Social Media Image Size Cheat Sheet

Maintaining a social media presence continues to be an important aspect of businesses everywhere (hint: it’s not going away any time in the near future, either!), leading to greater brand exposure, learning indispensable insight into your customers, the ability to run ads, and more.

There is no denying the fact that every aspect of having a social media presence is intimately tied to your bottom line.

No longer is a social media presence a passing trend or something that businesses can opt out of. If you aren’t taking advantage of social media (and more than likely doing so in multiple ways) you are probably not surviving – and if you are, it’s unlikely that you’re thriving.

Recent data has shown that of the 3.773 billion Internet users, 2.789 are active on social media. That means that more than a third of the earth’s entire population can potentially be reached through your social media presence.

Of course, you probably know that. Not only is a social media presence necessary, but the images that you share on those platforms are equally important.

Data shows over and over that images lead to greater engagement, more retweets, more clicks and so on, as you will see throughout this article. That’s why your images need to be doing the most amount of work for you that they can.

Profile images, first and foremost, communicate a lot about your brand and are often the first point of contact.

As such, it is more important to optimize your images for social media by not only using high-quality images wherever possible but also by staying on top of the required social media image sizes that each social network sets forth.

Sure, you could have a handful of beautiful images taken with a high-quality camera, but if your images fall outside of the requirements, your images could be pixelated, cut off and, even worse, entirely ignored.

Keep in mind that social media platforms tend to change their image sizes on a fairly regular basis, which is why it is important to periodically check back to this social media image size guide to see if any changes have been made.

In this article, you will find a list of all of the most recent social media image sizes across all of the major social media platforms, from Facebook to LinkedIn and everything in between.

Facebook

With more than 1 billion monthly active users, Facebook continues to be the biggest social network of them all and its importance to businesses cannot be understated. Here is how businesses can optimize their Facebook profile page.

Just as we’ve said, the quality of your images is very important to your success on social media and Facebook is no exception. The most significant starting point is to properly size your profile image, which you should do in the following format:

• Profile Image: 180 x 180 pixels

This is one of the most important images, if not the most important image, on your Facebook account – the one that will represent your very brand across all forms of activity that you do on the platform. Your profile image should display you or your brand logo.

• The Facebook image size must be at least 180 x 180 px for profile images.

• As a reference point, your profile picture will appear as 160 x 160 pixels on desktop computers, 140 x 140 on tablets and 50 x 50 on the majority of mobile phones.

• Cover Photo (828 x 315 pixels)

Your cover photo is only visible when others hover over or specifically visit your Facebook profile, which gives you a bit more leeway, but your profile picture and cover photo should always be consistent in terms of the colours, font, and any other visible aspects of your logo/brand.

This sentiment also holds true across all social media platforms. That is, always stay consistent in terms of your branding whether on Facebook, LinkedIn or another kind of social network.

You want your logo (and your brand!) to be recognizable, which is done best if what potential customers encounter is the same every time they visit any form of your social media profile.

Not only are there articles dedicated to optimizing your social media profiles, but there are entire articles dedicated to the topic of the cover photo alone. Here are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to your Facebook cover photo.

• 828 x 315 px (minimum size of 399 x 150 px – anything below this will be stretched).

• You will get best results by ensuring that RGB or JPG files are less than 100KB.

• Images that have a logo or any type of text would be better suited to a PNG file.

• Shared Images (1200 x 630 pixels)

Sharing images on your Facebook account allows you to engage your followers through conversation. The more that people engage with your post, the more you expand your reach.

In fact, BuzzSumo found that posts with images have 2.3 times more engagement than posts without images.

• The recommended size is 1200 x 630 px.

• As a reference, shared photos will appear in Facebook’s feed with a maximum width of 470 pixels and will appear on the page at a maximum width of 504 pixels.

• Shared Link (1200 x 627 pixels)

• The recommended size is 1200 x 627 px.
• Square photos: minimum 154 x 154 px in feed/minimum 116 x 116 on page; photos that are below the minimum will be scaled.
• Rectangular photos: minimum 470 x 246 px in feed/484 x 252 px on page; photos that are below the minimum will be scaled.

• Highlighted Image (1200 x 717 pixels)

A company milestone is a great opportunity for your business to share a highlighted image.

• The recommended size is 1200 x 717 px.
• The images will appear as 843 x 504 pixels on the page.
• You will get a better quality image by choosing an image with a higher resolution.

• Event Image (1920 x 1080 pixels)

• Here, the recommended size is 1920 x 1080 px.
• It can be scaled down to minimum dimensions of 470 x 174 px.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, is a great platform to get in touch with other leaders in the industry. Here is how to optimize your LinkedIn company profile for maximum success.

• Profile Image

-The recommended LinkedIn image size is between 400 x 400 and 2,000 x 2,000 pixels

-The site only permits JPG, GIF and PNG files.

-The minimum size is 200 x 200 px.

-Conversely, the maximum file size is 10 MB.

• Personal Background Image

-This should be between 1000 x 425 and 4,000 x 4000 px.

-You can still only use JPG, GIF and PNG files here.

-The maximum file size is 4 MB.

• Career Cover Photo (974 x 330 pixels)

-The minimum size for your career cover photo is 974 x 330 px.

-This photo should be uploaded in landscape layout, not portrait layout.

-The maximum file size is 2 MB.

-Again, you may upload only PNG, JPG and GIF files.

• Standard Logo (400 x 400 pixels)

There are two brand logos on LinkedIn and this is the bigger of the two and will show up next to your brand name on LinkedIn’s home page, in addition to appearing on the Companies You May Want to Follow section.

Because it is bigger, it is the more visible option and your care for ensuring this is in the proper format needs to reflect this importance.

That means that the standard logo should be a high-quality image and definitely within the correct size dimensions.

-The recommended size for this photo is 400 x 400 px.

-You should be sure to use 300 x 300 px as a minimum.

-There is a 4 MB file size maximum.

-As always, with LinkedIn, you can use PNG, JPG and GIF files only.

• Banner Image for Brand (646 x 220 pixels)

This is one of LinkedIn’s latest image additions, appearing when a user makes a visit to your brand’s homepage, suggesting that the user was specifically seeking out your brand.

With that in mind, it is in your best interest to invest in a high-quality image and follow the designated image size specifications.

-The minimum LinkedIn image size is 646 x 220 px.

-Use only a photo in landscape layout.

-The maximum file size is 2MB.

– It may be redundant to point this out, but files should be PNG, JPG and GIF only.

• Square Logo (60 x 60 pixels)

-This is a fair bit smaller so the quality can be as low as 60 x 60 pixels.

-The maximum file size is a small 2 MB.

-And, one more time, please use PNG, JPG and GIF only.

YouTube

It is in businesses’ best interest to invest in video marketing, because if social media is the wave of the present, using video to advertise is certainly the wave of the future. Here is our guide to video marketing. You can check out this guide to using YouTube for business here.

• Channel Cover Photo

The channel cover photo tells viewers the types of videos they can expect from your channel, which is why the channel cover photo is so important. Take the opportunity here to display a photo that will draw viewers into the kind of videos you offer.

Keep in mind that users watch YouTube videos on a variety of different devices, which means that it is important to optimize your channel cover photo to account for each device. The recommended YouTube image size for each device is as follows:

• Desktop: 2,560 x 423 px
• Mobile: 1,546 x 423 px
• Tablet: 1,855 x 423 px
• TV: 2,560 x 1,440 px

• Video Uploads: 1280 x 760 pixels

• These should be 1280 x 760 px.
• You must maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio.
• In order for our video to qualify as full HD, its dimensions must at least 1280 x 720 px.

We have covered, in depth, some of the most significant forms of social media, but there are certainly more that you should establish a presence on. We won’t go too in-depth here, with discussions and so on.

Instead, we will simply list the requirements all in one list for your ease of use. Here are the dimensions for the main photos on various other forms of social media that you are most likely to want to make use of.

Instagram

• Profile Image (110 x 110 pixels)

• They appear as 110 x 110 px.
• All images on Instagram need to have an aspect ratio of 1:1.

• Photo Sizes (1080 x 1080 pixels)

• The Instagram image size for photos should be 1080 x 1080 pixels (they appear in the feed at 510 x 510 pixels). Instagram has recently increased these dimensions to the new requirement of 1080 x 1080 pixels to improve the overall look.
• Keep in mind that square or rectangular photos need to uphold an aspect ratio somewhere between 1.91:1 and 4:5.

• Photo Thumbnails (161 x 161 pixels)

-Thumbnails appear at 161 x 161 px.

Twitter

• Profile Photo (400 x 400 pixels)

• The Twitter image size for profile photos should be 400 x 400 pixels, and it displays at 200 x 200 px.
• These should only be in one of the following file types: JPG, GIF or PNG.

• Header Photo (1500 x 500 pixels)

• The recommended size for a header photo is 1500 x 500 px.
• These should also be uploaded in only JPG, GIF or PNG.

• In-Stream Photo: 440 x 220 pixels

If you have been tweeting without including images, reconsider. According to a study by Buffer, tweets with images are retweeted 150% more than tweets without images, while they receive 89% more favourites and 18% more clicks.

Those numbers are absolutely massive and deserve a moment of reflection.

• They should be 440 x 220 px.
• The maximum file size for photos is 5B while it is 3 MB for animated GIFs.
• You can include up to 4 images in one tweet, if you wish to do so.

Pinterest

You likely have included Facebook and LinkedIn into your social media strategy, but have you considered Pinterest? It’s not just an app built to waste time while looking at interesting pictures; it can actually help you expand your audience.

While businesses shouldn’t spread themselves too out too thinly, (it is also important to consider your target audience when choosing whether or not to hop onto a new social network), you certainly may benefit from using Pinterest, especially if your target audience is on the younger side of the demographic.

Pinterest can certainly improve your rankings. This definitive guide covers even more benefits of incorporating Pinterest into your social media strategy, if you need more reasons to move toward this platform.

• Profile Image (165 x 165 pixels)

• The Pinterest image size for profiles appears as 165 x 165 pixels.
• The maximum file size is 10 MB.
• You can use only JPG and PNG file types.

• Board Display (222 x 150 pixels)

• 222 x 150 pixels (large thumbnail) and 55 x 55 (small thumbnail)

• Pins

• These appear as 238 pixels on the main page and board (height is scaled).
• It is recommended that you maintain an image aspect ratio of 2:3 to 1:3:5.

Tumblr

• Profile Image

• The Tumblr image size for profile images is a minimum of 128 x 128 pixels.
• Files can be JPG, GIF, PNG or BMP.

• Image Posts 

-Images posts appear at 500 x 750 px (maximum size is 1280 x 1920).

-Images can’t be beyond 10 MB and animated GIFs have to be under 1 MB with a maximum of 500 pixels.

Google+

• Profile Image (250 x 250 pixels)

• The recommended Google+ image size for profile pictures is 250 x 250 px (JPG, GIF, PNG.
• However, regardless of the recommended size, larger photos are preferable.
• The maximum file size is 100 MB.
• The minimum size is 120 x 120 pixels.
• Keep in mind that Google will format your photo into a circle, so consider that parts of your image will be cut off in the four corners.

• Cover Image (1080 x 608 pixels)

• The recommended size is 1080 x 608 px.
• The minimum size is 480 x 270 pixels, maximum is 2120 x 1192 pixels.

• Shared Image

• Shared images appear at 426 pixels, with the height scaled.
• The have a minimum width of 497 pixels.
• The maximum is 2,048 x 2,048 px.
• A shared link is 150 x 150.

• Shared Video (497 x 279 pixels)

• These appear as 497 x 279 pixels.

We also recommend that you check out this article on maximizing your presence on social media.

A few final parting words: Keep this social media image size guide handy! Lastly, remember to check in on social media image sizes for any changes.

At Yocale, we understand that businesses have so much on their plate and that adding yet another social media network into the mix may be too much right now. If that’s the case, we ask you to consider Yocale’s list of automated marketing features to take one extra thing off your plate.