So – you want to make sure the images you share on social media are all the right sizes, so they don’t show up looking all wonky with busted cropping and whatnot.
Who wouldn’t?
The thing is, finding where different networks list their recommended image sizes is super annoying.
That’s why we did the digging for you!
So consider this your quick-and-simple reference guide for posting images to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest Instagram.
(We’ll do our best to keep it all up to date, too.)
Now, let’s cut the chatter and skip to the stuff you actually came here for, huh?
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Facebook Image sizes
When you paste a URL into a Facebook update, Facebook automatically creates a link preview for you.
(We wrote a whole post here about how to make sure the auto-generated preview looks the way you want.)
The ones you see most often probably look like this:
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To generate this kind of link preview, the image Facebook pulls should be at least 1200 x 630 pixels to get the best results on high-resolution devices.
Technically, the image can be as small as 600 x 315 pixels, and it will still generate this style of link preview – it just won’t be as pretty.
(That’s according to Facebook.)
If your image is smaller than 600 x 315, it’ll generate a smaller thumbnail, like this one:
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And that’s totally fine, too! It’s all up to you.
So that covers link previews – what about attaching an image to a status update?
Images in the Facebook News Feed are always 470 pixels wide, whether they have to expand or shrink (click to expand and see the quality difference):
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The recommended upload size to make your image look as best as it possibly can without any distortion is 1200 x 630. The maximum height for Facebook image is 1800 and Facebook will auto crop or resize your image if you go over the size limit.
Facebook stories, on the other hand, are a different story. They require a portrait size image since they take up the entire screen. The recommended size is 1080 x 1920 or an aspect ratio of 9:16.
Here are other important Facebook image sizes you might want to keep in mind for your marketing:
Facebook Profile Picture Size: 180 x 180
Facebook Cover Photo Size: 820 x 312
Facebook Event Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Facebook Video Sizes: 1280 x 720
Facebook Ad Size: 1200 x 628
Facebook Group Cover Image: 1640 x 922
Twitter image sizes
Twitter’s version of a link preview is called a Twitter Card, which takes a little bit more effort on your end to set up.
(But it’s totally worth it.)
Twitter Cards take about 15 minutes or so to set up on your website, but when you’re done, you’re done – you can learn more about setting them up right here.
There’s more than one type of Twitter Card, though.
First, there’s one with a large image, like this:
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If you want your Twitter Card to look like this, the image should meet these specifications:
- Minimum 300 x 157 pixels
- Maximum 4096 x 4096 pixels
- Less than 5MB
- JPG, PNG, WEBP or GIF (if GIF, only the first frame will display)
- Aspect ratio approximately 2:1 (if it meets the other size requirements, Twitter will crop the image to a 2:1 aspect ratio automatically)
Twitter also supports smaller Twitter cards, which look like this:
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To generate a card that size, your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1, and can be as small as 144×144.
(You can learn more about setting up that kind of card here.)
When it comes to just posting images, things work a little differently.
Twitter images display at a maximum width of 506 pixels. If your image is smaller than that, it will appear with white space to the right of the image. (You can also upload images that are wider than 506 pixels if you want better quality.)
Here’s what that looks like in practice (click to enlarge):
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The recommended aspect ratio for Twitter images is 16:9. There are a few different recommended sizes for Twitter images depends on what you’re sharing
Image from a Tweet with a shared link:1200 x 628 pixels
Tweets with a single image: 1200x 675 pixels
Tweets with two images: 700 x 800 pixels
For your Twitter profile, here are the important image sizes to know:
Twitter Profile Photo: 400x x 400 pixels
Twitter Header photo: 1,500 x 500 pixels
LinkedIn Image sizes
LinkedIn handles images a little differently from Facebook and Twitter – which is good, really, because otherwise, this all would have been entirely too easy.
According to LinkedIn, if you are posting a link with an image attached, the ideal aspect ratio is 1.91:1 with the ideal size being 1200 x 627 pixels If your image is smaller than 200 pixels, the image will appear as a thumbnail on the left side of the post.
However, if you’re sharing an image without a link, the image will be enlarged to fit the feed by adding white space to the edges. For those updates, it’s recommended you share either an image that is 1200 x 628 pixels. You can see the difference in the images below.
Square image on LinkedIn
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1200 x 628 pixels image on LinkedIn
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There are also certain specifications for LinkedIn images:
LinkedIn Logo Image for Your Business Page: 300 x 300 pixels
LinkedIn Cover Image for Your Business Page: 1192 x 220 pixels
LinkedIn Cover Image for Your Personal Page: 1584 x 396 pixels
Instagram Image sizes
Instagram used to be all about the perfectly squared photos but now things have changed. You know have three options for Instagram image sizes.
Overall, Instagram supports videos and images with a width between 320 and 1080 pixels. So if your image is smaller than 320px, Instagram will enlarge it to fit and if it’s bigger than 1080 pixels, Instagram will make it smaller.
Now, first up for Instagram images is the original Instagram size, the square. These images have a 1:1 ratio and a recommended size of 1080 x 1080 pixels. Instagram will compress down your image sizes to work on mobile. That means you need to make sure the resolution is high enough that the image quality won’t be impacted when Instagram compresses it.
In 2015, Instagram started to allow for portrait and landscape photos. For landscape (or horizontal) photos, Instagram recommends an aspect ratio of 1.91:1 and we recommend maintaining the height of your image to be at least 1080 pixels so the recommended image size for landscape Instagram photo is 608×1080 pixels.
For portrait sized (or vertical) images, you want an aspect ratio of 4:5. Instagram will crop anything higher than that. For portrait images, we recommend maintaining the width to be at least 1080 pixels so the recommended image size for a portrait Instagram photo is 1080 x 1350 pixels.
Finally, you have Instagram stories. You actually have a little bit of wiggle room with stories because Instagram will let you expand and adjust the photo once it’s in the story. Even so, the best practice is to have a minimum aspect ratio of 1.91:1 and a maximum aspect ratio of 9:16. If you’d prefer for your story to take up the entire screen, we recommend an aspect ratio of 9:16 and an image size of 1080 by 1920 pixels.
Finally, we can’t forget IGTV! IGTV originally only allowed users to only post portrait-sized videos but thankfully they changed that rule in 2019 so you can post both landscape and portrait videos to IGTV.
Vertical IGTV videos are much like Instagram stories. They have a maximum aspect ratio of 9:16 and the recommended size is 1080 x 1920 pixels. The horizontal IGTV videos have an aspect ratio of 16:8 and a recommended size of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
One more thing to keep in mind about IGTV is that can choose an IGTV cover photo. Your IGTV cover photo will show up on your IGTV page and in the IGTV explore pages. Instagram recommends a size of 420 x 654 pixels and an aspect ratio of 1:1.55. But if you want to share a preview of your IGTV to your Instagram feed, Instagram will crop it to 4:5 in the feed and it will crop it to the traditional square size on your Instagram profile. We recommend if you do post your IGTV video to your Instagram feed then place any text in the middle of the image.
Pinterest is probably the most different social media site in terms of image sizes. While most of the other platforms prioritize horizontal images, Pinterest is all about vertical.
Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio for every Pin. If your aspect ratio is more than 2:3, the image may get cropped in the feed. For best results, try using images that are 1000 x 1500 pixels.
Pinterest also has video Pins now! We recommend posting a vertical video Pin with a 9:16 aspect ratio. But the video Pin specs are just as important as the size. For Pinterest video Pins, the video length should be at least 4 seconds but no longer than 15 seconds. The max file size is 2 GB and your file can be .mp4, .mov, and .m4v.
Finally, you can’t forget your Pinterest profile photo. We recommend your profile picture by 160 x 160 pixels.
And that’s it!
Yes, there are still a few stones left unturned, like GIFs, posts with multiple images, mobile, and so on – but this is supposed to be a quick and simple reference guide!
Got any tips of your own for optimizing images for social media?
Let us know in the comments!
The post How to Properly Size Your Images for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest appeared first on MeetEdgar.