Every social media platform has different image dimension requirements. Upload the wrong size and your carefully designed image gets cropped awkwardly, appears blurry, or loses its visual impact. This guide provides the exact dimensions you need for every major platform.
Instagram Image Sizes
Instagram is the most dimension-sensitive platform. Using incorrect sizes results in forced cropping or black bars.
Feed Posts
- Square: 1080 × 1080 pixels (1:1 ratio) — the classic Instagram format
- Portrait: 1080 × 1350 pixels (4:5 ratio) — takes up more screen space, better for engagement
- Landscape: 1080 × 566 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) — used less frequently as it appears smaller in the feed
Stories and Reels
- Dimensions: 1080 × 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio)
- Safe zone: Keep text and logos within the center 1080 × 1420 area to avoid being covered by UI elements
Profile Picture
- Upload size: 320 × 320 pixels minimum
- Display: Shown as a circle, approximately 110px diameter on mobile
Facebook Image Sizes
Feed Posts
- Recommended: 1200 × 630 pixels
- Square posts: 1080 × 1080 pixels also display well
Cover Photo
- Desktop display: 820 × 312 pixels
- Mobile display: 640 × 360 pixels
- Recommended upload: 851 × 315 pixels (the platform resizes for different devices)
Profile Picture
- Upload: 400 × 400 pixels minimum
- Display: 176 × 176 on desktop, 196 × 196 on smartphones
Twitter (X) Image Sizes
Tweet Images
- Single image: 1200 × 675 pixels (16:9 ratio)
- Two images: 700 × 800 pixels each
- Three images: One 700 × 800 plus two 700 × 400
Header Banner
- Dimensions: 1500 × 500 pixels (3:1 ratio)
- Safe zone: Center 60% — edges get cropped on mobile
Profile Picture
- Recommended: 400 × 400 pixels
- Display: Shown as a circle, 200px diameter on web
LinkedIn Image Sizes
Feed Posts
- Recommended: 1200 × 627 pixels
- Square: 1200 × 1200 pixels for carousel posts
Banner Image
- Dimensions: 1584 × 396 pixels
Profile Picture
- Recommended: 400 × 400 pixels
General Tips for Social Media Images
Quality Settings
Social media platforms recompress all uploaded images. Uploading a 20 MB PNG does not result in better quality than a 500 KB JPEG — the platform compresses it regardless. Save at JPEG quality 85 or WebP quality 85 for the best balance.
Text on Images
If your image contains text:
- Use minimum 24px font size for readability on mobile
- Ensure text has enough contrast against the background
- Keep text within the center 80% of the image to avoid cropping
Consistency
Create templates at the correct dimensions for each platform. This prevents the repetitive workflow of looking up sizes, resizing, and re-exporting for every post.
Format Recommendations
- JPEG: Best for photographs and complex images
- PNG: Best for text-heavy graphics, logos, and screenshots
- WebP: Increasingly supported but JPEG/PNG remain safer for cross-platform compatibility
Cropping vs. Resizing
Understanding the difference prevents common mistakes:
- Cropping removes parts of the image to change the aspect ratio (e.g., cutting a landscape photo into a square)
- Resizing changes the overall dimensions while keeping the entire image (e.g., scaling down a 4000px image to 1080px)
For social media, you typically need both: first crop to the correct aspect ratio, then resize to the recommended pixel dimensions.