How to create a carousel for Instagram

A carousel is one Instagram post with up to 20 photos or videos that people swipe through (Instagram Help Center). It sits in the feed as a single post, with little dots underneath that say "there's more".

That swipe is the point. A carousel can teach, list or tell a story one step at a time, which is why tips, tutorials, before-and-afters and repurposed threads all live here. It pays off, too: Later's analysis found carousels typically outperform single-image posts on engagement rate by 19%.

Write the carousel before you design anything. Almost every good one follows the same shape: a hook, the points, then an ask.

Most carousels land between 5 and 10 slides. You can go to 20, but only if every slide still earns its place.

Go tall. 1080 × 1440 pixels (3:4) is the tallest shape the feed shows: since May 2025 Instagram displays 3:4 images "exactly as you shot it", carousels included (Social Media Today). 1080 × 1350 (4:5) is the long-standing standard and still takes far more of the screen than a square. More in Instagram carousel size.

Whatever you choose, use the same size for every slide so the carousel looks like one piece.

Use the same font, colours, margins and name on every slide, so the post reads as one piece rather than ten. Big text, strong contrast and one focal point per slide. There are three ways to get there:

Doing a seamless carousel in Canva or Figma, where one picture runs across every slide? Make one wide canvas and slice it into equal 1080px pieces. For text carousels, LightFit's tweet-style carousel maker skips the lining up entirely. Still choosing? See the best carousel makers or a simpler Canva alternative for carousels.

Export every slide as a PNG (sharpest for text) or a JPG, and number them so the order is obvious. Then flick through them on your phone before you post: that's where your audience will see them.

LightFit exports each slide as a PNG, 1170px wide. With lifetime access you can send the slides to your own inbox, so they're on your phone and ready to go.

1. 1

   Tap + and choose Post

   Open Instagram and start a new post.

2. 2

   Tap the select-multiple icon

   It sits above your camera roll and lets you pick more than one image.

3. 3

   Tap your slides in order

   The number on each one is its place in the carousel. You can pick up to 20.

4. 4

   Tap Next and check the order

   Edit or reorder slides if you need to, and add music if you like.

5. 5

   Write your caption

   Tag people, and add alt text for each image in the advanced settings.

6. 6

   Tap Share

On a computer? Go to instagram.com, click Create, drag in your images, then use the select-multiple icon to add the rest and set the order.

Turning a thread you've already written into slides? Follow the X thread to carousel guide. Want the why behind all this? Read the science of carousels, and check 9 carousel myths, fact-checked before you trust any tip.

Open the studio and type your hook on slide 1. Add a slide for each point after it. Set your name, handle and photo once, and they appear on every slide. Keep the 4:5 ratio, pick a preset or switch to Night, then export all the slides and post them with the steps above.

Lifetime access is $100 once: up to 20 slides, every ratio and unlimited exports.