Social Media Image Sizes 2026: The One Cheat Sheet (All Platforms)

Updated October 2026 · Written by Adrian Prokopiec · 16 min read

Social media image sizes in 2026 come down to four shapes: 1:1 square (1080×1080), 4:5 portrait (1080×1350), 9:16 vertical (1080×1920) and 16:9 landscape (1920×1080), plus each platform’s own profile and cover dimensions. This 20 Minute Marketing cheat sheet lists every figure with the platform documentation it came from, so you can check the aspect ratio once and stop guessing.

Most image-size guides are copied from other image-size guides. The numbers drift, nobody links to the source, and you end up with a cover photo cropped through your phone number. This one is different in one way only: every figure below was read on the platform’s own help or specification page in October 2026, and the page is linked. Where a platform would not let us open its page, the row says so rather than filling in a number from memory.

If you make most of your visuals in a template tool, pair this page with our Canva guide for small business visuals. Set the canvas to the right size first and you save the resizing job entirely.

Which four image sizes cover most social media posts?

If you only ever export four canvases, these are the four. Each platform section below gives the exact spec, but this table is the one to pin above your desk.

One habit saves more time than any template: design once at 1080×1350, then crop to square and extend to 9:16. The 4:5 canvas sits in the middle of the three, so the crop in either direction is small. Which platforms you bother with at all is a separate question, and our guide on which social media platform suits your business answers it before you open a single design file.

What are the Facebook image sizes for a business Page?

Facebook’s Page cover is the one dimension that has not moved in years. The Facebook Help Centre page on Page profile picture and cover photo dimensions gives 851×315 pixels, a minimum of 399×150, and a specific recommendation to upload an sRGB JPG under 100 KB, switching to PNG if the cover carries a logo or text. Meta’s advertising specification pages blocked our crawler this edition, so the ad placement rows are marked unverified rather than copied from a third-party guide. If you are still setting the Page up, start with our walkthrough on how to set up a Facebook Business Page.

What are the Instagram post, Reels and Stories sizes?

Instagram publishes its hard limits in two places. The consumer help page on image resolution of photos you share on Instagram says photos are uploaded at the best resolution possible up to 1080×1080. Meta’s developer documentation for the Instagram media endpoint is more precise: feed images must be JPEG, 8 MB or less, between 4:5 and 1.91:1, with a minimum width of 320 pixels and a maximum of 1440. Anything outside that range is scaled, and any colour space other than sRGB is converted. Reels and Stories are both recommended at 9:16, with Reels allowed up to 15 minutes and 300 MB and Stories capped at 60 seconds and 100 MB. Our guide on setting up Instagram for business covers the account side; the sizes are here.

For what to actually put in the 9:16 canvas once it is the right size, our guide to using Instagram Reels to grow a small business covers hooks, length and captions.

What video size does TikTok want?

TikTok is the easiest platform on this page because it only really wants one shape. Its in-feed ad specification page for reservation in-feed ads lists 9:16 at a minimum of 540×960 as the recommended format, with 16:9 (960×540 minimum) and 1:1 (640×640 minimum) accepted. Files can be .mp4, .mov, .mpeg or .3gp, up to 500 MB, 5 to 60 seconds with 9 to 15 seconds recommended, at a bitrate of 2,500 kbps or higher. TikTok’s own creative advice in 7 ways to make your videos TikTok-friendly is blunter: avoid anything outside full 9:16 portrait, and note that the overwhelming majority of top-performing videos are at least 720p. The organic uploader applies the same shape logic, so export at 1080×1920 and you are covered for both. Strategy, posting cadence and what to film are in our TikTok strategy guide for US small business.

What are the YouTube banner, thumbnail and Shorts sizes?

YouTube changed its thumbnail guidance and most cheat sheets have not caught up. The Help Centre page on custom video thumbnails now recommends 3840×2160 for videos and 2160×3840 for Shorts, a minimum width of 640 for videos and minimum height of 640 for Shorts, JPG or PNG, with a 2 MB limit on mobile uploads and 50 MB on desktop. The same page notes that a vertical video with a 16:9 thumbnail gets an auto-generated 4:5 thumbnail on mobile home and subscription feeds, which is why your carefully designed thumbnail sometimes never appears. Channel branding is on the manage your channel branding page: a banner at 2560×1440, minimum 2048×1152 at 16:9, a 1235×338 safe area for text and logos at the minimum size, and a 6 MB cap. The profile picture renders at 98×98 and can be up to 15 MB; the video watermark is a square of at least 150×150 under 1 MB. For the channel strategy that goes around these assets, see our YouTube marketing guide for small business.

What are the LinkedIn image and video sizes?

LinkedIn’s Help Centre pages for Page logos and cover images refused our crawler this edition, so the organic Page rows below are marked as unverified. The advertising specifications on LinkedIn Marketing Solutions did load, and they double as a safe guide for feed posts because an ad image and a sponsored post use the same renderer. The single image ads page lists JPG, PNG or GIF at 5 MB, with 1200×628 recommended for 1.91:1, 1200×1200 for 1:1, and vertical options (4:5 at 720×900 recommended, 2:3 at 600×900, 1:1.91 at 628×1200) that deliver on mobile only. The video ads page accepts MP4 from 9:16 to 16:9, 75 KB to 500 MB, 3 seconds to 30 minutes, with 1080×1920 the maximum for vertical and 1920×1080 for landscape, plus an optional JPG or PNG thumbnail under 2 MB.

What are the X (Twitter) profile, header and post image sizes?

X’s help page on profile photo upload issues gives 400×400 for the profile image with a 2 MB cap in JPEG, GIF or PNG, and 1500×500 for the header. Post images follow the creative ad specifications, which recommend 800×418 at 1.91:1 or 800×800 at 1:1 for image ads (1200×628 and 1200×1200 for website cards), PNG or JPEG at 5 MB, and note that uploaded GIFs render as a static image in ads. Video is MP4 or MOV up to 1 GB, though X strongly recommends under 30 MB, at 1920×1080 for 16:9 or 1200×1200 for 1:1, 15 seconds or less recommended and up to 2 minutes 20 supported.

What is the right Pinterest Pin size?

Pinterest is the one network where tall wins. Its ad specs page recommends a 2:3 ratio at 1000×1500 in PNG or JPEG, with a 20 MB limit on desktop and 32 MB in the app, and warns that Pins taller than 2:3 may be cut off in feeds. Video Pins take MP4, MOV or M4V up to 2 GB, from 4 seconds to 15 minutes, with square or vertical (2:3, 4:5, 9:16) recommended. The profile cover, per Pinterest’s personalise your profile page, must be at least 800×450 at 16:9 and needs a business account.

What size should Google Business Profile photos be?

Google keeps this simple. The Business Profile photo guidelines ask for JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, a recommended 720×720 and a minimum of 250×250, sharp, well lit, and without heavy filters. Two things on that page catch people out. The logo only appears once the profile has a name, a valid street address, categories, a phone number and opening hours, so a missing logo is usually a missing field. And Google says outright that setting a cover photo does not guarantee it shows first; if customers’ photos are better, Google may show those instead. The fix is to keep uploading good photos, which is the point of our Google Business Profile optimisation guide.

Where are the safe zones on a 9:16 vertical video?

There is no single pixel answer, and any guide that gives you one is guessing. TikTok’s own specification page says the safe zone changes with orientation, caption length and interactive add-ons, with longer captions shrinking it, and it publishes downloadable safe zone templates instead of a measurement. Meta’s documentation recommends 9:16 for Reels and Stories without stating the overlay dimensions. What both platforms agree on is the principle: the top of the frame carries the account name and status bar, the bottom carries caption, buttons and sound attribution, and the right edge carries the engagement column.

The method that works in practice is to stop measuring and start overlaying. Take a screenshot of a Reel or TikTok on your own phone, drop it into your editor as a top layer at low opacity, and design under it. Anything your headline covers that a button also covers moves. Twenty minutes with a screenshot beats any number in a blog post, including this one.

Export settings that stop compression ruining your images

Every platform recompresses what you upload. You cannot stop that, but you can stop it from making things worse. In the accounts I’ve managed, the blurry cover photo almost always traces to one of three mistakes: uploading a file far larger than the display size and letting the platform downscale it badly, exporting text-heavy graphics as JPEG, or exporting in a wide colour profile that the platform then flattens.

1. Export at the recommended size, not double it: Facebook asks for exactly 851×315; Instagram scales anything over 1440 wide. A 4000-pixel file gives the platform more to throw away, not more quality.
2. Use sRGB every time: Meta converts other colour spaces, Facebook asks for sRGB JPG on covers. Display P3 exports look richer on your Mac and duller after upload.
3. PNG for text and flat colour, JPEG for photos: Facebook’s own help page says PNG gives a better result for logos or text. The exception is Instagram, which only takes JPEG, so export at the highest JPEG quality your tool allows.
4. Respect the small file limits: Facebook covers under 100 KB, TikTok profile photos under 50 KB, Google Business Profile photos above 10 KB. Run the file through a compressor before upload rather than letting the platform do it.
5. Video: match the platform’s bitrate floor: TikTok wants 2,500 kbps or more; Instagram caps video at 25 Mbps. Export 1080×1920 H.264 at a bitrate between the two and it survives both.

Want the sizing, the posting rhythm and the content plan taught as one system? Our social media marketing course for small business walks you through it all in 20 minutes a lesson.

Changelog

• 26 October 2026: First edition. Every figure read on the platform’s own help or specification page on this date. Meta Ads Guide and LinkedIn Help pages blocked automated access; affected rows marked “Not verified this edition” and scheduled for a manual check. YouTube thumbnail recommendation recorded as 3840×2160, replacing the older 1280×720 figure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best image size for all social media?

There is no single size, but 1080×1350 (4:5) is the most versatile starting canvas. It is the tallest ratio Instagram allows in the feed, crops cleanly to 1080×1080 for square placements, and extends to 1080×1920 for Stories, Reels, TikTok and Shorts with a small canvas change rather than a redesign.

What size is an Instagram post in 2026?

Instagram feed posts are 1080×1080 for square, 1080×1350 for portrait and 1080×566 for landscape. Meta’s developer documentation sets the accepted range at 4:5 to 1.91:1, JPEG only, 8 MB maximum, with widths between 320 and 1440 pixels. Reels and Stories are 1080×1920 at 9:16.

What is the Facebook cover photo size?

Facebook Page cover photos are 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall, with a minimum of 399×150. Facebook recommends an sRGB JPG under 100 KB for the fastest load, or a PNG if the cover includes a logo or text. Smaller images are stretched to fit, which is what causes blur.

What is the YouTube thumbnail size?

YouTube Help now recommends 3840×2160 pixels at 16:9 for video thumbnails and 2160×3840 at 9:16 for Shorts, with a minimum width of 640 for videos. Files are JPG or PNG, limited to 2 MB when uploaded from mobile and 50 MB from desktop. The older 1280×720 size still uploads but is no longer the recommendation.

What aspect ratio is best for TikTok?

TikTok recommends 9:16 vertical, with a minimum of 540×960 pixels for in-feed ads and 1080×1920 the practical export size. TikTok’s own creative guidance says to avoid anything outside full portrait, and that the overwhelming majority of top-performing videos are at least 720p. Landscape and square are accepted but underperform.

Why do my images look blurry after uploading to social media?

Every platform recompresses uploads. Blur usually comes from uploading a file much larger than the display size, exporting text graphics as JPEG instead of PNG, using a colour space other than sRGB, or missing a small file limit such as Facebook’s 100 KB cover recommendation. Export at the recommended pixel size in sRGB and compress the file yourself first.

Related: How to use AI to write a month of social media content in 20 minutes