Why is it important to use the right image sizes on social networks?

Using the right size of images on Facebook as well as Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and all other social networks is important. Each platform has its own codes and respecting them allows you to take up all the space reserved for you when you post.

Having the right format prevents your content from being too small or incorrectly sized, which can pixelate or distort your image. The wrong size can also cause the image to be cut off, which means that your content may not be visible in its entirety.
Poorly shared content has a negative impact on your visual identity. In fact, it is simply a matter of spreading a professional and attractive image of your company.

As there are frequent changes to image sizes on Facebook and other social networks, we will be updating this article regularly throughout 2023. If there are any changes we haven't made here yet, please let us know!

The size of images on Facebook in 2023

The social network FacebookThe largest network in terms of number of subscribers is an ideal platform for sharing professional content through a page dedicated to your business.
Even though Facebook's heyday may be over, it is still a social network that is consumed in a different way by users than Instagram, for example.

The size of images on Facebook that are recommended have tend to change regularlyt, we must therefore remain vigilant.

Facebook profile picture size

Let's start at the very beginning with the Facebook profile picture. Since 2022, it has been displayed in a round shape on your profile, but you can add your image in a square format. On computers, Facebook uses a size of 180 x 180 pixels and on smartphones a size of 140 x 140 pixels.

However, in order to achieve the best possible quality, we recommend that you add a profile picture size 360 x 360 pixels.

Size of Facebook cover photo

Facebook recommends that the cover photo be at least 400 pixels wide by 150 pixels high. To avoid distortion or compression of your cover photo, it is recommended that you upload an image of less than 100 KB in JPEG format. On computers, Facebook uses a size of 820 x 312 px for the cover photo and on smartphones a size of 640 x 360 px.

We recommend that for best quality cover photos, you upload a photo size: 820 x 312 px while keeping the file size not too high.

Attention:

• The dimensions above are for a Facebook page, for your private account include a photo of 851 x 310 pixels and for events and groups, see the formats below.
  
• Also consider that the responsive of Facebook is very limited and make sure your cover photo looks good on computers, tablets and smartphones.

Facebook News Feed: image size

There is some disagreement about publications. Historically, Facebook has tended to use rectangular images, but this is changing to a square format.
Therefore, you can use the 1200 x 630 pixel format (which finally appears on the news feed at 487 x 255 pixels) or the square format at 1200 x 1200 pixels.

For a better visibility of your publications, we recommend that you share image size: 1200 x 1200 px (which could also be used on Instagram).

Size of event images on Facebook

For your Facebook groups, the dimensions are slightly different. Facebook displays an image of 500 x 262 pixels.
We recommend that you add a image size: 1200 x 628 pixels. Also, as this is a fairly common format on the social network, you can potentially recover an image that has already been shared.

Facebook group image size

For your Facebook groups, the dimensions are slightly different from other cover photos. Facebook could have made this simple, but as you can see, this is not really the case.

We recommend that for the best quality of your group cover photo you add an image size: 1640 x 856 pixels.

Facebook image size for shared links

When you post an external link to the Facebook News Feed, the thumbnail (image) that accompanies the link is of the size 1200 x 630 pixels.

Image size for a story on Facebook

A popular format used by all social networks, stories should present images or videos in the format: 1080 × 1920 pixels to take up the entire screen.

Image size of the carousel ad on Facebook

A Facebook Ads visual must have a minimum resolution of 600 x 600 pixels. Since this is an advertisement and the quality of the content is a real incentive to buy, we strongly recommend that you use a 1080 x 1080 pixel format or 1:1 ratio. The size of the image used may not exceed 30 MB and for a video in the Facebook Carousel, it cannot be larger than 4 GB.

For your information, other ratios are also required for Facebook Ads such as the 1.91:1 ratio or the 9:16 ratio. These ratios depend on the location of your ads:

• News feed and In-stream videos: 1:1 ratio
• Stories and real: Ratio 1.91:1
• Research results and articles: 9:16 ratio

Image size on LinkedIn

Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn is much more flexible about the size and formats of the images used. LinkedIn is not yet up to speed on adapting images such as cover photos, so check your content carefully, especially if you are adding text and a logo to your cover photo so that it is visible on both smartphones and computers/tablets. We recommend that you centre your text content as much as possible.

Take the opportunity to subscribe to our LinkedIn page: Lead Agency
and join my personal community on my private account : Pierre van Steenberghe.

Image dimensions for the LinkedIn account

LinkedIn uses 400 x 400 pixel images on its platform but that doesn't mean you can't go larger than that.

We obviously recommend that you are in perfectly square size but you can use a format that will up to 8MB to enhance the rendering.

The cover photo of your personal LinkedIn account is 1548 x 396 pixels, but as for the profile photo, you can use an image with a maximum weight of 8MB.

Image dimensions for a LinkedIn page

As far as the LinkedIn professional page is concerned, the dimensions are only not the same as on your private account.

For a profile photo of your company, this is 300 x 300 pixels and the cover photo is 1125 x 191 pixels.

The two types of images below and their sizes are similar and respect a ratio of 1.91:1 whether you publish this through your private account or through your LinkedIn page:

• External links shared on LinkedIn have a recommended thumbnail size of 1200 x 627 pixels
  
• The size of images published in a blog post on LinkedIn must be 1200 x 627 pixels

Image size on Instagram and video formats

InstagramThis is the social network of choice for young (and not so young) people and quality content. If there is one social network where you have to be particularly careful about the content you publish, it is this one. You have several possibilities of publication formats on Instagram even if, as you can see below, we recommend eliminating one of the formats which, from experience, does not work well in terms of visuals on this platform. So, respect the size of the images on Instagram, take care of your content, use the right hashtags,... and that will already be a good start!

There are also different techniques allowing you to show certain elements of your publications on the news feed and hide them on your feed (personal "wall") as on our Lead Agency account.

Follow our account Instagram Lead Agency to find our many tips in short format.

Instagram profile picture size

Your profile picture on your Instagram account should be square and displayed at 110 × 110 pixels, but we recommend that you add a image size: 320 x 320 pixels.

Be careful: the image of your profile picture is round, so remember to centre the elements and leave space so that your logo (for example) is not cut off.

Size for different photo formats on Instagram (feed)

It is possible to use different image formats and videos on the Instagram news feed: landscape, square and portrait.

For each of these formats, it is highly recommended to respect the width of 1080 pixels to obtain a better quality rendering.

• Instagram landscape format: 1080 x 566 pixels
• Instagram square format: 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Instagram portrait format: 1080 x 1350 pixels

We recommend that you do not not use (if possible) landscape format on Instagram, which takes up considerably less space on the news feed and therefore gives you less visibility.

Size for Instagram stories

For Instagram stories, it is recommended to use the image size 1080 x 1920 pixels and therefore use a 9:16 ratio.

You should use the same format for classic stories as for advertising stories.

Size for highlight thumbnails on Instagram

Want to highlight and keep stories visible for longer than 24 hours?
Then you can put them in "front page stories" and sort them according to the topics you want.

Each topic can then have a thumbnail that appears at the top of your profile in 161 x 161 pixel format, which we recommend you import to format of 1080 x 1080 pixels.

Image size on YouTube

How to make your images fit on Youtube ? Well, we have to be honest, this is not the social network with the most. Pay attention to your profile picture and cover picture as well as the format of your video thumbnails and it will be good!

YouTube profile picture size

The Youtube profile picture is rather small as it is 98 x 98 pixels but we recommend you to integrate a Youtube profile picture of the size of 800 x 800 pixels with a maximum weight of 6MB. Also make sure that important elements such as your logo are well centred.

Most image types are accepted except for Gif's.

Size of YouTube cover photo

The Youtube cover photo should have a 16:9 aspect ratio and preferably minimum 2048 x 1152 pixels with an image weight of maximum 6MB.

Please note: the cover photo should be the same size as a smartphone, a tablet, a computer but also a TV set. Take into account the rendering by integrating your photo and adapt your Youtube cover photo if necessary

YouTube video size

For Youtube videos, the size is quite simple, you must respect the 16:9 ratio with a size of 1280 x 720 pixels to meet the standards of the High Definition.

We also recommend that the videos that are intended for sale respect a larger format than traditional videos: 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Image size on Twitter

You use or intend to use Twitter to publish content? Here are some image formats for you to consider create an attractive profile and in accordance with the rules of the platform.

Twitter profile picture size

The minimum size for a profile picture on Twitter is 200 x 200 pixels but we recommend adding a 400 x 400 pixel image with a weight of maximum 2MB.

Size of Twitter cover photo

For the Twitter cover photo, it is recommended to use a 1500 x 500 pixel format.
Please note that your Twitter cover photo will appear differently depending on the device you are using.