Social Media Image Size Guide 2026 — Every Platform's Dimensions

pavan

Updated Mar 21, 2026

7 min read

Social Media Image Size Guide 2026 for all platforms

You have designed the perfect social media graphic, but it looks stretched on Instagram, cropped badly on LinkedIn, and pixelated on Pinterest. Every platform has its own preferred image dimensions, and posting the wrong size means your carefully crafted content gets mangled by automatic cropping algorithms. This guide covers the exact pixel dimensions for every major platform in 2026, so you can resize once and post with confidence.

Instagram Image Sizes

Instagram remains the most dimension-sensitive platform. Square posts: 1080 x 1080 pixels (1:1 ratio) — the classic Instagram format and still the safest choice for feed consistency. Portrait posts: 1080 x 1350 pixels (4:5 ratio) — these take up more screen real estate in the feed, which is why marketers prefer them. Landscape posts: 1080 x 566 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) — supported but not recommended, as they appear smaller in the feed.

Instagram Stories and Reels: 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio) — full-screen vertical format. Keep important text and elements within the centre 1080 x 1420 area, because the top and bottom edges get covered by the username bar and reply field. Profile photo: 320 x 320 pixels, displayed as a circle, so keep your subject centred. Instagram compresses images aggressively, so always upload at these exact dimensions rather than letting the platform resize for you.

Facebook Image Sizes

Feed post (link share): 1200 x 630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) — this is the image that appears when you share a link. Feed post (photo): 1200 x 1200 pixels for square, or 1200 x 630 for landscape. Cover photo: 820 x 312 pixels on desktop, but mobile displays a cropped 640 x 360 version, so keep critical content in the centre. Profile photo: 180 x 180 pixels, displayed as a circle.

Facebook Stories: 1080 x 1920 pixels (same 9:16 ratio as Instagram). Event cover: 1200 x 628 pixels. Group cover: 1640 x 856 pixels. Facebook re-compresses every image you upload, so start with high-quality source files. Uploading a small, already-compressed image results in a blurry mess after Facebook applies its own compression on top.

Twitter/X Image Sizes

In-stream photo: 1600 x 900 pixels (16:9 ratio) for landscape, or 1080 x 1080 for square. Single images in tweets display at a 16:9 crop in the timeline, so vertical images get cropped to the centre. Header/banner: 1500 x 500 pixels (3:1 ratio). Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels, displayed as a circle. Twitter/X supports up to 5 MB for photos (JPEG, PNG, GIF) and the timeline preview crops to 16:9, so design with that crop in mind.

LinkedIn Image Sizes

Feed post: 1200 x 627 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) for landscape, or 1080 x 1080 for square. LinkedIn has increasingly favoured vertical content, so 1080 x 1350 (4:5) also works well and takes up more feed space. Cover/banner: 1584 x 396 pixels — this is a very wide, narrow banner, so text needs to be large to be readable. Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels. Company page cover: 1128 x 191 pixels.

Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube

Pinterest pins: 1000 x 1500 pixels (2:3 ratio) — the ideal pin aspect ratio. Taller pins (1000 x 2100 at 2:3.5) used to perform well but Pinterest now clips them in the feed. Keep pins at 2:3 for full visibility. Pinterest board cover: 600 x 600 pixels.

TikTok: 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio) for all video content and cover images. YouTube thumbnail: 1280 x 720 pixels (16:9 ratio) — this is critical because thumbnails drive click-through rates. YouTube channel banner: 2560 x 1440 pixels, but the safe area for text is only the centre 1546 x 423 pixels, since the rest gets cropped on various devices.

Quick Aspect Ratio Reference

1:1 — Square (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn posts)

4:5 — Portrait (Instagram feed, LinkedIn feed)

16:9 — Landscape (Twitter/X, YouTube thumbnails)

9:16 — Vertical full-screen (Stories, Reels, TikTok)

2:3 — Pinterest pins

1.91:1 — Link previews (Facebook, LinkedIn)

Practical Tips for Multi-Platform Posting

If you are posting the same content across multiple platforms, do not just upload the same image everywhere. A vertical 1080 x 1350 image looks great on Instagram but gets awkwardly cropped on Twitter. The most efficient workflow is to design at the largest size you need, then crop to each platform's aspect ratio and resize to the exact pixel dimensions. Start with a 2000 x 2000 canvas and crop variations for each platform.

Always export at the exact recommended dimensions rather than relying on the platform to resize your image. Platform resizing algorithms prioritize speed over quality, which is why oversized images often look soft or blurry after upload. Match the dimensions exactly, keep file sizes reasonable (under 1 MB for most platforms), and use image compression to hit the sweet spot between quality and file size.

Threads Image Sizes

Threads (Meta's text-based platform) supports images in posts. Feed post: 1080 x 1080 pixels (1:1) for square, or 1080 x 1350 (4:5 portrait) for vertical posts. Threads is closely integrated with Instagram and uses the same image handling pipeline. Landscape images (1.91:1) also display cleanly but portrait tends to take up more feed space.

Snapchat Image Sizes

Snapchat is a fully vertical platform. All Snap content: 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio) — the same full-screen format as Instagram Stories. Safe zone for text and logos: keep all critical content within the central 1080 x 1420 pixel area to avoid UI overlaps at top and bottom.

Snapchat upload limit: 5 MB per image. Always upload at exact 9:16 — Snapchat does not crop to fit; it letterboxes, which creates black bars on non-9:16 content.

WhatsApp Image Sharing

WhatsApp compresses images automatically when you use the photo picker. To preserve quality: use the Document send option — this bypasses WhatsApp's compression and sends the original file at full quality. For Status updates, WhatsApp uses a 9:16 vertical format (1080 x 1920 pixels).

File Format Recommendations by Platform

JPG: Best for photographs on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X. JPG produces smaller files with imperceptible quality loss for photographic content. Use for feed posts and cover images.

PNG: Best when your image has text, logos, or flat graphics with sharp edges. PNG's lossless compression avoids the 'blurry text' artefact that JPG produces on high-contrast graphics. Use PNG for logos on YouTube channel art and LinkedIn company banners.

WebP: Not widely supported by social media upload forms. Convert to JPG or PNG before uploading — use iFormat's WebP to JPG converter if you're working with WebP source files.

File Size Limits by Platform

Maximum Image Upload Sizes

Instagram: 30 MB per image

Facebook: 25 MB per image

Twitter/X: 5 MB per image (up to 4 per tweet)

LinkedIn: 10 MB per image

Pinterest: 32 MB per image

Snapchat: 5 MB per image Snap

Story and Reel Safe Zones

Every platform with a full-screen vertical format (Instagram Stories/Reels, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook Stories) overlays UI elements — profile handles, action buttons, captions — that cover parts of your image. Placing critical content in these areas means it will be partially hidden.

The standard safe zone for 9:16 content (1080 x 1920 px): keep all text and logos within the central 1080 x 1420 pixel area (approximately 250 px from the top and 250 px from the bottom). Profile handles and interaction buttons typically sit outside this zone.

How to Resize Images to Exact Dimensions

Getting exact pixel dimensions without distortion requires cropping to the right aspect ratio before resizing — not just stretching the image. Open iFormat Image Resizer, enter the exact target dimensions, and choose Crop to fit to fill the frame exactly. Download as JPG for photos, PNG for graphics with text or logos.

YouTube Channel Art and Thumbnail Sizes

YouTube channel banner: 2560 x 1440 pixels. This is the maximum size used on TV screens. The safe zone — the area guaranteed to display on all devices including mobile — is the central 1546 x 423 pixel area. Keep your logo, channel name, and any posting schedule inside this zone.

YouTube thumbnail: 1280 x 720 pixels (16:9 ratio). Thumbnails display at roughly 360 x 202 pixels in the feed, but the 1280 x 720 source ensures sharpness on large screens and when thumbnails are clicked to preview. Maximum file size: 2MB. Supported formats: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, WebP.

YouTube Shorts thumbnail: 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio), same as Instagram Reels. Shorts content is fully vertical — horizontal thumbnails will be cropped to a 9:16 frame.

Image Compression Before Uploading to Social Media

Most platforms compress your image on upload regardless of the original quality. Instagram applies heavy JPEG compression to feed photos; LinkedIn compresses profile photos. To minimise the degradation from platform compression:

Upload at the exact recommended pixel dimensions — not larger. Oversized images get downscaled by the platform's algorithm, which adds a second compression pass and degrades quality more than uploading at the right size.

Use sRGB colour space. Most social platforms assume sRGB. Images in Adobe RGB or P3 colour spaces can appear dull or desaturated after upload because the platform doesn't honour the embedded colour profile.

Compress before uploading for Twitter/X. Twitter's compression is particularly aggressive on images above 5MB. Pre-compressing to under 1MB with a quality setting of 85–90% typically produces a better final result than uploading a large original and letting Twitter decide.

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