If you love taking photos but feel constrained by Instagram's square format, you can now give your creativity full flight.

Instagram finally supports portrait and landscape photos.

Thinking outside the square

Instagram announced the news in a blog post.

"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."

Picture this

The change comes in response to ongoing requests from Instagram's audience, as one in five photos posted on the platform don't fit the square format. 

Now users can post pics without worrying about cropping friends out of group shots, or squeezing their landscape snaps. 

Instagram videos can now be viewed in landscape, and enhanced with any of Instagram's photo filters. Until now, different filters applied to each format.

Snapchat chaser

The update is the biggest to Instagram since Facebook acquired the platform in 2012, and brings flexibility that has long been available on rivals such as Snapchat.

It will also presumably make promoted photo and video posts more attractive to marketers.

Will the new Instagram update make you more like to advertise on the platform? Let us know in the comments.