Some may often ignore the importance of their Instagram profile picture when uploading. But it plays an essential role in how your followers and profile visitors may perceive you as. It is the first thing people pay attention to, especially if your account is private and identifies you with when your post appears on their feed.
For all these reasons, you should pick the highest quality photo for your Instagram profile picture. If anything goes wrong with the capturing equipment, editing, or even your phone’s settings, the image may look distorted or blurred.
Therefore, if you made your way in here wondering why does my Instagram profile picture look blurry, worry not! We’ve concluded all the important details, from how to change your profile picture to how to avoid reducing its quality and much more.
So what’s the delay for? Let’s get started!
How to Change Your Profile Picture On Instagram
Changing your profile picture on Instagram is not a difficult or time-consuming task. All you need is an Instagram app, a few minutes, and you’re done. However, if you have some editing skills, that will definitely help you up your profile picture game.
Follow these steps to change your Instagram display picture:
- Open the Instagram app from your device.
- Next, tap on the Profile icon present at the bottom-right corner to go to your Profile tab.
- Now, tap your profile picture and select New Profile Photo. This will take you to your phone’s gallery.
- Then, choose the picture you want to upload as your profile picture.
- Lastly, tap on the right arrow icon from the top-right to change your Instagram display picture.
Reasons Behind Instagram Profile Picture Looking Blurry
While Instagram is known for ruining the quality of pictures posted on feed and stories, some have reported the same issue for their Instagram profile picture. However, it would be safe to say that this is the only instance of ruined image quality on the platform that Instagram isn’t responsible for.
To answer your query, why does my Instagram profile picture look blurry? There are various other reasons resulting in the issue, including an incorrect aspect ratio or size of an image, a low-resolution photo, using Instagram Lite or Web, phone’s settings, and so on. To help you understand, here’s a brief overview of each cause:
1. The Original Picture Is Blurry.
Most of the time, your Instagram profile picture may be blurry because the actual picture is, in fact, blurry as well. As long as you’re not selecting a clear and high-quality picture to upload as your display picture, your profile picture will always look blurry.
Therefore, when capturing a photo, make sure that your camera is in focus. Additionally, using a stable base for the camera, such as a tripod stand or a camera stick, is ideal if you don’t want the image to be even slightly out of focus or blurred.
2. Incorrect Aspect Ratio.
Aspect ratio is basically the ratio of width to height of an image. Each app uses a specific aspect ratio for the pictures you upload to it. Even within the app, the aspect ratio changes. For instance, Instagram stories and posts both have a different aspect ratio.
The aspect ratio for profile pictures on Instagram is set to be 1:1, which is a square. This means that whenever you change your display picture with a different aspect ratio, Instagram will automatically change it to 1:1 by compressing, stretching, or cropping it. For this reason, your Instagram profile picture may turn out to be blurry if you’re not using the correct aspect ratio.
3. Low-Resolution Photo.
If you’re uploading a low-quality picture as your profile picture on Instagram, chances are, it will look blurry. Unlike aspect ratio, Instagram hasn’t specified a standard resolution for a picture that you can use as your display picture. So, it’s up to the users to use better and high-definition photos to prevent them from turning blurry.
4. Incorrect Size of Image.
Image size is also an important factor that can cause your Instagram profile picture to look blurry if not the correct size. Instagram compresses or stretches images with an incorrect image size in the same way as it does with an improper aspect ratio. That means if you upload a bigger image file, Instagram will compress it to 1MB. This will ultimately make your picture blurry.
5. Incorrect File Type of Image.
An incorrect file type can also affect the quality of your profile picture. That’s why it’s important to check the file type of the photo you’re thinking of uploading as your Instagram profile picture. JPG and JPEG file types are preferable as compared to PNG files due to their normal resolution and small image size.
So, if you’ve uploaded a 1:1 picture of less than 1MB, but your picture is still looking blurry, it may be because of the less preferred file type. To check your image file type, simply tap on the three vertical dots from the bottom left and select Details.
6. Instagram App Settings.
If you’re an iPhone user who’s having trouble with the quality of their uploaded content, such as profile pictures, the reason is an enabled high-quality image processing option. This option is available in Instagram app settings, and users can enable and disable it according to their liking.
So, if you have the high-quality image processing option turned on, it may be the real culprit in showing blurry profile pictures.
7. You’re Using Instagram Lite.
Instagram Lite is an alternative to the Instagram app, specially made for those who want to save storage space and data. Although similar to the original app, Instagram Lite affects the picture quality of your uploaded content. This occurs because the Lite app comes with a default data saver feature.
So, if you’re using Instagram Lite, your profile picture is bound to appear blurry.
8. You’re Using Instagram Web.
Instagram Web, like Instagram Lite, consumes less internet data at the expense of app animations, inferior image uploading quality, etc. If you used Instagram Web to upload your profile image, this could be the cause of the blur.
Fixes for Blurry Instagram Profile Picture
Now that you know the answer to why does my Instagram profile picture look blurry, let’s look at a few methods that you can employ to fix this problem.
1. Change the Aspect Ratio.
The easiest way to make your blurry Instagram picture clear is by changing its aspect ratio. If you’re using an aspect ratio other than 1:1, Instagram will crop the picture on its own and may even cause it to become blurry.
To change the aspect ratio and crop your picture, follow these steps:
- Open the Gallery app from your device.
- Then, select the picture that you wish to use as your Instagram profile picture.
- After that, tap on the pencil icon located at the bottom.
- From the Crop icon, set the aspect ratio of your picture to 1:1.
- Lastly, select Save to save new changes.
Once done, head to the Instagram app and change your profile picture. Then, check whether it still looks blurry or not. If it does, move to the next method to fix it.
2. Use A High-Quality Picture.
Another method to ensure that your Instagram display picture doesn’t look blurry is to use a high-definition image, preferably 1080p. However, avoid using higher quality pictures than 1080p, such as 4K, as Instagram will compress them, resulting in blurry images.
Hence, it’s best to use a picture with a 550 x 550 pixels resolution. If you go below this, Instagram will stretch it and make it blurry.
3. Use the Correct Image Size.
A 1MB image size is a safe option for when you’re trying to upload an Instagram profile picture without wanting it to turn blurry. If your image size is above or below 1MB, there are more chances that it will look unclear as your Instagram display picture.
To change the size of your picture, you can use the Adobe Express Free Image Resizer. Simply upload a photo and change its dimensions.
4. Change the Image File Type.
As stated earlier in this guide, a PNG file type provides high-quality images but has a greater file size. This means that once you upload this photo as your profile picture, Instagram will alter it in a way that it will look blurry.
So, it’s better to use a JPG or JPEG file type that offers a medium-quality photo at a comparatively smaller file size. If you have a PNG file type picture, you can utilize a free online tool, such as Adobe Express PNG to JPG Converter to convert the image file type.
5. Use the Instagram App.
If you’re using Instagram Lite or Instagram Web to upload an Instagram profile picture, there are greater chances of encountering a blurry display picture issue. This is because both Instagram Lite and Web saves data by showing everything in lower quality, including profile pictures.
To save yourself from the trouble of having to upload display pictures multiple times on Instagram Lite or Web, use the Instagram app on your phone to change your profile picture.
Read also:Why Won’t Instagram Let Me Change My Profile Picture
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Why does Instagram ruin the picture quality?
It doesn’t make sense that a platform that releases new features frequently compromises the quality of uploaded images. The application’s algorithms compress the pictures to reduce their sizes which allows them to free up storage for themselves. The reason behind it is to reduce the company’s cost and keep the platform free for users.
How to enhance the upload quality for images on Instagram?
In order to upload high-quality media on your Instagram account, you need to go to Instagram settings. Then, go to Account > Data Usage > toggle on High-quality uploads. This wouldn’t give the highest or keep the original quality of the photo or video but keep its maximum possible resolution.
Wrapping Up: Why Does My Instagram Profile Picture Look Blurry
Your Instagram profile picture can look blurry due to various reasons. It could be because you’re using a blurry original picture, an incorrect image aspect ratio, image size, Instagram for Web, or Instagram Lite. Once you’re aware of the actual cause, you can easily resolve this problem by following any of the methods mentioned in this guide.
This brings us to the end of our guide on why does my Instagram profile picture look blurry. If you have any further queries, leave them in the comments section below. We’ll try our best to answer them.
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