Social media.

It’s pretty pervasive.

No matter where you look, someone is on their phone checking on their social media — updating friends, posting photos, or shopping via links businesses share.

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur and your business doesn’t have a social media presence, then it’s time to create one. Considering social media is one of the most cost-effective forms of digital marketing, you really don’t have anything to lose.

Just as with websites, people want to visit good-looking social media profiles, and that’s where this guide comes in handy.

Social Media Image Sizes

In our social media image size guide, we’ll be covering what you need to create to run ads on some of the biggest and most popular platforms.

Keep in mind that your business doesn’t need to be on each and every existing social media site. You only need to have a presence where your audience and customers are. It may take some trial and error to narrow down what platforms they’re on, but it’s worth the effort.

Facebook Social Media Image Sizes

Facebook is frequently updating its algorithms and making changes to its platforms. Often times this means tweaks to the way personal and business pages are displayed.

Facebook Cover Photo

• Your Facebook cover photo is only going to appear on your page. It won’t be seen throughout Facebook or in other locations.
• It will display differently on a desktop than it will on a smartphone as Facebook crops cover photos to best fit the devices they’re displayed on.
  • Due to this cropping, keep the focus of your cover photo towards the center of your cover image. Any important details or designs along the borders could risk getting cropped and not displaying on certain devices.
• 820 x 360 pixels (Facebook recommends 851 x 315 pixels but that’s the absolute minimum you should use. Any less and your photos risk looking distorted.)
• Cover photos should maintain a 16:9 proportion.

Facebook Event Cover Photo

• Will your business be creating events on Facebook? If so, make sure your event cover photos are sized at 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Facebook Profile Photo

• Your page’s profile photo displays at 170 x 170 pixels on desktop, 128 x 128 pixels on smartphones, and even smaller on feature phones.
• Your profile photo will appear cropped into a circle.
• We use a 400 x 400 pixel image for our profile photo and recommend you do the same.
• Instead of uploading a JPG try uploading a PNG for your photo. This ensures a better quality photo that won’t look pixelated or stretched.

Facebook Photos Shared in Posts

• Facebook posts with images get a 37% engagement rate on average whereas posts with only text receive about 27%.
• Sharing a link with a photo? That image should be 1200 x 630 pixels. (This size is also perfect for Twitter and LinkedIn!)

Facebook Stories

• Facebook Stories take up the entire display on mobile devices.
• Images should be maintain a 16×9 ratio.
• Images should be optimized for Stories at 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Twitter Social Media Image Sizes

Twitter updated most of its image sizes in 2017 and changed the aspect ratio of its header image (similar to Facebook’s cover photo, it’s the image at the top of your profile) in 2019.

Twitter Header Image Size

• Twitter recommends uploading a header image at 1500 x 500 pixels. 
• Uploading a vector-based or line art image? Use a GIF or PNG file.
• Uploading a photo? Use a JPG or PNG file (although we recommend always using PNG.)
• Although Twitter says that your header image will be cropped into a 2×1 aspect ratio on mobile devices, that no longer seems to be the case as of summer 2019. Now, images still display at a 3:1 ratio whether on mobile or desktop.

Twitter Profile Photo

• Your profile picture should be 400 x 400 pixels and it may be resized to fit.
• Profile photos display in a circular shape, so make sure to center your image on a larger background if you’re afraid of important details getting cropped out.

Twitter Images Shared in Posts

• When sharing posts or links with a single image or GIF, Twitter recommends that they are a minimum of 600 x 355 pixels. However, if you want your image to be optimized when people click on it for a larger view, and still look good in your feed, we recommend 1200 x 630 pixels.

Twitter Advertising Creative Specifications

• You can create and share a variety of types of tweets if you’re doing paid advertisements on Twitter.
• Here’s a link to their creative specifications page for advertisers so you can see your options and find the correct dimensions and specs for your images, GIFs, and videos.

Instagram Social Media Image Sizes

Instagram is a visual platform that’s great for connecting with your customers and followers. It was created as a photo-sharing app and was purchased by Facebook in 2012.

Instagram Profile Image Size

• Profile images on Instagram display at small sizes.
  • On desktop, they display at 152 pixels.
  • On mobile, they display at 110 pixels.
• We recommend uploading a larger image of 400 x 400 pixels to avoid any issues with quality and so you can ensure nothing important gets cropped out of your photo.

Instagram Shared Photo Size

• Instagram images aren’t restricted to squares anymore, but keep in mind that they will be cropped into squares when shown on your profile.
• Square images should have a 1:1 aspect ratio and be uploaded at 1080 x 1080 pixels.
• For horizontal, or landscape images, upload photos at 1080 x 566 pixels.
• For vertical, or portrait images, upload photos at 1080 x 1350 pixels.

Instagram Stories Photo Size

• Images and photos uploaded to your story should be 1080 x 1920 pixels.
• People using phones with larger mobile displays may see cropped images, in which case, try uploading them at 1080 x 2340 pixels.

Pinterest Social Media Image Sizes

Pinterest is an image based social media platform. It inspires people to try new things and get creative with their ideas. Many businesses see good results from sharing their products and services on Pinterest, and by using it to connect with their audience and customers.

Pinterest Profile Image Size

• Your Pinterest profile photo displays at 180 x 180 pixels. You can do that or go a little larger, like 400 x 400 pixels, to make sure it’s good quality and doesn’t get overly cropped.

Pinterest Board Cover Image Size

• Unlike most pins, board cover images are square. They should be at least 340 x 340 pixels, but we recommend going larger at 600 x 600 pixels.

Pinterest Shared Pins Image Size

• Pinterest recommends creating pins using images in one of three sizes:
  • 600 x 600 pixels, 1:1 aspect ratio.
  • 600 x 900 pixels, 1:1.5 aspect ratio (according to Pinterest, this is the optimal size.)
  • 600 x 1250 pixels, 1:2.1 aspect ratio.
• When someone clicks on your pin it’ll display no wider than 564 pixels.

Pinterest Profile Cover Image Size

• Some business profiles can now edit their Pinterest profile covers.
  • This feature hasn’t rolled out to everyone yet, but keep your eyes peeled for future updates.
• Cover images should fit the 16:9 aspect ratio, or 1920 x 1080 pixels.

LinkedIn Social Media Image Sizes

Once upon a time, businesses primarily used LinkedIn as an HR and recruiting tool. Nowadays, the platform has grown into so much more. You can use LinkedIn to build your personal and business brands, create and raise awareness, and leverage the power of your connections.

LinkedIn Personal Profile Image Size

• LinkedIn recommends uploading an image between 400 x 400 pixels and 7680 x 4320 pixels.
• Images cannot be greater than 8MB.
• You can adjust your photo after it’s been uploaded.

LinkedIn Personal Profile Background Image Size

• Background photos appear behind your profile photo. Don’t put any important details or design elements in the bottom left corner of your image as they’ll likely be covered by your profile picture.
• Recommended size is 1584 x 396 pixels.
• Files can’t be larger than 8 MB.

LinkedIn Company Page Logo Image Size

• If you’re uploading your logo to your business page, make sure it’s sized at 300 x 300 pixels.

LinkedIn Company Page Cover Image Size

• The minimum size that LinkedIn allows for a page’s cover photo is 1192 x 220 pixels, although they recommend uploading an image at 1536 x 768 pixels.

LinkedIn Shared Image Size

• If you’re only sharing an image(s) to your personal or company page, make sure it’s sized at 1104 x 736 pixels.

LinkedIn Shared Image with Link Size

• If you’re sharing a link with an attached image, then upload the image(s) at 1200 x 628 pixels.

Snapchat Social Media Image Sizes

Is a younger demographic part of your target audience? Hootsuite reports that as of 2018, around 71% of Snapchat users were under 34 years old. With around 188 million daily active users, Snapchat (rebranded as Snap in 2016) could be the perfect social media platform for you.

You’ll need to create a Business Account only if you plan on using Snap’s advertising features.

Snapchat Profile Image Size

• Unlike other social media platforms, Snapchat doesn’t allow you to upload your own profile picture. In the past you could upload a GIF, but now you must use Bitmoji.

Snapchat Shared Image Size

• Images shared on Snapchat should be 1080 x 1920 pixels.

YouTube Social Media Image Sizes

If you plan on doing any sort of video marketing for your business or side hustle, then YouTube is the place to be. 2 billion people across the globe use and log into YouTube on a monthly basis, and it’s the most popular social media platform in the United States. In fact, 73% of U.S. based adults use YouTube.

YouTube Channel Profile Image Size

• Although your channel’s profile picture only displays at 98 x 98 pixels, it should be uploaded much larger. We recommend using an 800 x 800 pixel image.
• Profile images display as circles, so the larger image means important details are less likely to be cropped out.
• You can upload JPG, GIF, BMP, or PNG files.

YouTube Channel Cover Image Size

• Since people can access YouTube from so many different devices it’s important that your photo be optimized to display as nicely as possible.
• The largest your cover image can display is on a desktop at 2560 x 423 pixels. However, the smallest it displays is on a mobile device at 1546 x 423 pixels. Keep the focus of your image within the 1546 x 423 pixel area so it isn’t cropped out on mobile devices. This is the “safe zone.”

YouTube Video Uploads Size

• Videos need to maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio when uploaded to YouTube.
• For your video to be considered HD it needs to be at least 1280 x 720 pixels.

Create and Optimize Your Business Social Media Profiles

Your audience is on social media, are you ready to find and connect with them?

When creating your social media profiles, try to keep your usernames the same or as close to your domain name as possible. This helps carry your branding and name recognition from your website to the rest of your digital presence.

We hope this guide for 2020 social media image sizes helps you optimize your social media profiles so your business is represented in the best light possible.

Are there any social media platforms that weren’t included in this list that you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments!