Image Size Guide for Social Media
Recommended image sizes for 2026
Every platform crops and compresses images to its own dimensions. Uploading a picture that already matches the target size means it stays sharp and nothing important gets cut off. Here are the sizes worth knowing, and each one has a one-click preset in the resizer.
| Platform | Placement | Pixels | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Thumbnail | 1280 x 720 | 16:9 |
| Square post | 1080 x 1080 | 1:1 | |
| Portrait post | 1080 x 1350 | 4:5 | |
| Story / Reel | 1080 x 1920 | 9:16 | |
| Shared post | 1200 x 630 | ~1.9:1 | |
| Cover photo | 851 x 315 | ~2.7:1 | |
| X (Twitter) | Header | 1500 x 500 | 3:1 |
| Profile banner | 1584 x 396 | 4:1 |
How to use them
Open the resizer, switch to the Preset tab, and pick a platform. Choose cover to fill the frame and crop the overflow, which is what you want for a thumbnail or a header so there are no empty bars. Choose fit to keep the entire image with padding when cropping would cut off something important.
Jump straight to the one you need:
- Resize for a YouTube thumbnail
- Resize for Instagram
- Resize for a Facebook post or cover
- Resize for an X (Twitter) header
- Resize for a LinkedIn banner
A note on freshness
Platforms adjust these numbers now and then, and they display images at different sizes on phones and desktops. The values above are the current widely recommended sizes, and they will look right in almost every case. When in doubt, match the ratio and use the largest of the recommended pixel sizes, since platforms downscale cleanly but never add detail back.
Frequently asked questions
- What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?
- YouTube recommends 1280 by 720 pixels, a 16:9 ratio, kept under 2 MB. The preset sets these dimensions for you.
- What is the best image size for an Instagram post?
- A square post is 1080 by 1080, a portrait post is 1080 by 1350, and a story or reel is 1080 by 1920. All three are presets in the resizer.
- Do these sizes ever change?
- Platforms tweak them occasionally and show images at different sizes across devices. Matching the ratio matters most, and using the recommended pixel size keeps the image sharp.