It’s no secret that images are an essential component of a successful social media strategy. They’re usually the first thing that people notice and engage with – photos get a staggering 87% interaction rate from users. So, how can you tap into images to attract engagement and traffic for your brand?
In addition to crafting compelling intro copy and picking images that are captivating and relevant, you should make sure that your social media image sizes are correct for maximum exposure on each platform – it’s important that the social media image dimensions are precise and nothing gets cropped out or stretched out of proportion.
This social media image sizes guide will help you pick the right photos for all major social media platforms.
NOTE: All photo dimensions listed throughout this article will be written in the abbreviated format for “X pixels wide by X.” For example, 820 x 312 means “820 pixels wide by 312.”
The Ideal Social Media Image Sizes by Network
Facebook Image Sizes
- Cover photo: The recommended size is 820 x 312 — anything less than that gets stretched. It’s notable that certain areas of the cover photo will be covered by your page’s name, category, profile image, and call-to-action buttons.
- Profile picture: Your Facebook profile image should be at least 180 x 180. If you upload a picture that doesn’t fit this dimension, you’ll be asked to crop and reposition the photo to fit it in.
- Shared image: If you’re sharing a photo on Facebook, the recommended size is 1200 x 630. Shared images will pop up on your timeline, and ideally, they’ll appear in your followers’ News Feeds. The more people engage with your post, the more exposure the shared image will get.
- Shared link: The recommended upload size is 1200 x 627 for shared links. You can create a shared link with a large rectangular image on top with text below or with a small square image to the left and text on the right. The minimum dimensions of a square image are 154 x 154 and the minimum dimensions of a rectangular image are 470 x 246.
- Group cover photo: If you manage a Facebook group, make sure its cover photo size is at least 1640 x 856. If you don’t use a cover image, Facebook will display the profile images of group members instead.
Twitter Image Sizes
- Header image: When putting up a header image on your Twitter profile, try to use high-resolution photos with the ideal size of 1500 x 500. Note that your profile image will overlap a small part of your header image.
- Profile picture: The ideal image sizes for profile photos vary from platform to platform. The recommended size for a profile picture on Twitter is 400 x 400. It’s going to appear on the platform in a number of places to make sure it’s of the highest quality.
- In-stream photos: The ideal size for in-stream images is 1024 x 512 with a 2:1 ratio. Uploaded images will appear in your followers’ streams as well as in the streams of their followers (when retweeted). You can tweet up to four images simultaneously.
LinkedIn Image Sizes
- Personal background/cover photo: When you put up a background image for your profile, LinkedIn suggests using a photo that’s 1584 x 396 for the best result. Note that some portion of your background image will be covered by the top section of your LinkedIn profile.
- Personal profile photo: The recommended dimensions for your LinkedIn profile image are 400 x 400. This is the main image that represents your personality, so it’s important to get the size right.
- Company background/cover photo: The recommended size for a company background image is 1536 x 768. Unlike the personal background image, the company background image covers the entire top section of the page.
- Company logo image: For company pages, the logo image is smaller than that for personal accounts – 300 x 300. Once uploaded, it will appear right next to your company name on your LinkedIn homepage.
- Company banner image: The recommended size for a company banner image is 646 x 220. This image appears when someone visits your company page on LinkedIn. It’s strategically located beneath the company background image and can be used to reel visitors in with a meaningful value proposition.
Instagram Image Sizes
- Profile picture: The ideal size for a profile photo on Instagram is 110 x 110 pixels. Note that there’s no option to upload a cover image. Your cover image is crafted by the visuals you share on your Instagram profile.
- Post images: The recommended size for Instagram post images is 1080 x 1080. Note that the desktop version of Instagram will show photos scaled down to 612 x 612.
- Photo thumbnails: These smaller renditions of your content will expand when tapped and include a section for followers to comment. They can’t be uploaded by yourself and you cannot control how Instagram will cut the thumbnail version. However, you can make your favorite pictures look nice by making sure that your photo thumbnails have the optimal size of 161 x 161.
YouTube Image Sizes
- Channel art image: YouTube provides a spec sheet of image dimensions to use on the platform. First, you have channel art photos (similar to cover photos, but with different social media image sizes) that are 2560 x 1440. When people visit your YouTube channel, an intriguing channel art image will entice them to stay longer and watch more of your content.
- Channel profile picture: The recommended size for a channel profile image is 800 x 800. YouTube allows users to choose different profile picture borders, but you should make sure that the size remains the same. We recommend uploading the profile picture before you choose your border.
- Video thumbnail: To encourage more visitors to play your videos, verified users can put up custom video thumbnails. The ideal size for a thumbnail image is 1280 x 720.
Pinterest Image Sizes
- Board display image: You can upload a cover image for each of your Pinterest boards by using a portion of a photo from any pin within that board. Recommended sizes of the cover image include 222 x 150 and 217 x 147.
- Profile picture: You can set up your Pinterest account using Twitter, Facebook, or email. If you select Twitter or Facebook, Pinterest will put up the profile image that you have set on one of these networks. If you’re using email or would like to use a different image, you can upload a square photo that’s 600 x 600 and Pinterest will resize it to fit at 165 x 165.
- Pinned image: Pinterest doesn’t offer specific social media image dimensions for standard pins. They do, however, offer a recommendation for promoted pins. The Promoted Pins Creative Guide suggests uploading a photo that is at least 600 pixels wide with a height between 900 and 1200 pixels.
We hope these social media image sizes cheat sheet makes it easy for you to create the perfect images for all your channels.
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