Image splitter: cut a photo into a grid or carousel slices

How to split an image

1. Choose an image. Click the box or drop a file on it. JPG, PNG and WebP work in current browsers. The FAQ below covers other types.
2. Pick a layout. Use a quick layout (2, 3 or 4 slices for a carousel, 3 × 1, 3 × 2 or 3 × 3 for a profile grid) or set columns and rows yourself, from 1 to 10 each.
3. Check the preview. The white lines are the cuts. The number in each cell is the number in that piece's file name. The text under the preview gives the size of every piece.
4. Adjust if you want to. Crop to fit, the file type and the file name start are optional.
5. Download. Take the whole set as one ZIP, or press Download under any single piece.

Carousel or profile grid?

Instagram carousel

A carousel is one post that people swipe through. Choose one row, so every cut is a vertical line. The files are numbered left to right: 01 is the first slide, 02 the second, and you add them to the post in that order.

Instagram's Help Center says a post can hold up to 20 photos and videos, and that the shape you choose (square, portrait or landscape) applies to every item in the post. Slices with the same shape are the safe choice. To design a picture that flows across the swipe, read the seamless carousel guide. For the posting steps, see how to post multiple photos on Instagram.

Instagram profile grid

A profile grid is several separate posts that line up on your profile. It only lines up if your columns match the profile, which shows three posts per row, so use 3 × 1, 3 × 2 or 3 × 3. The grid presets number the files in posting order: 01 is the one to post first.

The order runs backwards because Instagram has listed the newest post first, top left. The piece you post last lands top left, and the piece you post first lands bottom right. In a 3 × 3 grid you post 01 first and 09 last.

Treat that as practical advice. Instagram's Help Center does not describe the order. News coverage from June 2026 says Instagram now lets you drag posts into a new order on your profile, and that pinned posts stay at the top, so a wrong order can be fixed afterwards.

Check how your own profile behaves before you post nine pieces. Every post you add later pushes the whole grid along by one slot, so a grid suits a set you plan to leave at the top for a while.

Instagram also does not publish how it crops profile thumbnails. A 2015 Instagram announcement describes a center-cropped square, and 2026 coverage describes taller thumbnails. Look at your profile. If the thumbnails are taller than square, 3:4 slices from Crop to fit avoid a second crop.

What size should the slices be?

Instagram's Help Center says photos are kept at their original resolution when they are between 320 and 1080 pixels wide and have a ratio between 1.91:1 and 3:4, which is 1080 pixels wide and 566 to 1440 tall. Wider photos are sized down to 1080 pixels, and narrower ones are enlarged to 320. The Instagram post size guide lists the sources.

Worked out from those numbers, a three-slice carousel of 1080 × 1080 squares needs a source that is 3240 × 1080. A 3 × 3 grid of squares needs 3240 × 3240. A 4:5 slice at 1080 wide is 1080 × 1350, so three across need 3240 × 1350.

This tool never resizes. A bigger source gives bigger pieces, which Instagram then scales down. A smaller source gives smaller pieces.

Crop to fit

Your picture rarely has the exact shape that makes every slice 1:1, 4:5 or 3:4. Crop to fit cuts the source down to the biggest area that does, then splits that area. The dimmed part of the preview is what gets dropped, and the position slider moves the area along the side that has spare room. Nothing is stretched. All three shapes sit inside Instagram's 1.91:1 to 3:4 range, and 3:4 is the edge of it.

Good to know

• Pieces are exact copies. When a side does not divide evenly, for example 1003 pixels in 3 columns, some pieces are one pixel wider (334 or 335). Every pixel lands in exactly one piece. PNG pieces put back together give your original image.
• JPG files are smaller but lossy, and they have no transparency, so transparent areas turn white. PNG keeps the pixels as they are.
• Phone photos are turned upright using their orientation tag. The pieces carry no camera or location data.
• Very large images have limits. The tool warns above 64 megapixels and refuses pieces larger than 16,384 pixels a side or about 268 megapixels. Phone browsers may fail earlier. Add rows or columns to make smaller pieces.
• A very small image limits the grid. A 3 × 2 pixel image can only be cut into 3 columns and 2 rows.
• It splits one picture, which is the job of a photo splitter or an Instagram grid maker. It does not combine several photos into a collage.