Social Media Image Sizes: A Practical Cheat Sheet
Every platform crops and compresses images in its own way. Upload the wrong shape and the important part of your picture gets cut off; upload something too small and it looks soft on modern phones. The sizes below are widely used, safe recommendations. Platforms adjust their layouts from time to time, so treat the aspect ratio as the most important part and the exact pixels as a reliable target.
| Placement | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Portrait post (most screen space) | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Landscape post | 1080 × 566 | 1.91:1 |
| Story / Reel | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Profile picture | 320 × 320 (upload larger, e.g. 1080) | 1:1, shown as a circle |
Tip: in Stories and Reels, keep text and faces away from the top and bottom ~250 px, where the app places its own buttons and captions.
| Placement | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Feed post (square) | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Feed post (portrait) | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Link preview / shared link image | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
| Story | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Event cover | 1920 × 1005 | ≈1.91:1 |
X (Twitter)
| Placement | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Single image in post | 1600 × 900 or 1080 × 1350 | 16:9 or 4:5 |
| Link card image | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
| Header | 1500 × 500 | 3:1 |
| Profile picture | 400 × 400 | 1:1 |
| Placement | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Feed image | 1200 × 1200 or 1200 × 627 | 1:1 or 1.91:1 |
| Link preview | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 |
| Personal profile background | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 |
| Profile picture | 400 × 400 | 1:1 |
YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest
| Placement | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| YouTube channel banner | 2560 × 1440 (keep key content in the center 1546 × 423) | 16:9 |
| YouTube Shorts / TikTok video cover | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Pinterest standard pin | 1000 × 1500 | 2:3 |
Five rules that work on every platform
- Get the ratio right first. A 4:5 image always fits a 4:5 slot; the exact pixel count matters less. Use the crop tool with a locked ratio.
- Upload at least 1080 px wide. Smaller images get stretched on high-resolution phone screens and look blurry.
- Do not upload huge files either. Platforms recompress big images heavily. A 1080–2048 px image at JPG quality 85–90 usually survives recompression best.
- Use sRGB colors and JPG or PNG. For graphics with text, PNG often stays sharper after the platform recompresses it.
- Keep a safe zone. Profile pictures are cropped to circles and covers are cropped differently on phones and desktops, so keep logos and faces near the center.
Resize in one click: the Tools4U resizer has presets for 1080×1080, 1080×1350, 1080×1920, 1200×630 and 1280×720. Fixed-size presets crop from the center, so nothing gets stretched.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best image size for Instagram?
1080 × 1350 pixels (4:5) for feed posts, because it takes up the most screen space, and 1080 × 1920 (9:16) for Stories and Reels.
What size should a link preview image be?
1200 × 630 pixels works well for Facebook, LinkedIn and X link previews.
