Social Media Guide
Social Media Image Size Guide 2025 — Every Platform Cheat Sheet
Posting the wrong image dimensions is one of the most common mistakes on social media. Platforms crop, compress, and downgrade images that don't match their preferred sizes — hurting your reach and your brand. This guide gives you every number you need for 2025, plus a free tool to resize images instantly in your browser.
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Why Image Size Matters on Social Media
Every social platform has its own preferred image dimensions — and they enforce them in ways that quietly hurt your content when you ignore them:
- ✗Cropped previews — platforms auto-crop images that don't match the expected aspect ratio. Your subject can end up cut out of the frame in feed thumbnails.
- ✗Algorithm quality signals — platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn penalise low-resolution uploads in their ranking algorithms, reducing organic reach.
- ✗Slow mobile downloads — oversized images (e.g. a 6 MB camera photo where a 400 KB optimised file would do) increase load time, causing users to scroll past before the image even renders.
- ✓Correct dimensions = higher engagement — correctly sized images display sharper, load faster, and take up more screen real estate in the feed.
Instagram Image Sizes
Instagram supports several aspect ratios depending on the post type. Using the correct size prevents cropping in the feed grid and ensures your content fills the full screen on Stories and Reels.
| Format | Dimensions (px) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Feed Square | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Feed Portrait (recommended) | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Feed Landscape | 1080 × 566 | 1.91:1 |
| Stories & Reels | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Profile Photo | 320 × 320 | 1:1 |
Tip: Portrait (4:5) takes up the most vertical space in the feed, giving your post more visual real estate than square or landscape.
Facebook Image Sizes
Facebook displays images differently depending on whether they appear in the feed, on a profile, or as a cover photo. Getting each one right prevents embarrassing crops on your page.
| Format | Dimensions (px) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Feed Post / Shared Link | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
| Cover Photo | 820 × 312 | 2.63:1 |
| Profile Photo | 170 × 170 | 1:1 |
| Story | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
Tip: Facebook compresses images aggressively. Upload PNGs for graphics with text to avoid blurry compression artefacts.
Twitter/X Image Sizes
Twitter/X crops in-stream images to a 16:9 preview in the feed. The full image is shown when a user clicks. Designing for the 16:9 crop ensures your key visual content is always visible in the timeline.
| Format | Dimensions (px) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| In-stream Photo (recommended) | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 |
| Profile Photo | 400 × 400 | 1:1 |
| Header / Banner | 1500 × 500 | 3:1 |
LinkedIn Image Sizes
LinkedIn is a professional network where image quality directly affects how your brand is perceived. Use these sizes to ensure every touchpoint looks polished.
| Format | Dimensions (px) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Post / Shared Article | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 |
| Profile Photo | 400 × 400 | 1:1 |
| Cover / Background Photo | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 |
| Company Logo | 300 × 300 | 1:1 |
Tip: LinkedIn renders post images at roughly 552 × 289 px in the feed. Always design at 1200 × 627 and LinkedIn will display a crisp scaled-down version.
YouTube Image Sizes
YouTube thumbnails are arguably the most important image on any video — they directly determine click-through rate. YouTube channel art appears across devices at different resolutions, so design for the safe zone.
| Format | Dimensions (px) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thumbnail (most important) | 1280 × 720 | Max 2 MB, JPG/PNG/GIF/WebP |
| Channel Art / Banner | 2560 × 1440 | Safe zone: 1546 × 423 px |
| Channel Profile Photo | 800 × 800 | Displays as circle |
💡YouTube thumbnail tip
Studies consistently show that thumbnails featuring a human face with a clear emotion, bold contrasting text, and a subject cut out over a vivid background achieve the highest click-through rates. Use GenieTools background remover to cut yourself out, then drop the PNG into your thumbnail designer.
Pinterest & TikTok
Both Pinterest and TikTok are vertical-first platforms. Horizontal images perform significantly worse — always design in portrait orientation.
- Standard Pin1000 × 1500 px (2:3)
- Square Pin1000 × 1000 px (1:1)
- Infographic Pin1000 × 3000 px (1:3)
- Profile Photo165 × 165 px
Vertical Pins (2:3) receive the most impressions in the Pinterest feed.
TikTok
- Video Cover / Thumbnail1080 × 1920 px (9:16)
- Profile Photo20 × 20 px min (displays at 200 × 200)
- Ad Image1080 × 1920 px (9:16)
TikTok is a video platform, but cover images at 9:16 are essential for an attractive profile grid.
How to Resize Images Free (Step by Step)
The fastest way to resize any image to the exact dimensions you need is the GenieTools Image Resizer. It runs entirely in your browser — no upload to a server, no signup, no watermark. Here's how:
- 1
Open the GenieTools Image Resizer
Go to genietools.app/tools/image-resizer in any browser on desktop or mobile. No installation or account required.
- 2
Upload your image
Click the upload area or drag and drop your image onto it. JPG, PNG, WebP, and GIF are all supported. For best results, start with the highest resolution version you have.
- 3
Enter your target dimensions and download
Type the width and height from the cheat sheet above. Lock the aspect ratio if you want proportional scaling, or unlock it to force exact dimensions. Click Download to save your resized image instantly.
Pro Tips for Social Media Images
💡Always start from the highest resolution source
Scaling an image up from a small size adds blur. Always start with a high-res original (ideally from a camera or a design file) and scale down to the target size. You can never recover detail that isn't there.
💡Keep the aspect ratio locked unless you intend to crop
Unlocking the aspect ratio and entering mismatched dimensions stretches your image. Use locked scaling to resize proportionally, then crop the result if needed. This preserves faces, logos, and product shapes.
💡Save at 72 DPI for screen
Print images are typically 300 DPI, but screens display at 72–96 DPI. Saving screen images at 72 DPI produces smaller file sizes with no visible quality loss — faster load times on social.
💡Use PNG for graphics, JPEG for photos
Graphics with text, logos, or flat colors should be saved as PNG to avoid blurry JPEG compression. Photographs without text compress well as JPEG at 80–90% quality, keeping file sizes small.
💡Batch resize once, post everywhere
Create a template workflow: resize to the largest required dimension first (e.g. 1600 × 900 for Twitter/X), then downscale for other platforms. This way you only need one high-quality source per piece of content.
Related guide
How to Compress Images for the Web
Once your images are the right size, reduce file size without losing quality.
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