Images posted on Instagram have always been square - until now.
The Facebook-owned social network has made a major update to its platform, enabling users to now share photos and videos in both portrait and landscape orientation. While the traditional square orientation is still the default format in the app, users now have the option to tap the new format icon to adjust the orientation of their post to either portrait or landscape instead of square.
It is important to note that in order to keep the clean feel of users' profile grids, the post will appear there as a center-cropped square. Instagram also notes that this update is particularly important for video, which can be more cinematic in widescreen. Moreover, all filters now work for videos, and filters can also be adjusted on video too.
"Square format has been and always will be part of who we are," Instagram said in its announcement. "That said, the visual story you're trying to tell should always come first, and we want to make it simple and fun for you to share moments just the way you want to. It turns out that nearly one in five photos or videos people post aren't in the square format, and we know that it hasn't been easy to share this type of content on Instagram: friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can't capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end."