Images guide
Social Media Image Sizes: A Practical Cheat Sheet (and How to Resize Without Stretching)
Updated 27 September 2026 · 3 min read
Upload the wrong shape and a platform will crop your photo for you — usually through someone’s head or the middle of your headline. Upload one that’s too small and it looks soft on high-resolution phones. Getting it right is mostly about the shape (the aspect ratio) and giving the platform enough pixels. Here are the sizes that matter and the quickest way to produce them.
Open the free Social Media Image ResizerThe cheat sheet
| Platform and format | Size (pixels) | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram post — square | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram post — portrait | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram / TikTok / Facebook story, Reels cover | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Facebook shared image / link preview | 1200 × 630 | ≈1.91:1 |
| Facebook page cover | 1640 × 624 | ≈2.6:1 |
| LinkedIn post image | 1200 × 627 | ≈1.91:1 |
| LinkedIn profile banner | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 |
| X (Twitter) post | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 |
| X (Twitter) header | 1500 × 500 | 3:1 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| YouTube channel banner | 2560 × 1440 | 16:9 |
| Pinterest pin | 1000 × 1500 | 2:3 |
Platforms redesign their layouts often, and some show images differently on phones and computers. Treat these as dependable starting points and preview a post before publishing anything important.
Resize without stretching: crop to shape first
The most common mistake is typing new width and height values that don’t match the photo’s shape, which squashes or stretches everything in it. Faces look wide, circles become ovals. The fix is to crop the photo to the right shape, then scale it.
- Open the Social Media Image Resizer and choose your photo (iPhone HEIC photos work too).
- Pick the preset — for example “Instagram post (portrait) — 1080 × 1350”.
- Drag and zoom the photo inside the frame so the important part sits where you want it.
- Download. The image is cropped to the exact shape and size in one step.
For a size that isn’t in the list, crop to the shape with the Image Cropper, then set the width in the Image Resizer with Keep proportions switched on.
Safe zones: where not to put text
- Stories and Reels (9:16): the top and bottom of the screen are covered by the profile name, caption and buttons. Keep text and faces in the middle area.
- Profile banners: your profile picture overlaps part of the banner, and the visible area changes between phone and desktop. Keep key text central.
- Grid previews: Instagram’s profile grid shows posts cropped to a tall rectangle, so edge details can disappear there.
- YouTube thumbnails: the video length appears in the bottom-right corner.
JPG or PNG?
Photos: JPG. Graphics with text, logos or flat colours: PNG keeps edges crisp. Platforms recompress uploads either way, so give them a good-quality original rather than a heavily compressed one.
Keep files sensible
Most platforms accept large files, but smaller images upload faster on mobile data. For images on your own website — where every kilobyte affects loading speed — compress them with the Image Compressor at 75–85% quality.
Profile pictures
Almost every platform displays profile pictures as a circle, cropped from a square. Use a square image of at least 400 × 400 pixels, with your face centred and some space around it so the circle doesn’t clip your head. The Profile Picture Maker crops photos to a clean square.
A repeatable workflow
| Step | Tool |
|---|---|
| Start from the original photo or design | — |
| Crop to the platform’s shape | Social Media Image Resizer |
| Remove a plain background from product shots | Background Remover |
| Check small text is readable on a phone | — |
| Remove location data from personal photos | EXIF Remover |