Instagram API errors · checked against Meta's docs on 10 October 2026

Instagram API error 2207004: Image is too large to download

Code	`36000`
Subcode	`2207004`
Message	`The image is too large to download. It should be less than {size}.`

What it means

Instagram images must be 8 MB or smaller. The error message says 8 MiB and the spec page says 8 MB, so stay under 8,000,000 bytes to be safe.

Instagram scales feed images down to 1440 pixels wide anyway, so a 6000-pixel camera JPEG carries data that never shows.

How to fix it yourself

Resize to 1440 pixels wide and save as JPEG at quality 85 or so. That is usually well under 1 MB:

magick input.jpg -resize '1440x>' -quality 85 output.jpg

How postcache handles it

postcache checks the size before Instagram does. With convert=crop or convert=pad it also brings an oversized image under the limit as an sRGB JPEG.

curl -X PUT "https://postcache.dev/v1/media?convert=pad" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTCACHE_API_KEY" \
  -H "x-target: instagram.feed" \
  --data-binary @camera-original.jpg

Sources: Meta's Instagram Platform error codes and IG User Media spec. More: all Instagram API media errors · postcache API docs.