Social media image sizes

How to use the chart and the cropper

1. Find the placement. Filter the chart by platform, by placement, or both. Click a size to copy it, for example to paste into a new Canva, Figma or Photoshop document.
2. Send it to the cropper. Crop to this loads that size into the cropper. You can also pick it from the list, or choose Custom size for anything not in the chart, such as an ad format.
3. Frame your image. Drop a photo or a design, then drag and zoom until the important part sits inside the frame. The shading shows what the platform hides: the circle of a profile photo, the strips the Instagram profile grid trims, the sides a phone cuts off a Facebook cover, the area of a YouTube banner that only TVs show.
4. Download. You get a file at exactly the size in the chart, as JPG for photos or PNG for text, logos and transparency.

Upload at the size in the chart, or at a larger image with the same aspect ratio. A bigger file is scaled down by the platform and stays sharp. A smaller one is stretched and looks soft, and a file with a different shape is cropped wherever the platform decides.

Instagram post size and other Instagram image sizes

Instagram is built around a width of 1080 pixels. The shape is what changes:

• Portrait post: 1080 × 1350 px (4:5). The best default for the feed, because it fills more of the phone screen than a square, and the same size works for every slide of a carousel.
• Tall portrait post: 1080 × 1440 px (3:4). The tallest shape Instagram accepts in the feed, and the same shape as the thumbnails on your profile grid, so nothing is cut there.
• Square post: 1080 × 1080 px (1:1). Still fine, and the safest choice when the same image also goes to Facebook or LinkedIn.
• Story and reel: 1080 × 1920 px (9:16). Full screen on a phone. The app puts your name at the top and the reply bar and buttons at the bottom, so keep text and logos away from both edges.
• Profile photo: 320 × 320 px or larger. Instagram publishes no size for it. It shows as a small circle, so a tight crop of a face or a simple logo reads better than a wide scene.

The profile page is where posts get cut. Since early 2025 it shows every post as a 3:4 thumbnail instead of a square, while the post itself still opens in full. A portrait post loses about 34 pixels on each side on the profile; a square post loses 135 on each side, a quarter of its width. The cropper shades both. To split one picture across several posts, use the Instagram grid maker, which cuts the tiles at these sizes and numbers them in posting order.

YouTube thumbnail size and channel banner size

YouTube recommends a 3840 × 2160 px thumbnail, the same 16:9 shape as the video; 1280 × 720 still works, and the minimum width is 640 pixels. It is shown far smaller than that in search results, the home feed and suggestions, so design it to work at the size of a stamp: one face or object, a few large words and strong contrast. Check it zoomed out before you upload.

The channel banner is 2560 × 1440 px, sized for a TV screen. Computers and phones only show a wide strip across the middle, and the part every device shows is the central 1546 × 423 pixels (YouTube gives 1235 × 338 at the 2048 × 1152 minimum, the same area scaled). Put the channel name, logo and any text there, and treat the rest as background that may or may not be seen. The channel profile picture is 800 × 800 px and shows as a circle.

LinkedIn banner size, post size and company cover

The background photo on a personal profile, usually called the LinkedIn banner, is 1584 × 396 px (4:1). Your profile photo sits over the lower left of it, and covers more of it on a phone, so text belongs on the right half. A company page cover is much shallower at 1512 × 256 px, which suits a logo, a line of text or a texture better than a photo.

Image posts and link previews use 1200 × 627 px, the same 1.91:1 shape as most link previews across social media. An event cover is 1280 × 720 px (16:9). The profile photo is 400 × 400 px, shown as a circle.

Facebook cover photo size and post sizes

Facebook's help page gives 851 × 315 px as the cover size that loads fastest, with a minimum of 400 × 150. That wide shape only holds on a computer: phones show a 16:9 window that keeps the full height and cuts the sides. In practice only the middle 560 pixels or so of the 851 pixel width is safe on every screen, which is why covers with text near the edges look broken on a phone. The cropper shades the parts a phone hides.

For the feed, Meta recommends 1440 × 1800 px for a portrait image and 1440 × 1440 px for a square; Instagram scales the same files down to 1080 pixels wide, so they can go to both. A shared link shows a preview image of 1200 × 630 px, taken from the og:image tag of the page; the meta tag checker shows what a page sends. Stories are 1080 × 1920 px and the profile photo 320 × 320 px, shown as a circle.

X (Twitter) header and image sizes

The header on an X profile is 1500 × 500 px (3:1), with the profile photo (400 × 400 px, shown as a circle) over its lower left corner. Keep anything important away from that corner and from the top and bottom edges, which some screens trim. X shows a single photo in full when its shape is between 2:1 and 3:4, so 1600 × 900 px (16:9), the shape of a widescreen video frame, works, and so do square and 4:5 images.

TikTok, Pinterest and WhatsApp image sizes

TikTok is vertical: it specifies 9:16 for videos and their covers, and 1080 × 1920 px is the usual export. The caption, the buttons and the description sit over the bottom and the right side of the frame, so keep text inside the upper middle. TikTok only sets a minimum of 20 × 20 for the profile photo; 200 × 200 px or larger keeps it sharp.

Pinterest is built around tall pins. A standard pin is 1000 × 1500 px (2:3); much longer pins get cut off in the feed. Pinterest publishes no size for the profile photo; 165 × 165 px or larger works, shown as a circle.

On WhatsApp, a status is full screen like a story: WhatsApp's developer docs recommend 9:16 at 720 × 1280 or more, and 1080 × 1920 px is the usual export. The profile photo needs at least 192 × 192; 640 × 640 px is a common upload, shown as a circle in chats and contact lists.

Aspect ratios: the number that matters more than pixels

The aspect ratio is the shape of the image: width divided by height. Get the ratio right and the platform scales the image without cutting anything; get it wrong and it crops wherever it decides. These are the shapes in the chart:

Is 4:3 or 16:9 better for social media? For most feeds, neither. People scroll on phones held upright, so vertical shapes (4:5 for posts, 9:16 for stories and short video) fill more of the screen. 16:9 is right for YouTube, link previews and images that are mostly seen on a computer. 4:3 is the shape of many phone camera photos, which is why they get cropped on upload.

Safe zones: where platforms cover or crop your image

The upload size is not always what people see. Four things hide part of an image:

• Circles. Every profile photo in the chart is uploaded as a square and shown as a circle, which cuts the corners.
• Thumbnails. The Instagram profile grid shows posts as 3:4, and YouTube shows thumbnails tiny. Design for the small version.
• Different screens. A Facebook cover and a YouTube banner are cropped differently on phones, computers and TVs. Keep text in the area every screen shows.
• Interface on top. Stories, reels and TikTok videos have names, buttons and captions drawn over the top and bottom. Banners on LinkedIn and X have the profile photo over one corner.

The notes in the chart say which applies to each placement, and the cropper shades the measurable ones: profile circles, the Instagram profile grid, the Facebook cover on a phone and the YouTube banner area every device shows.

Pixels, not inches: resolution and file type

Screens only count pixels. Set your canvas to the pixel size in the chart and ignore inches and DPI: a 1080 × 1350 image looks the same online whether its file says 72 or 300 DPI. Inches only matter when the same design is printed.

Use JPG for photos: the file is smaller and every platform accepts it. Use PNG for images with text, flat color or a logo, where JPG leaves smudges around sharp edges, and for anything that needs transparency. Platforms recompress what you upload either way, so start from the sharpest file you have at the size in the chart, not a smaller one.

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