By Gecko Studio · updated October 2026
Every measurement on this page is taken from each network's official documentation, not from third-party lists. At the end of each section we link to the source so you can check it yourself whenever you need to.
If you arrived searching for "social media image sizes", the first list you found is probably out of date. Three changes in recent months have made half the internet obsolete: Instagram now accepts 3:4 photos, LinkedIn changed its page cover to 1512 × 256, and YouTube recommends thumbnails of 3840 × 2160, not the 1280 × 720 still repeated everywhere.
Image sizes by network in 2026
| Network | Asset | Recommended size | Ratio | Limit / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feed photo (portrait) | 1080 × 1440 px | 3:4 | Supported since 11 Nov 2025 | |
| Feed photo (classic portrait) | 1080 × 1350 px | 4:5 | Still valid | |
| Feed photo (square) | 1080 × 1080 px | 1:1 | Uploaded at 1080 px wide at most | |
| Stories and Reels | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Full screen | |
| Page profile photo | 320 × 320 px | 1:1 | Cropped to a circle | |
| Page cover | 851 × 315 px | 2.4:1 | Minimum 400 × 150; sRGB JPG under 100 KB | |
| X | Profile photo | 400 × 400 px | 1:1 | Maximum 2 MB |
| X | Header | 1500 × 500 px | 3:1 | Up to 60 px may be cropped top and bottom |
| X | Post image | Between 2:1 and 3:4 | 2:1 – 3:4 | Cropped outside that range. Maximum 5 MB |
| Page logo | 400 × 400 px | 1:1 | Minimum 268 × 268 | |
| Page cover | 1512 × 256 px | ≈ 5.9:1 | Very wide: nothing important at the edges | |
| Post image with link | 1200 × 627 px | 1.91:1 | Under 200 px wide it shows as a thumbnail | |
| TikTok | Vertical video | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Official minimum 540 × 960. Up to 10 min and 500 MB |
| TikTok | Horizontal / square video | 1920 × 1080 / 1080 × 1080 px | 16:9 / 1:1 | Minimums 960 × 540 and 640 × 640 |
| TikTok | Profile photo | 98 × 98 px | 1:1 | Under 50 KB; keep the key element within 66 × 66 |
| YouTube | Video thumbnail | 3840 × 2160 px | 16:9 | Minimum 640 px wide. 50 MB from desktop |
| YouTube | Shorts thumbnail | 2160 × 3840 px | 9:16 | Minimum 640 px tall |
| YouTube | Channel banner | 2560 × 1440 px | 16:9 | Minimum 2048 × 1152. Safe area 1235 × 338. Maximum 6 MB |
| YouTube | Profile photo | Displayed at 98 × 98 px | 1:1 | Maximum 15 MB. No animated GIF |
| Image pin | 1000 × 1500 px | 2:3 | Anything taller than 2:3 is cut off in the feed |
The important change is in the feed. Instagram had always accepted ratios from 1.91:1 (landscape) to 4:5 (portrait). Since 11 November 2025 it also accepts 3:4, with a maximum size of 1080 × 1440 px. That is the ratio almost every phone camera shoots in by default, so it forces the least cropping.
When you upload a photo, Instagram processes it to a maximum width of 1080 px. Uploading a 4000 px image improves nothing, because it is recompressed anyway. What does help is making sure the image arrives with the right ratio, since automatic cropping is what cuts off heads and captions.
For Stories and Reels, use full-screen 9:16: 1080 × 1920 px. Bear in mind that the app's own interface (username, buttons, caption) takes up the top and bottom strips, so keep text in the middle.
Official sources: resolution of photos you share on Instagram and Reels size and ratios.
A page profile photo is 320 × 320 px and is cropped to a circle, so any logo with square corners will lose them. It displays much smaller than it is uploaded (176 × 176 px on desktop, 196 × 196 px on mobile), but upload it large so it does not look pixelated on high-density screens.
The cover has a minimum of 400 × 150 px, and Facebook's own documentation recommends an sRGB JPG of 851 × 315 px under 100 KB, which loads fastest. The ratio is 2.4:1, very wide, and on mobile the sides are cropped: anything that has to be readable goes in the centre.
Official source: profile and cover photo dimensions for a Facebook page.
X (formerly Twitter)
The network was renamed in 2023, but the profile measurements are the same as ever: 400 × 400 px for the profile photo (maximum 2 MB) and 1500 × 500 px for the header. One detail the documentation mentions and hardly anyone allows for: depending on the monitor and browser, the header can lose up to 60 px at the top and another 60 px at the bottom, so a logo centred vertically is the only safe option.
For images within a post there is no single size: X shows the whole photo if its ratio is between 2:1 and 3:4. Outside that range it crops it in the timeline. The weight limit is 5 MB per photo, and 5 MB on mobile or 15 MB on web for animated GIFs.
Official sources: profile photos and headers on X and how to post photos or GIFs.
This is where you will find the most outdated lists. A company page cover is no longer 1128 × 191 px: the current specification is 1512 × 256 px. The logo is 400 × 400 px recommended, with a minimum of 268 × 268. All page images must be PNG or JPEG and under 3 MB.
For posts that carry a link, LinkedIn asks for 1.91:1, that is 1200 × 627 px. If the image is under 200 px wide, it is not shown as a large card but as a small thumbnail to the left of the text, which can be the difference between a post being noticed or ignored.
Official source: image specifications for LinkedIn Pages.
TikTok
TikTok publishes minimums, not ideal sizes. For vertical video, which is the recommended format, it asks for 9:16 with at least 540 × 960 px; for horizontal, 16:9 with at least 960 × 540; and for square, 1:1 with at least 640 × 640. Those minimums fall short for a current screen, so the sensible choice is to upload 1080 × 1920 px in vertical. Video can run up to 10 minutes and weigh up to 500 MB.
The profile photo is 98 × 98 px and under 50 KB, and the documentation warns that the main element must sit within a central 66 × 66 px square so it is not cropped.
Official source: TikTok video specifications (updated June 2026).
YouTube
Thumbnails are the most glaring case of old data being repeated. Almost every list still says 1280 × 720 px; YouTube now recommends 3840 × 2160 px for videos, with a minimum of 640 px wide, and 2160 × 3840 px for Shorts, with a minimum of 640 px tall. The weight limit is 2 MB from mobile and 50 MB from desktop.
The channel banner is uploaded at a minimum of 2048 × 1152 px, although the recommendation, especially for good display on TVs, is 2560 × 1440 px. What matters is the safe area of 1235 × 338 px: it is the only part visible on every device, and anything outside it will disappear on mobile. Maximum 6 MB.
The profile photo displays at 98 × 98 px, accepts up to 15 MB and cannot be an animated GIF.
Official sources: custom thumbnails and channel branding.
Pinterest is the simplest because only one size matters: 1000 × 1500 px, ratio 2:3. Any pin taller than that is cut off in the feed, so the endless infographic pins popular years ago now work against you. PNG or JPEG, up to 20 MB from desktop and 32 MB from the app.
On text, the title allows 100 characters but only the first 40 are visible, and the description runs to 500.
Official source: Pinterest ad and pin specifications.
The rule that never expires: compose with a safe area
We will have to update this page again, because platforms change their crops without notice. So it pays to have a method that does not depend on any table: compose in portrait, keep what matters in the centre, and crop afterwards.
The idea is simple. Build the image with the face, product or text inside a generous margin in the middle, and accept that the edges are expendable. That way the same piece survives a crop to 1:1, 4:5 and 9:16 without losing anything important and without redoing it three times. The day a network changes its format, there is nothing to redesign.
The two mistakes that keep recurring
The first is putting text right at the edge. It disappears at the first crop or is covered by the app's own interface: the Stories buttons, a Reel's caption, the account name on TikTok. The second is uploading enormous images in the belief they will look better: the platform recompresses them anyway, so all you achieve is a slower upload.
Where file weight really does matter is when you reuse those same photos on your website. Nobody recompresses them for you there, and a gallery of multi-megabyte images is one of the most frequent causes of a slow page on mobile. Before uploading, resize them to the width at which they will actually be displayed and save them in a modern format. It is part of any decent WordPress maintenance and something we check on every web design project.
Finally, one thing worth more than any measurement: write the image's alt text. It lets the photo be understood when it does not load, it is what people using a screen reader rely on and, as a bonus, it is the only way an image contributes anything to the search ranking of the page it lives on.
Related: social media and web content. And if you would rather have a team prepare your social content, see our social media agency service.