Maintained by Image Reshaper · Updated
How to Resize Images for Social Media
Aspect ratios and pixel dimensions for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest, plus a workflow that avoids distorted faces.
Aspect ratio matters more than pixel count
The most common social media image mistake is worrying about resolution while ignoring shape. Every platform crops uploads to fit fixed slots. If you hand Instagram a wide landscape photo for a square post, it will crop the sides off, and it will make that decision without consulting you. The subject you carefully framed can end up half out of shot.
Decide the aspect ratio first, crop deliberately to that shape so you control what survives, and only then worry about pixel dimensions. Getting this order right eliminates most bad social crops before they happen.
Dimensions by platform
These are the sizes that currently work well across the major networks. Platforms adjust their layouts periodically, so treat these as reliable defaults rather than permanent law, and check the official help pages if something looks wrong after upload.
| Platform and placement | Ratio | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square post | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 |
| Instagram portrait post | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 |
| Instagram story or reel | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 |
| Facebook feed image | 1.91:1 | 1200 × 630 |
| Facebook cover photo | ≈2.7:1 | 820 × 312 |
| X (Twitter) in-stream image | 16:9 | 1600 × 900 |
| LinkedIn shared post image | 1.91:1 | 1200 × 627 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 16:9 | 1280 × 720 |
| TikTok video cover | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 |
| Pinterest standard pin | 2:3 | 1000 × 1500 |
| Profile photo (most platforms) | 1:1 | 400 × 400 or larger |
Crop first, then resize
Cropping and resizing are different operations and people frequently conflate them. Cropping discards pixels outside a rectangle you choose, changing composition and shape. Resizing scales the entire image up or down, changing pixel dimensions while keeping everything in frame.
If a platform wants a square and your photo is 4000×3000, resizing alone to 1080×1080 will squash everyone in the picture horizontally. You need to crop to a square first, deciding what to lose, and then resize the square result down to 1080. The Image Cropper includes presets for the common ratios, and the Image Resizer handles the final scaling with aspect ratio locked.
- Pick the placement you are posting to and note its ratio from the table above.
- Open the Image Cropper, choose the matching ratio preset, and position the box so the subject sits where you want it.
- Check the edges. Faces near a border often get clipped by profile-photo circles, so leave margin.
- Resize the cropped result to the recommended pixel dimensions with aspect ratio locked.
- If the platform rejects the upload for size, compress the result rather than shrinking dimensions further.
Do not upload more pixels than needed
Uploading a 6000-pixel camera original does not produce a sharper post. Every platform re-encodes and downscales what you send, using its own compression settings that you have no control over. Handing it an enormous file simply means the platform's compressor makes more aggressive decisions, and the result is often worse than if you had exported a correctly sized image yourself.
Resizing to roughly the recommended dimensions before upload gives you control over the downscale, which is the step that most affects perceived sharpness. It also uploads faster on mobile data.
File size and format for social
Use JPG for photographs, which is what every platform expects and optimises for. Use PNG when the image contains text overlays, a logo, or flat graphics, because lossy compression smears small lettering. WebP is increasingly accepted but support varies by platform and by upload path, so JPG remains the safer default for photos.
If an upload is rejected for being too large, run it through the Image Compressor rather than reducing dimensions below the recommended size. Dropping from 1080 to 600 pixels to save bytes will look noticeably soft on a modern phone screen, whereas moderate compression at full size usually will not.