Get your social media image sizes wrong and one of two things happens. The platform crops your image badly – usually right through your logo or the most important part of the photo. Or it compresses it so heavily that what looked sharp in Canva turns into a pixelated mess by the time someone scrolls past it.
Neither does your business any favours. Both are completely avoidable.
This page is the working reference I keep open when I’m designing social media assets for clients in 2026. It covers the image sizes that actually work right now for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, plus a few notes on file formats, mobile cropping, and the mistakes I see most often on small business accounts.
Bookmark it. The platforms change their dimensions every couple of years – I update this guide whenever a meaningful change happens.
TL;DR
- Wrong-sized social media images get cropped, compressed, or both – neither helps your post perform.
- Every platform has its own size requirements, and the right size depends on whether the image is a profile photo, a post, a story, a cover, or an ad.
- The most-used sizes in 2026: 1080 × 1080 for square posts, 1080 × 1920 for vertical stories and Reels, 1200 × 630 for Facebook posts and LinkedIn shares.
- File format matters too – JPG for photos, PNG for graphics with text or transparency, MP4 for short video.
- Mobile viewing rules everything now. Always design for the phone view first; check on desktop second.
- Free tools (Canva, Adobe Express, Figma) have built-in templates for every platform size below. Use them.
- The five mistakes I see most: low-resolution uploads, text too close to the edges, the wrong file format, ignoring safe zones for stories, and using the same dimensions across every platform.
Why social media image sizes matter
Three things happen when an image is the wrong size for the platform you’ve uploaded it to.
It gets cropped. Square images posted to a vertical Story format get the top and bottom chopped off. Wide horizontal images posted as Instagram Squares get the sides clipped. The platform doesn’t ask you what to keep – it makes that choice for you, and it tends to favour the centre of the image. If your logo, your face, or your text isn’t dead-centre, it disappears.
It gets compressed. Every social platform compresses images on upload. Lower the resolution beforehand, and the compression hits harder. A 600-pixel-wide image scaled up to fit a 1,200-pixel slot will look soft, blurry, or pixelated by the time it reaches a viewer’s feed. Once compression has happened, you can’t un-compress it.
It loads slowly. Mobile users on patchy 4G – and there are still plenty of them in the UK – will scroll past a slow-loading image before it’s even rendered. Oversized images take longer to load. Correctly-sized ones don’t.
Sized correctly, your image keeps its detail, lands in the feed without being cropped, and loads fast enough to actually be seen. That’s the whole job.
The size charts - by platform
The sizes below are the recommended upload dimensions for 2026. Use these for any new asset.
Facebook image sizes
| Image Type | Size (pixels) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 170 × 170 | Displays at 170 × 170 on desktop, 128 × 128 on mobile. Upload at 320 × 320 or higher for sharpness. |
| Cover photo | 851 × 315 | Displays at full width on desktop, cropped on mobile. Keep important content in the centre 640 × 315. |
| Timeline photo / link share | 1200 × 630 | The standard Open Graph image size. Also works as the og:image for your website. |
| Stories | 1080 × 1920 | Vertical 9:16. Keep all text and logos inside the centre 80% — top and bottom 10% can be obscured by UI. |
| Facebook ads (square) | 800 × 800 | Use 1080 × 1080 if you’re cross-posting to Instagram. |
Instagram image sizes
| Image Type | Size (pixels) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 320 × 320 | Displays as a circle at around 110 × 110 in feed. Upload bigger for sharpness on profile pages. |
| Square post / ad | 1080 × 1080 | The default. Still the safest option if you only design one size. |
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 ratio — takes up more vertical space in the feed and performs better than square in 2026. |
| Horizontal post / ad | 1080 × 566 | 1.91:1 ratio. Use sparingly — horizontal under-performs both square and portrait. |
| Story / Reel | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16. Same safe-zone rule as Facebook Stories. |
LinkedIn image sizes
| Image Type | Size (pixels) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 400 × 400 | Square, displayed as a circle. Use a clear headshot — LinkedIn engagement on posts without a face goes down measurably. |
| Personal cover photo | 1584 × 396 | The banner on a personal profile. Mobile crops the sides — keep the important detail in the centre 950 × 396. |
| Company cover photo | 1128 × 191 | Different from the personal one — shorter and wider. Don’t reuse a personal cover here. |
| Post / horizontal ad | 1200 × 628 | The standard post image. Same as Facebook’s timeline photo. |
| Square ad | 1200 × 1200 | For sponsored content. |
| Vertical ad | 628 × 1200 | Mostly appears in the LinkedIn mobile feed. |
X (Twitter) image sizes
| Image Type | Size (pixels) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 400 × 400 | Square, displayed as a circle. |
| Header image | 1500 × 500 | The banner on your profile. Mobile crops it differently — preview before publishing. |
| In-stream image (single) | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 — the default horizontal post image. |
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5. Performs better than horizontal in the timeline. |
| Stand-alone image ad | 1200 × 1200 | Square ad creative. |
| Carousel / website cards | 800 × 800 | For multi-image and link-card formats. |
TikTok image sizes
| Image Type | Size (pixels) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 200 × 200 | Small, but upload bigger (around 400 × 400) for retina sharpness. |
| Video portrait | 1080 × 1920 | The default 9:16 vertical. Almost every TikTok upload should be this size. |
| Video horizontal | 1920 × 1080 | 16:9. Rarely the right format on TikTok — only use for repurposed YouTube content. |
| Carousel image (photo mode) | 1080 × 1920 | Vertical 9:16 per slide. |
File formats - what to use, when
Image size isn’t the whole story. The wrong file format will hurt your image even at the right dimensions.
- JPG (or JPEG) — for photographs, anything with a lot of colour and detail. Compresses well, file sizes stay reasonable.
- PNG — for graphics with text, logos, or transparent backgrounds. Larger files but keeps edges crisp.
- WebP — modern, smaller file sizes than JPG with similar quality. Supported by all the major platforms now.
- MP4 — for any video, including TikTok and Reels. H.264 codec, AAC audio.
- GIF — supported, but most platforms convert short GIFs to looping video on upload anyway. Use sparingly.
Exporting from Canva or Adobe Express? Pick PNG for any image with text, JPG for any image without.
Mobile vs desktop - what changes
Over 80% of UK social media browsing in 2026 happens on a phone. Design for the phone first.
Two things shift when you assume mobile:
Safe zones matter more. Story and Reel formats put navigation, profile photos, and CTAs over the top and bottom of your image. If your text or logo sits in those zones, it’s hidden by UI. Keep important content within the middle 80% of any vertical format.
Cropping behaves differently. A Facebook cover photo displays at full 851 × 315 on desktop. On mobile, the sides get cropped – only the middle ~640 × 315 stays visible. Same image, two crops. Design for the smaller one first.
A useful habit: preview every image on a phone before you upload. Open it in your camera roll, look at it at actual size. Issues you can’t see at desktop zoom become obvious on a phone.
How to resize images for social media
This is the working order I use. It’s quicker than people expect.
1. Start in Canva, Adobe Express, or Figma. All three have ready-made templates labelled with the platform and the size – pick the right one before you start designing, not after.
2. Design at 100% of the target size. Don’t design at 500 × 500 and then scale up to 1080 × 1080. Scaling up loses sharpness, particularly on text and logos.
3. Keep important content in the safe zone. For vertical formats, that’s the middle 80% – leave 10% margin at the top and bottom for UI overlays.
4. Export at the recommended file format. JPG for photos, PNG for anything with text or transparency, MP4 for video.
5. Check the file size. Most social platforms now compress images larger than 8MB heavily. Exporting from a design tool at sensible settings keeps you well under that, but worth a glance.
6. Preview on mobile before publishing. Send it to your phone, open it in your camera roll, look at the actual image at actual size. Not the design app preview – the real thing.
Common mistakes I see on small business accounts
- Uploading the same image to every platform at the same size. A 1080 × 1080 Instagram square posted as a 1500 × 500 X header looks comically wrong. Resize for each platform – it takes about ninety seconds with a template.
- Designing text too close to the edges. Anything in the outer 10% of a story or Reel will be partially obscured by the platform’s UI. Pull text in.
- Low-resolution uploads. A 600-wide image scaled up to fit a 1200-wide slot looks soft. Always upload at 100% of the target size or larger.
- Using a personal cover photo on a company LinkedIn page. The dimensions are different (1584 × 396 vs 1128 × 191) and the personal one ends up squashed or cropped.
- Ignoring the og:image. Your Facebook timeline photo size (1200 × 630) is the same dimension used by every link-sharing platform when someone shares a page from your website. Set this image in your CMS and your pages will look professional when shared.
- No alt text. Not strictly a size issue, but every social platform now respects alt text for accessibility and AI engines. Write it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most-used social media image size in 2026?
1080 × 1080 (square) is still the safest single size if you’re only designing one image – works for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn ads, and X. 1080 × 1920 (vertical) is the most-used size if you account for Stories and Reels separately.
What’s the best image size for an Instagram post?
1080 × 1350 (portrait, 4:5 ratio). Takes up more vertical space in the feed than square and consistently out-performs both square and horizontal posts in 2026.
What size should a Facebook cover photo be?
851 × 315 pixels. Because mobile crops the sides, keep all important content within the centre 640 × 315.
Do I need different image sizes for different LinkedIn placements?
Yes. Personal profile cover (1584 × 396) and company profile cover (1128 × 191) are different. Don’t reuse one for the other.
What’s the difference between portrait and horizontal on social media?
Portrait is taller than wide (1080 × 1350, 1080 × 1920). Horizontal is wider than tall (1600 × 900, 1920 × 1080). Portrait performs better on every mobile-first platform – which is most of them now.
Should I post video as horizontal or portrait?
Portrait (1080 × 1920, 9:16) on TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories, and YouTube Shorts. Horizontal (1920 × 1080, 16:9) only on YouTube main feed and X.
Do social media platforms compress my images?
Yes – all of them, to varying degrees. Uploading at the recommended size minimises the visible damage. Uploading bigger than recommended is sometimes worse than uploading at exact size, because the platform’s compression algorithm has more work to do.
How often do social media image sizes change?
Roughly every 12–18 months a major platform tweaks something. Smaller changes happen more often. Bookmark this page – I update it when something meaningful changes.
Closing
Image sizes feel fiddly, and on a busy week they’re easy to skip. But a wrongly-sized image is the most visible cheap mistake on a small business account – it shows up in every feed, on every share, on every search result.
Get the sizes right once, save the templates in Canva or wherever you design, and the work is done. Every future post drops into the right slot without you thinking about it.
If you’d rather not faff about with templates and dimensions – that’s literally what we do. If you’re interested Contact us and we’ll set up a full social media template library for your business so your team can post on-brand assets in minutes, not hours.
