Published June 2026 · Practical dimensions for posts, banners, covers, thumbnails, and link previews.
Social platforms crop images differently across desktop, mobile, feeds, profiles, and previews. The safest workflow is to design at the recommended canvas size, keep important text and faces away from the edges, then compress the final export before uploading.
| Use case | Practical size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open Graph / link preview | 1200 x 630 | Best general-purpose preview image for websites and sharing. |
| Instagram square post | 1080 x 1080 | Simple and reliable for feed posts. |
| Instagram portrait post | 1080 x 1350 | Uses more feed space while staying within common 4:5 layout. |
| Instagram Story / Reel cover | 1080 x 1920 | Keep text away from top and bottom UI areas. |
| LinkedIn profile banner | 1584 x 396 | Keep key content centered; profile photo can overlap on the left. |
| Facebook Page cover | 851 x 315 | Use an sRGB JPG for fastest loading; desktop and mobile crop differently, so center important content. |
| X/Twitter header | 1500 x 500 | Wide banner; avoid placing text near the profile avatar area. |
| YouTube-style thumbnail | 1280 x 720 | 16:9 format; large text and high contrast help scanning. |
Many platforms display the same upload in several different containers. A profile banner can be cropped on mobile. A link preview may be shown as a wide card in one app and a smaller thumbnail in another. Because of that, the center safe area is more important than filling every edge with important content.
For social uploads, JPEG is widely accepted and usually safe for photographs. PNG is useful for sharp graphics and transparent assets, but it can become large. WebP is excellent for websites, but some upload forms still prefer JPEG or PNG. When a platform recompresses your image, starting with a clean, correctly sized file usually looks better than uploading a huge file and letting the platform guess.