Social media has become the norm for participation by individuals, community groups, nonprofits, and businesses. Each platform identifies users through profile and cover images. While all platforms house images in albums or with posts, they have their own parameters and size requirements.ย
Image Sizing By Social Media Platform
Each social media platform has its own format, specializes in certain kinds of content, and appeals to select target audiences. The pixel sizes to be mostly concerned with are for profile and cover, background and header images. Hereโs an image-size guide that runs down the list of the top six social media platforms.ย
1. Facebookย ย ย
Facebook is the king of social media, boasting over a billion active users from all age groups and walks of life. If youโre only going to use one platform, this one has the most reach overall. Originally accessed almost exclusively via desktops, it is now primarily viewed from mobile devices. The app uses the same sizes for both personal accounts and business pages.
Profile photos: 180 x 180ย pixels, JPG and PNG files
Desktop Cover photos: 820 x 312 pixels; at least 400 x 150 pixels.
Smartphone/tablet cover photos: 640 x 360 pixels
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2. Twitterย ย
Posts are only 280 characters and are used for quick comments and link sharing. They are viewed mostly on phones, though they are completely functional from desktop.
Profile photos: 400 x 400 pixels (square recommended)
Header photos: 1,500 x 500 pixels โ at least 400 x 150 pixelsย
3. Instagram
Owned by Facebook, with over 600 million active users, Instagram emphasizes image sharing. Posts are viewed mostly on phones and users cannot add photos from a desktop.
Profile images: 1080 x 1080 pixels – will appear on profile at 110 x 110 pixels
Stories images: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Feed Photos:
Square: 1:1, 1080 x 1080 pixels
Landscape: 1.91:1, 1080 x 608 pixels
Portrait: 4:5, 1080 x 1350 pixels
(Instagram still scales these photos down to 612 x 612 pixels.)
4. LinkedIn
The worldโs largest professional network with almost 500 million active users.
Profile images: 400 x 400 pixels or larger
Personal Background images: 1584 x 396 pixels
Company Logo: 300 x 300 pixels
Company Cover images: 1536 x 768 pixels
5. YouTube
YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month, making it the second-largest search engine! While watching videos occurs often from mobile devices, most editing and uploading still happens from desktop.
Channel profile images: 800 x 800 pixels, JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG files
Channel cover photos: 2560 x 1440 pixels
Video uploads: 1280 x 720 pixels HDย ย
6. Pinterest
Since content is primarily comprised of outside links to external sites, images often originate from other sites and are resized automatically. The main board sizes are the same as the Pin sizes.
Profile images: 165 x 165 pixels
Pin sizes:ย 2:3 aspect ratio recommended, between 600 & 735 pixels wide
Best Size for Cross-Platform Posts
Square (1:1 aspect ratio) photos of 1200 pixels are ideal for Facebook and Instagram posts. You can also post square photos to LinkedIn and Twitter, but keep in mind that these platforms display images in landscape format so the top and bottom of your photo may get hidden until a user clicks on your photo. Squares can also be posted on Pinterest.
As with everything you publish to social media, make sure to preview it before posting.
At first glance, this might seem overwhelming, but never fear! We are ready and able to help you make sense of and benefit from all social media platforms that fit your business. Contact us to set up a consultation!
