid |
The Instagram app has accepted 3:4 photos (1080 × 1440) in single posts and carousels since mid-2025. Some scheduling tools that post through Meta’s API still only allow 4:5 at most and crop taller images; if you schedule your posts with one of those, pick 4:5 tiles.
Tiles are 1080 px wide, the width Instagram recommends, as long as your photo is big enough: a 3-column grid needs a photo at least 3240 px wide after cropping. Smaller photos give proportionally smaller tiles rather than being upscaled, so check the tile size shown under the preview.
Framing the crop
The photo is cropped to the overall shape of the grid — for example 3:4 tiles in a 3 × 3 grid make a 3:4 picture, and a single 1 × 3 row makes a wide 9:4 strip. Only one direction needs cropping, so drag the photo left and right (or up and down) on the preview, or move the Crop position slider from 0 to 100%. Keep faces and text away from the cut lines: Instagram leaves a thin gap between thumbnails.
Posting order
The ZIP contains files named like post-01-row3-col3.jpg. The number is the posting order and the row and column tell you where the tile ends up. Instagram always shows your newest post first, top left, so you post the bottom-right tile first (post-01) and the top-left tile last. Upload each tile as a separate post, one after the other, without other posts in between.
Related tools
To cut an image into any number of rows and columns, without cropping, use the Image Splitter. To post a single photo without cropping, pad it with Make Image Square, or resize it for other networks with the Social Media Image Resizer. For the whole method, from choosing the photo to posting the last tile, read How to split an image into a grid for Instagram.
Everything happens in your browser: the photo is not uploaded, and the tiles are rebuilt from pixels, so hidden EXIF data such as GPS location is not copied into them.