Social Media Image Sizes — Cheat Sheet
The image dimensions each platform actually displays — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook, LinkedIn — plus presets that crop to fit in one click.
The cheat table
Sizes below are the pixels each surface displays — match them exactly and the platform does no resampling of its own. Presets marked ◆ are built into the tool above.
| Platform & surface | Pixels | Ratio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram feed post ◆ | 1080×1080 | 1:1 | 4:5 portrait (1080×1350) gets more vertical space |
| Instagram story / reel ◆ | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | Keep key content inside center ~1080×1420 |
| TikTok video cover | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | Same frame as stories; UI overlays bottom third |
| YouTube thumbnail ◆ | 1280×720 | 16:9 | Min width 640px; keep under 2MB |
| YouTube channel banner | 2560×1440 | 16:9 | Safe zone for text: center 1546×423 |
| Twitter / X post ◆ | 1200×675 | 16:9 | Timeline renders 16:9; taller gets cropped in feed |
| X header | 1500×500 | 3:1 | Profile photo overlaps bottom-left on desktop |
| Facebook feed post | 1200×630 | 1.91:1 | Link-preview images share this size |
| Facebook cover | 820×312 | ~2.6:1 | Renders 640×360 on phones — center the subject |
| LinkedIn post | 1200×627 | ~1.91:1 | Company logo: 300×300 |
| Pinterest pin | 1000×1500 | 2:3 | Vertical wins; 2:3 is the documented ideal |
| Passport / ID photo ◆ | 600×600 | 1:1 | US DS-160 minimum; many systems accept up to 1200² |
Three rules that cover the rest
- Feed the display size, not the file size. A 6000px photo uploaded to a 1080px feed gets crushed by the platform’s resizer — usually worse than resizing it yourself, and a bigger upload for nothing.
- Crop beats letterbox. Platforms crop-to-fill almost everywhere; a black bar you added yourself just wastes pixels. If the frame matters, do the crop yourself — the resizer’s crop mode lets you position it.
- Mind the safe zones. Stories, reels and banners all have UI chrome on top. If text sits where a reply bar goes, the right size still looks wrong.
Upsizing for print? Different problem
Social sizes are all ≤2.6K — screen territory. If you’re resizing up for a poster or print, pixels have to be invented, not rearranged: when NOT to upscale explains the limits, and how resampling works explains why.
Frequently asked questions
Should I upload the exact display size, or bigger?
Exact display size is the sweet spot for posts and thumbnails: the platform stores what you give it (or compresses it), and feeding it the native size avoids its often-crude downscaling. The exception is avatars and profile pictures, which get re-cropped at many sizes — upload a sharp square at 400×400 or more and let them derive the rest.
Why does Instagram crop my landscape photo?
Feed posts are displayed at a fixed aspect — square (1:1) or 4:5 portrait. Anything wider gets either letterboxed or cropped depending on how you posted it. Pre-cropping to 1080×1080 or 1080×1350 means you choose what's in frame instead of the app choosing for you.
What's the safe zone on story/reel images?
Stories and reels render at 1080×1920, but the top ~250px and bottom ~250px are covered by the account name and the reply/action bar. Keep text, faces and logos inside the central 1080×1420 area or they'll sit under UI chrome.
Do these sizes still apply in 2026?
Display sizes change far more slowly than apps do — the 1080px feed width has held since 2015, and 1280×720 YouTube thumbnails since 2012. The numbers below are the ones the platforms document and display today; if a platform moves, we update the table.
Is 1080×1080 the same as 1:1?
The ratio, yes — the pixel size is what the feed renders at on a 1× display. Uploading 1080×1080 covers 1× and 2× screens cleanly; going larger (2160²) buys nothing on most feeds and costs file size.