Social Media Image Sizes: The Complete 2026 Guide

Why image dimensions matter on social media

Platforms display images at fixed aspect ratios in their feeds, stories, and profiles. When you upload an image that does not match the expected dimensions, the platform crops or compresses it to fit. A product photo cropped off-centre looks unprofessional. A portrait with the face cropped looks broken. A compressed image published at too low a resolution looks blurry on high-DPI screens. Getting the dimensions right before uploading is the simplest way to make your content look intentional.

Instagram image sizes

Instagram supports three main aspect ratios in the feed. Square posts use 1080 x 1080px (1:1 ratio) and are the safest choice because they look the same in the grid and in the feed. Portrait posts use 1080 x 1350px (4:5 ratio) and take up more vertical space in the feed, which can increase engagement. Landscape posts use 1080 x 566px (1.91:1 ratio) and work well for wide-angle photography and banners.

For Stories and Reels, use 1080 x 1920px (9:16 ratio). This fills the full screen vertically. Keep important content - faces, text, call-to-action buttons - within the central 1080 x 1420px safe zone, as the top and bottom are partially obscured by the interface. Profile photos display at 110 x 110px but are stored at 320 x 320px - upload at 320px minimum.

Facebook image sizes

Facebook feed posts display at 1200 x 630px (1.91:1 ratio). This is the standard open graph image size and also works for link previews shared to Facebook from other websites. Cover photos display at 820 x 312px on desktop and 640 x 360px on mobile - design with the centre of the image as the safe zone since mobile crops the sides. Profile photos are displayed at 176 x 176px on desktop but upload at 400 x 400px minimum for sharpness on retina screens.

LinkedIn image sizes

LinkedIn post images display at 1200 x 627px (1.91:1 ratio) in the feed. For personal profiles, the banner image is 1584 x 396px - a very wide, shallow format, so keep text and logos centred vertically. Company page banners use the same 1584 x 396px dimensions. Profile photos appear at 400 x 400px. Document posts (PDFs shared as carousels) display at 1080 x 1080px per slide.

X (Twitter) image sizes

X displays single images at 1600 x 900px (16:9 ratio) in the timeline on desktop. On mobile, images are cropped to approximately 2:1. Multi-image posts display the images in a grid at varying dimensions. Profile photos are 400 x 400px. Header images are 1500 x 500px. For reliable display across both desktop and mobile, use 1600 x 900px and keep important content away from the far edges.

YouTube image sizes

YouTube thumbnails display at 1280 x 720px (16:9 ratio). This is the most important YouTube image because thumbnails directly affect click-through rate. Use bold text, clear faces, and strong contrast. The minimum recommended size is 1280 x 720px - YouTube recommends uploading at this size or larger. Channel art (the banner across the top of your channel page) uses 2560 x 1440px. This image is cropped differently on TV (full 2560px), desktop (1546px centre), tablet (1855px), and mobile (1546px) - design with the central 1546 x 423px as the safe zone that is always visible.

Pinterest and TikTok

Pinterest is a vertical-first platform. Standard pins use 1000 x 1500px (2:3 ratio). Tall pins can go up to 1000 x 2100px but may be truncated in feeds. Avoid images taller than 1260px for consistent display. For TikTok cover images and vertical video thumbnails, use 1080 x 1920px (9:16 ratio) - the same as Instagram Stories. Horizontal TikTok videos use 1920 x 1080px.

Common mistakes

• Using a low-resolution source image and scaling up - upscaling a 500px image to 1080px produces a blurry result. Always start with the highest resolution version available.
• Using the same square image on every platform - LinkedIn banners and YouTube channel art have very different proportions to a square feed post.
• Forgetting the safe zone on Stories and Reels - the top and bottom of a 1080x1920px Story are partially obscured by the UI. Keep faces and text in the central third.
• Not checking how images appear on mobile - desktop and mobile often crop the same image differently. Preview on both before posting.
• Uploading uncompressed files - large raw files slow down upload and are unnecessary. Compress images to under 1MB before uploading without visible quality loss.

Use the Social Media Image Resizer

The Social Media Image Resizer on this site lets you upload one image and download correctly sized versions for all platforms in a single ZIP. Select the platforms you post on, choose cover or contain fit, pick a background colour, and download. No design software needed.