Instagram has confirmed testing a new way to display images on user profile pages. Previously, the main page showed square images arranged in a grid format, but Instagram is now testing displaying vertical images as tiled squares.
This testing is not new; some users have had their profile pages changed to this format since 2022, but Instagram has not rolled out this change to all users. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, mentioned that this testing is limited to a small number of users. The reason for wanting to make this change is that most images uploaded to Instagram now have aspect ratios of 4:3 or 16:9 for videos, and when cropped into squares on profile pages, they do not look aesthetically pleasing.
He also mentioned that the square image display format has been around since Instagram used to enforce uploading only square images (which was discontinued in 2015) and they want to align with current popular content. However, he acknowledges that changing the display format will affect those who have curated their profile page within the square frame, so they are looking for the best way to implement this change.
At the very least, this confirms that Instagram is definitely looking to change how images are displayed on profile pages.
TLDR: Instagram is testing a new way to display images on user profile pages, moving away from the traditional square format to accommodate the popular aspect ratios of images and videos uploaded to the platform.
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