Managing our digital lives would be so very simple if there was only one social media platform on the internet. Unfortunately, there are many and each platform comes with its own varying social media image sizes for users and designers to abide by to make the most out of visual content when connecting and sharing with others.
We’re not simply talking about avatars, covers, banners and headers, we’re thinking stories, videos, ads and thumbnails, which when you put it all together adds up to a lot of recommended social media sizes to adhere to. So, to make life a little easier, this guide takes a look at the 7 most commonly used social media platforms—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube—and all the important, recommended image sizes to be aware of when practicing digital creativity, socially.
1. Instagram
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There are several specialised image formats that we’re keeping in mind for Instagram: “stories” refer to the ephemeral sharing of images and videos to select users, “highlights” mean the best bits of Instagram posts, pinned to the top of your wall, “carousel ads” allow multiple images per ad, say for multi-product galleries and “IGTV”, which is a standalone video app.
Recommended Instagram sizes and dimensions:
Instagram profile picture
- 320 x 320px
Instagram posts & image ads
- Landscape 1080 x 566px
- Portrait 1080 x 1350px
- Square 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect ratio 1.91:1—4:5
- Recommended width 1080px
- Recommended height 566—1350px
Instagram thumbnails
- Display size 161 x 161px
- Recommended width 1080px (upload images as large as possible)
Instagram stories & stories ads
- Recommended size 1080 x 1920px
- Aspect ratio 9:16
- Max file size 30mb…but remember the larger the image, the slower the buffer!
- According to official guidelines, “Consider leaving roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and bottom of the image free from text, logos or other key creative elements to avoid covering them with the profile icon or call to action.”
Instagram carousel
- Landscape 1080 x 566px
- Portrait 1080 x 1350px
- Square 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect ratio landscape 1.91:1, square 1:1, vertical 4:5
- Recommended width of 1080px
- Recommended height 566—1350px (dependant on orientation of image)
IGTV
- Recommended dimensions 1920 x 1080px (vice versa for landscape)
- Cover image height 420px
- Cover image width 654px
- Aspect ratio 1:1.55
2. Twitter
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Twitter’s specialties include “twitter cards” for attaching links with images to tweets and “moments”, which are pretty much the same thing as Instagram highlights. The latest addition to their flock of marketing features are “Fleets”, which can currently only be used on mobiles.
Recommended Twitter sizes and dimensions:
Twitter profile
- Profile picture 400 x 400px
- Maximum file size 2mb
- Banner 1500 x 500px
- Aspect ratio 3:1
Tweets
- Recommended size 1024 x 512px
- Aspect ratio 16:9
- Max file size 5mb for photos/GIFs on phone, 15mb on desktop
Twitter cards
- Aspect ratio 1.91:1
- Summary card 120 x 120px
- Summary card with large image, max dimensions 4096 x 4096px
- Player card 262 x 262px, or 359 x 196px with 16:9
- Website cards 800 x 320px
Twitter fleets
- Recommended dimensions 1080 x 1920px
Twitter moments
- Unset in guidelines so up to you!
Twitter ads
- Single/multi image tweets minimum size 600 x 335px
- Website card image size 800 x 418px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio or
- 800 x 800px with 1:1 aspect ratio, max file size is 20mb
- App card image 800 x 418px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio, max file size of 3mb
- Carousels 800 x 418px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio, max file size of 20mb for 2—6 image cards
- Direct message card 800 x 418px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio
- Conversation card 800 x 418px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 3mb as max file size
3. TikTok
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The latest phenomenon in social media, TikTok provides us with some light relief; this platform keeps formatting simple with only videos, ads and profile pictures to worry about.
Recommended TikTok sizes and dimensions:
TikTok profile picture
- 200 x 200px
TikTok video
- Recommended dimensions of 1080 x 1920px with aspect ratio 1:1 or 9:16
TikTok ad
- Portrait 720 x 1280px
- Square 1200 x 1200px
- Landscape 1280 x 720px
4. Facebook
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Similarly to Instagram’s image criteria, Facebook focuses on posts, banners and stories for its visual content. Event pages and marketplace advertisements require specific dimensions. This platform also accommodates for 360 degree images, aka panoramas.
Recommended Facebook sizes and dimensions:
Facebook page
- Profile picture recommended dimensions 170 x 170px on desktop, 128 x 128px smartphones
- Cover photo recommended dimensions 820 x 312px on desktop, 640 x 360px smartphones
- Ideal file size is less than 100kb
- Cover video should be 820 x 462px and 20-90 seconds
Facebook posts
- Recommended sizes 1200 x 630px with aspect ratio 1.9:1—upload the highest resolution possible!
- Carousel of 2-10 images 1200 x 1200px with aspect ratio 1:1
Facebook event cover photos
- 1200 x 628px with aspect ratio 2:1
Facebook panorama photos
- 30,000px in any direction; less than 135,000px in overall size
- Aspect ratio 2:1
- Max size up to 30mb
Facebook stories
- Recommended dimensions 1080 x 1920px with
- Aspect ratios 9:16 and 4:5 to 1.91:1
- Max duration 5 secs (6 on messenger)
- Max file size 30mb
- Similarly to IG stories, avoid 250 pixels at the top and bottom if including text
Video stories: min width 500px
- aspect ratios 9:16 to 1.91:1
- max duration: 15 secs
- max file size: 4GB
Facebook ads
- Facebook feed ads 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1.91:1 to 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Right column ads 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1:1; these feature solely on desktop!
- Instant articles 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1.91:1 to 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Marketplace ads 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Facebook search 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1.91:1 to 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Sponsored messages 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1.91:1 to 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Messenger inbox ads 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1:1; maximum file size is 30mb
- Messenger stories ads 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 9:16
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5. LinkedIn
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LinkedIn has the second biggest B2B marketing pool after Facebook and as of December, 2020, is advertising over 20 million job opportunities. With so much at stake, it pays to be exact with image and video dimensions and quality… luckily there are only a few to bear in mind on this social media platform, focusing on individual and company profiles.
Recommended LinkedIn sizes and dimensions:
LinkedIn Profile
- Profile picture 400 x 400px; though you can use images up to 7680 x 4320px for better quality; max file size is 8mb
- Cover image 1584 x 396px with aspect ratio 4:1
LinkedIn for business pages
- Profile picture / logo 300 x 300px
- Banner recommended size 1128 x 191px
- Life tab main image recommended dimensions 1128 x 376px
- Life tab custom modules recommended dimensions 502 x 282px
- Life tab company photos 900 x 600px
LinkedIn posts
- Images for blog post links are recommended to be 1200 x 627px with aspect ratio 1.91:1
- Video post 256 x 144px–4096 x 2304px
LinkedIn stories
- 1080 x 1920px with aspect ratio 9:16
LinkedIn ads
- Recommended size for company/spotlight ads logo 100 x 100px
- Spotlight ads background image is recommended at 300 x 250px
- Sponsored content images 1200 x 627px with aspect ratio 1.91:1
- Sponsored content carousel images 1080 x 1080px with aspect ratio 1:1
6. YouTube
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Videos take prime position for YouTube, meaning it’s only a couple of extra image dimensions you need to worry about to get your channel looking slick.
Recommended YouTube sizes and dimensions:
Youtube page
- Profile picture 800 x 800px
- Banner image 2560 x 1440px with aspect ratio 16:9; max file size 6mb
Youtube video
- Standard video at a minimum size should be 1280 x 720px
- File size limit 6mb
- Video aspect ratio 16:9
- For a better quality video (i.e. to be rented/sold), recommended dimensions 1920 x 1080px
- Maximum video file size 128GB
- Maximum video length 12 hours
Youtube ads
- Skippable in-stream ads should be 12 seconds—3 minutes
- Non-skippable ads are 15 seconds, unless you’re in EMEA where they’re 20 seconds
- Bumper ads are 6 seconds long
- Discovery ads recommend 16:9/4:3 with a maximum file size of 1GB
7. Pinterest
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The only social media platform that allows users to search by images, this list could not be complete without the presence of Pinterest. Creative, collaborative and entirely focused around visual content, it’s a simple set of standards to practice your creative freedom upon.
Recommended Pinterest sizes and dimensions:
Standard pin:
- 1000 x 1500px, aspect ratio 2:3
Square pin:
- 1000 x 1000px, aspect ratio 1:1
Long pin:
- 1000 x 2100px, aspect ratio 1:2.1
Infographic:
- 1000 x 3000px, aspect ratio 1:3 (this one may take some trial and error as technically speaking, elongated pins can end up being shortened in the feed)
Size them up
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Creating exciting imagery on a regular basis is impressive enough, never mind worrying about how to make each platform’s image parameters work for you. We did the logistical leg work for you, so you can enjoy flexing your artistic freedom. Save this post for future reference and try not to stray off piste from the social media sizing guidelines above to maximise your visual content’s potential across platforms.
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This article was originally published in 2021. It has been updated with new examples and information.
