Best Image Sizes for Social Media (Sourced, Checked October 2026)

Knowing the right image sizes for social media saves you from awkward crops, blurry uploads and headers that cut off half a face. The table below comes from each platform's own help pages, checked on 1 October 2026, with the link next to each number so you can re-check it before a launch. The pixel numbers change; the aspect ratios almost never do, and the ratio is what decides whether your image gets cropped.

The sizes, with sources

Two of those rows deserve a note.

YouTube changed its recommendation. For years 1280 × 720 was the number everyone quoted, and a sharp 1280 × 720 thumbnail still works. YouTube's help page now recommends 3840 × 2160 with a minimum width of 640, in JPG or PNG, and the file-size limit depends on where you upload from: 2 MB from the mobile app, 50 MB from desktop. Starting from the larger size gives you room before the platform compresses it.

Facebook covers are cropped differently per screen. Facebook's page states the cover displays at a 16:9 ratio on desktop and 2.4:1 on phones from the same 851 × 315 upload, and that the profile picture overlaps part of the cover. Keep text and logos in the middle.

The ratio matters more than the number

A 1080 × 1350 image and a 2160 × 2700 image have the same 4:5 ratio and fit the same vertical frame. When a recommended size changes, the ratio usually does not, so these are the shapes to remember:

• 1:1 for square posts and profile pictures.
• 4:5 for a portrait post that takes more of the phone feed.
• 9:16 for Stories, Reels and vertical video.
• 16:9 for video, thumbnails and landscape images.
• About 1.91:1 for link preview images.
• 3:1 or 4:1 for wide headers, and expect them to be cropped on some screens.

Platforms re-compress and often re-crop what you upload. Hand a feed a shape it does not expect and it crops to fit; hand it a far larger image than needed and it shrinks and re-compresses, which softens detail. Match the ratio, hit a sensible size, and give the platform as little to do as possible.

If the design has text or a logo, keep them off the edges. The same image is shown whole in one place and cropped in another: the profile grid, a notification preview, a TV screen.

Instagram: three templates are enough

Instagram documents ratios rather than fixed pixel sizes, so keep three files:

1. 1080 × 1350 for the portrait post. It is the one I reach for first for explanations and products.
2. 1080 × 1080 for a square, when the design needs symmetry or will be reused elsewhere.
3. 1080 × 1920 for Stories and Reels, with the headline and any button away from the top and bottom of the screen.

In a carousel, use one ratio for every slide. The first image sets the shape of the set, and mixing square with portrait produces crops you did not plan.

The Open Graph image

When someone pastes your link into a chat or a feed, the preview card is built from your page's Open Graph tags. 1200 × 630 is the size that every major platform handles well, and one file covers Facebook, LinkedIn and X.

<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/share-1200x630.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">

Keep the title short and the margins generous: a preview can be a few centimetres wide. If you change the image and a platform keeps showing the old one, the problem is the platform's cache, not your file; most have a debugger that re-fetches the page.

Resizing in the browser: what the tool did

I ran a 1200 × 630 image of about 64 KB through the image resizer on this site. The tool read the original dimensions, and picking the Thumbnail 1280 × 720 preset filled in the width and height fields and enabled the resize button. The steps:

1. Add the image.
2. Pick a preset or type the dimensions.
3. Keep the aspect ratio locked if you do not want a crop.
4. Choose Crop to fill the frame, or Fit to keep the whole image.
5. Pick WebP or JPG for photos, PNG for logos and anything with transparency.
6. Check the result at full size before posting.

Do not enlarge a small image and expect new detail. Upscaling adds pixels, not information. Start from the largest original you have and make the smaller versions from it.

One source file, three exports

If the same idea goes to several platforms, do not stretch one image into every shape. Design a large original, then export three versions: 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9, moving the text inside each frame instead of letting a tool crop it. Name the files so they cannot be mixed up in a hurry:

launch-instagram-1080x1350.jpg
launch-story-1080x1920.jpg
launch-youtube-3840x2160.jpg

Then compress each one with the image compressor after resizing, not before, so the quality decision is made at the final dimensions. Which format to export is covered in PNG vs JPG vs WebP.

Mistakes that keep coming back

• Text on the edge, lost to a crop.
• Uploading a screenshot of the design instead of the exported file.
• A multi-megabyte PNG for a photograph that needs no transparency.
• Compressing the same file several times until artefacts show.
• Checking on a desktop only. Open the post on a phone before you call it done.
• Forgetting that a profile picture is shown inside a circle.
• Using last year's template without re-checking the platform's page. The YouTube row above is the example.

After exporting, look at the image at full size, then at thumbnail size. If the headline cannot be read small, more resolution will not save it.