Instagram stores posted pictures from now on in a higher resolution. Normally pictures are saved in a format of 640 by 640 pixels, but now that resolution has been increased to 1080 by 1080 pixels.
A visitor at The Verge noticed that after he received a preview of a photo on Instagram via Telegram. Instagram preserves its square format and stretches pictures as soon as the screen size and resolution are increased. The change to 1080p must make the images on larger screens such as high-end smartphones look better to the eyes.
Instagram to 1080p
The new resolution is not yet active. The pictures will be stored in 1080p resolution, but not yet displayed in that resolution on the website and Instagram apps. If you look at the source code of an Instagram post, you can find the link to download the photo in high resolution. It is unclear when the change is applied to all platforms, but it is expected to happen soon.
The pictures are, despite their higher resolution, still compressed to about the half of their original file size. Instagram does this to save space on the servers, allowing for more photos can be stored on a server.
Photos by @onderkoca