Instagram's 300 million users can now upload photos and videos in landscape and portrait formats for the first time. The image-sharing platform only allowed a square-format uploads up until its announcement of the additional orientations on Thursday.
In its blog post, Instagram said, "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." Before, the photo or video needs to be cropped, cutting out friends out of group shots or cramping subjects. With the recent update, the user can now adjust the orientation of a photo or video to a landscape or portrait instead of a square by tapping the format icon. Videos can look more cinematic with the widescreen view. In addition, all filters will now work on both images and videos as oppose to the separate filters Instagram had before.
Meanwhile, the platform retains the square format because "it has been and always will be part of who we are." A user's profile will remain in grid format and posts shared in landscape or portrait orientation will appear as a center-cropped square.
Analyst Debra Aho Williamson told Reuters that, "It boils down to giving advertisers and users more options." The introduction of new orientation will appeal to advertisers because it will now allow people to see more of an ad.
The Facebook-owned company announced in June its plan to carry more advertising by opening its platform to all advertisers by the end of the year, BBC News reported. Research firm eMarketer projects Instagram's advertising revenue to reach around $600 million by the end of 2015 and $2.8 billion in 2017, according to Reuters.
Updates on Instagram's web-based service and mobile apps can be downloaded in Apple's App Store and Google Play.
