The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Image Sizes [2021 Edition]

By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on February 5th, 2023 10:21 am | 6-min read

Living without social media in 2021 is nigh impossible. The average urban dweller spends nearly 3 hours a day on social media. Businesses and influencers are scrambling over to social media platforms trying to make an impact.

Unlike the usual social media scroller, businesses and influencers must be more careful about how they present themselves on social media. Social media are usually visual mediums where images play a huge role in successful a business/influencer.

One underrated aspect of social media graphics is the importance of image size. Using the proper image size for social media is a gray area for most influencers and businesses. So many businesses ignore the recommended sizes for various kinds of images on social media.

As a business or influencer, it becomes important for you to remember and use these sizes for reference while creating your graphics. Keeping a track of these image sizes is necessary for businesses and influencers as it can make or break your social media profile!

Using the right image sizes brings consistency and streamlines your graphic design process. Knowing the right social media image sizes ensures that your social channels are maintained with utmost care. According to marketers, social media can provide significant returns for a business. Here are some statistics to prove it.

Since social media can provide significant returns for your investments, it is imperative that you use the proper sizes/resolutions for images and various other graphics. Your social media accounts should look professional and well-done to attract the necessary attention.

Keeping that in mind, we have created a guide to social media image sizes for you.

This mini-guide covers the most popular social media website for businesses. Let us jump right into them!

Facebook

We start off this list with the pallbearer of social media – Facebook. Facebook has come a long way from what it used to be. While originally a “wall” to share photos and thoughts through text posts, Facebook has evolved further. Most visual content posted on Facebook is in the form of posts, banners, and profile images.

Here are some of the size recommendations for various visuals that are a part of Facebook:

Facebook Posts

We begin with Facebook posts. These images are visible to viewers on the timeline page.

Minimum display size(to avoid blurring):600*315 px
Recommended image size: 1200*635 px
Aspect Ratio: 1.9:1

If you’re making carousel images for your business purposes, the recommended sizes change to:

Recommended image size: 1200*1200 px
Aspect Ratio: 1:1

Facebook Page Images

These images encompass all visual media that you have posted on your Facebook page.

Profile Photo:

The profile photo of your business/influencer Facebook page has the following sizes:

Recommended image size: 170*170 px(for computers), 128*128 px(for smartphones)

Choose a pixel size based on where your clients find you most. Your analytics should help figure that out!

Cover Photo:

For the cover photo of your Facebook page, here are the sizes:

Recommended image size: 820*312 px(for computers), 640*360 px(for smartphones)
Minimum image size: 400*150 px
Preferable File Size(storage size of the image): 100kb

Facebook Stories

You can upload photos to the Facebook stories section too.

Recommended image size: 1080*1920 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 9*16

Facebook Ads

These are the various image sizes for Facebook ads. Most advertising on Facebook has a similar size requirement.

Recommended image size: 1080*1080 px
Max file size: 30 MB
Recommended Aspect Ratio: 1.9:1 to 1:1

Note: Advertising on Facebook stories has an aspect ratio of 9:16 to fit smartphone screens.

Other Facebook Images

Panorama Photos:

These are special images that you can upload to your Facebook account:

Size range: More than 30000 pixels in any direction but less than 135,000 px in size

Event Cover Photos:

These are special cover photos that you can add for your events.

Recommended image size: 1200*628 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 2*1

Instagram

Instagram is currently the most popular social media app. Used by billions of people every day, it is one of the most sought after social media platforms for businesses. It is also the melting pot for the influencer and influencer marketing culture. Instagram is all about images and maintaining proper image quality and image size is extremely important.

Instagram Profile and Feed

We start off with the profile and feed for Instagram.

Profile Photo:

The profile photo for Instagram has the following sizes:

Recommended image size: 320*320 px

Instagram Feed:

The images that your followers will see whilst scrolling through their feed have the following sizes:

Recommended image size: width of 1080 px, height between 566-1350 px
Landscape images: 1080*566px
Portrait images: 1080*1350px
Square images: 1080*1080px

Supported aspect ratios: 1.9:1 or 4:5

Thumbnail sizes:

These are the images shown when a visitor opens your profile:

Recommended image size: 161*161

Note: Instagram saves these images with a width of 1080 px. It is recommended that they are the same size as your feed uploads to ensure it shrinks properly to 161*161.

Instagram Stories and IGTV

Instagram stories are important for a business’s online marketing. IGTV also shares the same sizes as Instagram stories. Here are the recommended image sizes for Instagram stories:

Recommended image size: 1080*1920 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 9:16

Instagram Ads

Instagram provides advertising opportunities through the feed and stories. Both types of ads share the same sizes as general posts and stories.

Youtube

YouTube may be a video-based social media that has a significant amount of graphical content within it. Here are the images and the various sizes for the images that need to be included within them.

Youtube Profile Photo:

The profile photo is the image that appears next to the name of your youtube channel. Here are its recommended sizes:

Recommended image size: 800*800 px

Youtube Banner Image:

This is the image that users see as the cover photo when they open your YouTube channel. You can create Youtube banner images with Appy Pie Design’s Banner Maker. Banner maker will give you complete control to create an excellent banner design

Recommended image size: 2048*1152 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9
Maximum file size: 6MB

Youtube Video Thumbnail:

Video thumbnails are extremely important for a successful youtube video and gaining people’s attention. You must ensure that the thumbnails of your YouTube videos are perfectly made with the right resolution.

Recommended image size: 1280*720 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the second biggest social media for businesses after Facebook. On top of that, it is one of the most important marketing channels for B2B businesses. It is also the best platform for business influencers and marketers. It is important to remember and use LinkedIn’s social media image sizes correctly.

LinkedIn Profile

The LinkedIn profile page is single-handedly the most important social media page for a business/ business influencer.

Profile Picture:

The profile picture for your LinkedIn profile should be the logo of your business. Here are the sizes that work. If you don’t already have a logo for a business, you can create a logo with Appy Pie’s Logo Maker.

Recommended image size: 400*400 (for individuals) 300*300 (for logos)
Maximum file size: 8MB

Banner/Cover Image:

Banner images are akin to Facebook’s cover photos. If you want to learn how to create one, you can check our blog on How to Create Amazing LinkedIn Banners. Here are the recommended social media image sizes for LinkedIn banners:

Recommended image size: 1128*191 px

LinkedIn Life Tab

LinkedIn Life tab is exclusive to LinkedIn Premium and allows businesses to create LinkedIn landing pages to attract and recruit talent for their brand. Here are the recommended image sizes for the LinkedIn Life tab.

Recommended image size (main image): 1128*376 px
Recommended image size (custom modules): 502*282 px
Recommended image size (company photos): 900* 600 px

LinkedIn Posts & Stories

Posts:

Recommended sizes for images are as follows:

Recommended image size(blog post link): 1200*627 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 1.91:1

Stories:

Recommended size: 1080*1920 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 9:16

LinkedIn Ads

Spotlight ads:

Spotlight ads for LinkedIn have both your company logo and a background image. Here are its recommended sizes:

Recommended logo size: 100*100 px
Recommended background image size: 300*250 px

Sponsored Content:

Sponsored can either be shown as normal posts or as carousels on LinkedIn. Here are its sizes:

Recommended post images: 1200*627 px
Recommended carousel images: 1080*1080 px

Twitter

Twitter images consistently get more click-throughs, likes, and engagement. It is necessary to create great graphics for your Twitter account.

Twitter Profile

Profile Photo:

This is a good place to put your business logo. Twitter profile photo has the following size:

Minimum image size: 200*200
Maximum image size: 400*400
Maximum File size: 2MB

Header Image:

The header image is the Twitter equivalent of a cover photo.

Recommended image size: 1500*500 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 3:1

Twitter Feed

In-stream photos:

These photos are the ones you can post. Here are its recommended sizes:

Recommended image size: 1024*512 px
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9
Maximum image size: 5MB for mobile, 15MB for web

Card Images:

These images are the ones that are displayed for tweets with a URL. Twitter can automatically crawl your webpage and find an appropriate image for the same.

Recommended image size: 120*120 px

Twitter Ads

Single/Multi Image Tweets: Recommended size is 600*335 px
Website Card: 800*418 px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio
Carousels/ Direct Message/ Conversation Cards: 800*418 px with 1.91:1 aspect ratio

Conclusion

That was your guide to social media image sizes for 2021. Social media images will continue to increase in importance with time. This image size guide will help you ensure that your business always stays on the top of its game.

If you are looking for a social media image creator, try out Appy Pie Design, a one-of-a-kind graphic design software that lets you create just about any type of image.