Instagram goes high-def just in time for summer sunsets

Those sunset photos uploaded to Instagram will finally look as breath-taking as the caption claims they are. The photo-fawning app said yesterday it’s upgrading the resolution it stores pictures within the app from 640 x 640 pixels to the high definition resolution of 1080 x 1080.

It’s a welcome change for a few reasons. First, Instagram is finally realizing that its users snap photos with higher quality cameras that come standard on new phones, like the iPhone 6 Plus. Also, screen resolutions have dramatically improved, so making the picture quality correspond to that makes sense.

Larger images are also good business for third party printing services like Instaprint or Shutterfly because shopper’s photos will finally look decent stretched out on a canvas.

Instagram confirmed the change to the Verge, who first broke the story. A spokesperson told the website that 1080 resolution pictures are “gradually rolling out” to iOS and Android apps last week. People will only see the better quality photos on the app as Instagram has “no plans to share on web.”

Photo via Flickr

https://digiday.com/?p=124699

More in Media

Media Briefing: Publishers search for new ways to grow (and authenticate) audiences, overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit

“[Advertisers] already pay data providers for data. So why not pay the publisher?”

Research Briefing: Publishers’ revenue sources are top of mind at Digiday Publishing Summit

In this week’s Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine which revenue streams were top of mind for publishers at the Digiday Publishing Summit, how TikTok is getting even more marketing spend from brands and retailers despite facing a potential U.S. ban, and how Disney is rolling out DRAX Direct, a direct integration with the industry’s largest DSPs, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.

How Forbes is testing its SSPs to improve programmatic ad revenue

Forbes has been running tests with its SSPs to improve the ad tech firms’ contributions to the publisher’s revenue.