Developers of Instagram has realized that users across their increasingly popular platform have to fret unnecessarily about how their pictures and videos will look after being cropped into a square frame, the photo sharing service today announced expanding choices for their users. From now on, Instagrammers will have the option to upload their pictures and videos in square, landscape and portrait mode.
Earlier, the sides of the photos and videos would get trimmed automatically as they got cropped into a square shape, much to the annoyance of users at certain times.
“Square format has been and always will be part of who we are. 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,,” read the post announcing the change.
The most popular photo app in the world obviously wants to give their users more option for expressing themselves and also encourage them to share more prolifically and thus contribute to their popularity.
As the site users now select a picture for uploading across Instagram, they will have the option to tap a format button to switch between aspect ratios. The chosen picture will then appear in the profile grid as a square but show its true form when viewed individually.
The update has been rolled out for both Android and iOS users together. Users only need to update their app from the respective app stores before they can start exercising their choice.