You spend twenty minutes designing the perfect graphic, post it, and the platform chops off the top of someone's head. Or your cover photo looks sharp on desktop and blurry on your phone. Almost always, the cause is the same: the image wasn't the size the platform expected.
Here's a no-nonsense cheat sheet of the sizes that work, platform by platform, followed by a few habits that stop things getting cropped.
Quick reference table
| Platform | Image type | Size (pixels) | Aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 | |
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 | |
| Story / Reel | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | |
| Feed post / link image | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 | |
| Cover photo | 851 × 315 | ~2.7:1 | |
| X (Twitter) | Post image | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 |
| X (Twitter) | Header | 1500 × 500 | 3:1 |
| Post image | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 | |
| Profile banner | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 | |
| YouTube | Thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| YouTube | Channel banner | 2560 × 1440 | 16:9 |
| TikTok | Video / photo | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Standard pin | 1000 × 1500 | 2:3 | |
| All platforms | Profile photo | 400 × 400 | 1:1 |
Use portrait (1080 × 1350) for feed posts. It takes up more of the screen as people scroll than a square post does, which usually means more attention. Instagram's profile grid also shows rectangular previews now, so a portrait image crops far less on your profile than a wide one.
Stories and Reels are full-screen vertical at 1080 × 1920. Keep text and faces out of roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels — that's where the profile name, caption and reply bar sit.
For feed images and link previews, 1200 × 630 is the safe standard. It's also the size used by Open Graph images — the preview that appears when someone shares your web page.
The cover photo is the tricky one: it displays at 851 × 315 on desktop but is cropped more tightly on mobile. Keep your logo and any text near the centre.
X (Twitter)
A 16:9 image at 1600 × 900 displays fully in the timeline without cropping. The profile header is 1500 × 500, but your profile photo overlaps the bottom-left corner, so don't put anything important there.
Post images work best at 1200 × 627. Your personal profile banner is a very wide 1584 × 396; on mobile, your profile photo covers a large chunk of the left side, so place key content to the right or centre.
YouTube
Thumbnails: 1280 × 720, under 2 MB. This is arguably the most important image on the list — it's the main thing people see before deciding to click. Use large, readable text (three to five words at most) and a clear face or subject.
The channel banner is uploaded at 2560 × 1440, but only the centre 1546 × 423 is guaranteed to show on every device. Keep your channel name and logo inside that safe area.
TikTok
Everything is vertical at 1080 × 1920. Like Instagram Stories, the bottom and right edges are covered by captions and buttons, so keep important visuals in the middle.
Pinterest favours tall images. 1000 × 1500 (2:3) is the recommended ratio for standard pins. Much longer pins may get cut off in the feed.
Five habits that prevent cropping disasters
- Design for the safe zone. Keep text, logos and faces towards the centre of every image. Edges are where platforms crop and overlay buttons.
- Start bigger, not smaller. Scaling an image down keeps it sharp. Scaling a small image up makes it blurry.
- Choose the right format. Use JPG for photos and PNG for graphics with text or logos — PNG keeps text edges crisp.
- Keep file sizes reasonable. Platforms compress uploads anyway. Compressing sensibly first gives you more control over the final quality.
- Preview on your phone. Most people will see your post on mobile, so check it there before you call it done.
Resize images in seconds
Instead of setting up a new canvas for every platform, upload your photo to the free Social Media Image Resizer. Pick a preset — Instagram portrait, YouTube thumbnail, LinkedIn banner and more — then choose:
- Fill to crop the image so it covers the whole frame, or
- Fit to keep the entire image visible on a background colour of your choice.
Download it as a JPG or PNG. Everything happens in your browser, so your photos aren't uploaded anywhere.
A few more tools that pair well with it:
- Image Compressor — shrink file size without visible quality loss
- Background Remover — cut out a product or portrait for clean graphics
- Color Palette Extractor — pull matching brand colours from any photo
Platforms change their layouts from time to time. These sizes reflect common recommendations at the time of writing and are safe, high-quality choices for uploads.