A 3:4 aspect ratio, written 3:4, or aspect ratio 3/4, or 0.75, is any portrait frame whose width is three-quarters of its height, so a 1080-pixel-wide image is 1440 pixels tall. It is 4:3 turned upright, and it is the frame most phone cameras produce by default. Below, as one entry in the Playcut spec library: pixel sizes, platforms, crop math to 4:5, 1:1, 9:16 and 16:9, and the AI models that render it natively.
What the 3:4 aspect ratio means (3:4, 3/4, 0.75)
3:4 describes shape, not size: the width is 3 units for every 4 units of height. Width divided by height is 0.75 and height divided by width is 1.3333, so every 3:4 frame is a third taller than it is wide, from a 480 × 640 thumbnail to a 3600 × 4800 print file.
Aspect ratio 3/4 vs 3:4 vs 4:3: same digits, different meaning
"Aspect ratio 3/4", "aspect ratio 3:4", "3x4" and "3 by 4" all name the same portrait shape, because the first number is always the width. 4:3 uses the same digits but is landscape, one rotation away: a 4032 × 3024 photo is 4:3, and held upright it is 3024 × 4032. The 4:3 aspect ratio sheet covers the landscape version.
3:4 aspect ratio in pixels: the size table
3:4 in pixels is any width multiplied by 1.3333 for the height: 1080 × 1440 for social feeds, 1536 × 2048 for a Retina-iPad-class master, 3024 × 4032 for a 12-megapixel phone photo and 3600 × 4800 for a 12 × 16 inch print at 300 ppi. The width must be divisible by 3 for a whole-pixel height; the free aspect ratio calculator checks any size.
| Width × height | Megapixels | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| 480 × 640 | 0.31 | VGA portrait, thumbnails |
| 600 × 800 | 0.48 | SVGA portrait, email previews |
| 768 × 1024 | 0.79 | XGA portrait, original iPad panel (legacy, unlinked) |
| 900 × 1200 | 1.08 | Exact-3:4 resize of a 1K AI render (896 × 1200 stretched 0.4%) |
| 1080 × 1440 | 1.56 | Instagram 3:4 feed photo and grid size |
| 1200 × 1600 | 1.92 | UXGA portrait, web product images |
| 1536 × 2048 | 3.15 | Retina 9.7-inch iPad class (legacy, unlinked) |
| 1620 × 2160 | 3.50 | 10.2-inch iPad (9th gen) in portrait |
| 1800 × 2400 | 4.32 | 6 × 8 in print at 300 ppi |
| 2064 × 2752 | 5.68 | 13-inch iPad Pro (M5) in portrait |
| 2700 × 3600 | 9.72 | 9 × 12 in print at 300 ppi |
| 3000 × 4000 | 12.00 | 12 MP 4:3 sensor class, held upright |
| 3024 × 4032 | 12.19 | Common 12-megapixel phone photo (unlinked) |
| 3600 × 4800 | 17.28 | 12 × 16 in print at 300 ppi |
| 5400 × 7200 | 38.88 | 18 × 24 in print at 300 ppi |
Near-miss sizes that are not exactly 3:4
2048 × 2732, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 13-inch iPad Air panel, is 0.7496, within 0.05% of 3:4. Playcut's Nano Banana 3:4 table size at 1K, 896 × 1200, is 0.7467, 0.44% narrower than exact. Both pass a 1% platform tolerance. When a spec demands exactness, a crop cannot add the missing 4 pixels of width: either resize (a 0.4% stretch) to 900 × 1200, or crop to 894 × 1192 for a whole-pixel exact 3:4.
Where the 3:4 aspect ratio is used: phone cameras, iPads, Instagram, print
3:4 is the native portrait frame of most phone cameras, the portrait shape of the 13-inch iPad Pro and the 10.2-inch iPad, Instagram's profile-grid thumbnail and, since May 2025, an accepted organic feed-photo ratio. It is also a print family from 6 × 8 to 18 × 24 inches. Meta's Ads Guide does not list 3:4 as the recommended ratio for Instagram Feed image ads (4:5 at 1440 × 1800, 1% tolerance; retrieved 2026-09-05).
| Device or placement | 3:4 status | Pixels | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone camera photo (upright) | Native | 3024 × 4032 (12 MP class, unlinked) | 4:3 sensor held in portrait |
| 13-inch iPad Pro (M5) | Exact in portrait | 2064 × 2752 | 264 ppi per Apple's tech specs |
| iPad 9th generation (10.2-inch) | Exact in portrait | 1620 × 2160 | 264 ppi per Apple's iPad 9th generation tech specs |
| 13-inch iPad Air / 12.9-inch iPad Pro | Within 0.05% | 2048 × 2732 | 0.7496, not exact; 264 ppi per Apple's iPad Air tech specs (retrieved 2026-09-05, unlinked) |
| Instagram feed photo (organic) | Accepted since May 2025 | 1080 × 1440 | Single photos and carousels, per PetaPixel's 29 May 2025 report |
| Instagram profile grid | 3:4 thumbnails since early 2025 | 1080 × 1440 | Other ratios are centre-cropped in the grid, per Kapwing's grid test (retrieved 2026-09-05, unlinked) |
| Instagram Feed image ad | Not 3:4 | 1440 × 1800 (4:5) | Per Meta's Ads Guide, retrieved 2026-09-05; 1% ratio tolerance |
| YouTube Shorts | Qualifies, with bars | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) fills | Square or vertical upload up to 3 min, standard channels from 15 Oct 2024 |
| Print: 6 × 8, 9 × 12, 12 × 16, 15 × 20, 18 × 24 in | Exact | 1800 × 2400 to 5400 × 7200 | At 300 ppi; 30 × 40 cm is also 3:4; 8 × 10 is 4:5 |
Phone cameras: 4:3 sensors held upright
Apple's iPhone camera guide lists 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 as the photo aspect choices, and a 4:3 sensor held upright produces 3:4. Announcing Instagram's change, Adam Mosseri called 3:4 "the format that almost every phone camera defaults to". Screen ratios per model are on the iPhone aspect ratio sheet. To share a moving shot, turn an iPhone Live Photo into a GIF in the browser.
iPad screens in portrait
Apple's iPad Pro technical specifications list the 13-inch model at 2752 × 2064, exactly 3:4 in portrait, while the 11-inch model is 2420 × 1668, which is 1.45, not 4:3.
"iPads are 4:3" holds for the 13-inch iPad Pro, the 7.9-inch iPad mini through its 5th generation, the 10.5-inch models, and the older 9.7 and 10.2-inch models. The 9th generation iPad is 2160 × 1620 at 264 ppi (linked in the table above), and the 13-inch iPad Air is 2732 × 2048, also 264 ppi (Apple tech specs, retrieved 2026-09-05, unlinked).
Instagram: 3:4 feed photos (May 2025) and the 3:4 grid (early 2025), organic only
PetaPixel reported on 29 May 2025 that Instagram now shows 3:4 photos uncropped in single posts and carousels. The profile grid had already moved from squares to 3:4 thumbnails in early 2025, and Kapwing's grid test (retrieved 2026-09-05, unlinked) shows every other ratio centre-cropped to 3:4 there. Mosseri's announcement covers photos only and says nothing about feed video.
Meta's Instagram Feed image-ad spec is separate: 4:5 at 1440 × 1800 with a 1% tolerance, per Meta's Ads Guide (retrieved 2026-09-05), so a 3:4 ad image is 6.25% out of tolerance. The 4:5 aspect ratio sheet links that guide.
3:4 vs 4:5, 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9: exact crop and letterbox percentages
Going from 3:4 to 4:5 removes 6.25% of the height in total (3.1% per edge); to 1:1, 25% of the height in total (12.5% per edge); to 9:16, 25% of the width in total (12.5% per side), or 25% bars in total when fitted. To 16:9 the crop is 57.8% of the height in total, so reframe rather than auto-crop for widescreen. The 9:16 resolution sheet lists every vertical platform size.
| Target ratio | Height at 1080 wide | Area vs 3:4 | Crop from a 3:4 master (total / per edge) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 607.5 | −57.8% | 57.8% of height total (28.9% per edge), or pillarbox 57.8% total (28.9% per side) when fitted |
| 1:1 | 1080 | −25% | 25% of height total (12.5% per edge) |
| 4:5 | 1350 | −6.25% | 6.25% of height total (3.1% per edge) |
| 3:4 | 1440 | baseline | none |
| 9:16 | 1920 | +33.3% | 25% of width total (12.5% per side) to fill, or bars 25% total (12.5% per edge) to fit |
The 1:1 row is covered in depth on the 1:1 square format sheet, including every square pixel size and the 25% crop from a 3:4 master.
Not 3:4: YouTube Short aspect ratio, 2560 × 1440 and 320 × 224 explained
Three sizes often confused with 3:4 are not 3:4 at all. A YouTube Short is any square-or-vertical upload up to three minutes, and 9:16 fills the player. 2560 × 1440 divides to 1.7778, which is 16:9, and 320 × 224 divides to 1.4286, which is 10:7.
YouTube Short aspect ratio: square or vertical counts, 9:16 fills the player
YouTube's three-minute Shorts help page states that, on standard channels, any video uploaded on or after 15 October 2024 with a square or vertical aspect ratio and up to three minutes long is a Short; Official Artist Channels follow the same rule from 8 December 2025. A 3:4 upload counts, but the 9:16 player shows it with 25% bars in total (12.5% per edge), so export 9:16 for Shorts.
2560x1440 aspect ratio is 16:9, not 3:4
2560 and 1440 share a greatest common divisor of 160: 2560 ÷ 160 is 16 and 1440 ÷ 160 is 9. It is a landscape monitor resolution, usually sold as 1440p or QHD. The 3:4 frames that share its 1440 edge are 1080 × 1440 and 1440 × 1920.
320 × 224 aspect ratio is 10:7, shown at 4:3 on CRTs
The Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) output a 320 × 224 progressive NTSC frame (a widely documented hardware figure; unlinked). Its pixels were not square: CRT sets displayed that frame as a 4:3 picture, which is why the size is often assumed to be 4:3. Held upright it would be 7:10, still not 3:4.
Which AI models generate 3:4 natively on Playcut
On Playcut, 3:4 is a native picker option for the Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2 and Grok Imagine image models and for the Seedance 2.0, HappyHorse 1.1, Wan 2.7 and Grok Imagine video models. Veo 3.1 and Omni Flash render 16:9 and 9:16 only; from those, generate 9:16 and crop 25% of the height in total (12.5% per edge). The video models publish only a resolution tier, not per-ratio pixel dimensions.
Image models
Nano Banana Pro (1K, 2K, 4K), Nano Banana 2 (512, 1K, 2K, 4K) and Grok Imagine (1K and 2K, no 4K) all list 3:4. At 1K, 2K and 4K Playcut's dimension table lists 896 × 1200, 1792 × 2400 and 3584 × 4800 for the Nano Banana models; that table is Playcut's own, as Google publishes no per-ratio dimensions. The 512 tier's 3:4 size has not been probed, so it is not listed here.
Those renders are 0.4% narrower than exact 3:4, and a crop cannot add width. When a platform enforces exactness, use the image resizer to either resize (a 0.4% stretch) to 900 × 1200, 1800 × 2400 or 3600 × 4800, or crop to 894 × 1192, 1791 × 2388 or 3582 × 4776 for a whole-pixel exact 3:4.
Video models
Seedance 2.0 offers 3:4 at 480p through 4K. HappyHorse 1.1 and Wan 2.7 offer it at 720p and 1080p on text-to-video and reference-to-video; image-to-video on both takes no ratio setting. Grok's classic Imagine Video lists 3:4 at 480p and 720p, and Imagine Video 1.5 lists it as inherited rather than verified. Pick 3:4 in Playcut's video generator and the clip renders portrait with no letterbox.
How to reframe a 3:4 image or clip for 4:5, 9:16 and 1:1 without losing the subject
Every common social crop of 3:4 removes height, not width, except the 9:16 fill. Compose with the subject inside the central 75% of the frame's height and one 3:4 master survives the 4:5 (−6.25%), 1:1 (−25%) and 9:16-fill (−25% width) crops without a reshoot.
Frame for the tightest target first, then check the file
Decide the tightest destination, usually 1:1, and keep faces, logos and text inside that square before exporting the taller 3:4 file; the free safe zone checker overlays each platform's crop boundary on any upload. To confirm a file is 3:4, divide width by height and look for 0.75. The how to find your aspect ratio guide shows where to read the dimensions on each operating system.