2026 Social Media Image Size Cheat Sheet
Every platform enforces specific image dimensions. Upload at the wrong size and the platform will either crop your image (cutting off important content), downscale it (adding softness), or letterbox it (adding ugly bars). The table below lists the exact pixel dimensions you should use for each platform and placement in 2026.
| Platform | Placement | Dimensions (px) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed — portrait | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 | |
| Feed — square | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 | |
| Feed — landscape | 1080 × 566 | 1.91:1 | |
| Stories / Reels cover | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 | |
| Shared image / feed | 1200 × 628 | 1.91:1 | |
| Feed — square/portrait | 1080 × 1080 / 1080 × 1350 | 1:1 / 4:5 | |
| Cover photo | 1640 × 924 | ~16:9 | |
| Twitter / X | In-stream image | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 |
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 | |
| Shared image | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 | |
| Standard pin | 1000 × 1500 | 2:3 | |
| YouTube | Thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| TikTok | Photo post / cover | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
Pro tip: Instagram portrait (4:5) takes up the most screen space in the feed, which means higher engagement. If you can only prepare one size, start with 1080 × 1350 — it works as a portrait post on Instagram, Facebook, and can be cropped to square for other platforms.
Format Recommendations by Platform
Social platforms accept both JPG and PNG uploads, but the format you choose affects upload speed, initial quality, and how the platform's compression pipeline processes your image. Here is the practical guidance:
JPG for photographs
Photographs — product shots, landscapes, portraits, food photography — should be uploaded as JPG at quality 85–90. JPG files are dramatically smaller than PNG for photographic content (typically 5–10x), which means faster uploads and less data for the platform to re-process. Since every platform re-compresses your upload anyway, starting from a well-optimized JPG gives the algorithm the cleanest input without wasting bandwidth on data that will be discarded.
PNG for graphics and text
Infographics, screenshots, images with text overlays, logos, and UI mockups should be uploaded as PNG. The reason is JPG compression creates visible artifacts around high-contrast edges — the boundary between text and background, sharp geometric shapes, and solid color blocks. PNG preserves these edges perfectly, and even though the platform will re-compress, starting from a lossless source gives the best possible result for sharp content.
Quick format decision
| Content Type | Recommended Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photos, product shots | JPG Q85–90 | 5–10x smaller, no visible difference after re-compression |
| Infographics, text overlays | PNG | Sharp edges preserved, no artifacts around text |
| Screenshots, UI mockups | PNG | Pixel-perfect rendering of interface elements |
| Logos, icons | PNG | Clean edges, optional transparency |
| Memes, text-heavy images | PNG | Text readability preserved through compression |
If your image is a photograph with a text overlay (common for Instagram quotes, promotional banners, or Pinterest pins), PNG is the safer choice. The photographic background will compress slightly less efficiently than JPG, but the text will remain sharp — and text sharpness is what the viewer notices most.
How Social Platforms Compress Your Images
No matter what format or quality you upload, every major social platform re-compresses your image through its own processing pipeline. Understanding this pipeline helps you upload smarter — giving the algorithm the best source material so the output looks as close to your original as possible.
Instagram re-encodes all uploaded images to JPEG at approximately quality 70–75. This is aggressive compression — fine detail in hair, fabric textures, and sky gradients gets softened. Instagram also strips the image to 1080px on the longest side. If you upload a 4000px image, it gets downscaled first and then compressed — a double quality hit.
Best practice: Upload at exactly 1080px wide (or 1080px on the longest dimension for portrait/landscape). Use JPG at Q85–90 or PNG. Do not upload Q100 JPG — the extra data is wasted since Instagram discards it during re-compression. The goal is to give Instagram a clean, correctly-sized source so it only needs to compress, not resize.
Facebook applies notoriously heavy compression, especially to images that exceed its internal size thresholds. Images over 2048px on any edge get downscaled. Facebook converts all uploads to JPEG internally (even PNG uploads become JPEG after processing, unless they contain transparency). The resulting quality varies by image content — simple graphics fare better than complex photographs.
Best practice: Upload at the exact dimensions listed in the cheat sheet. For photographs, JPG at Q85 is sufficient. For graphics with text, upload PNG — Facebook's compression is gentler on PNG uploads with flat colors and sharp edges.
Twitter / X
Twitter re-compresses images to JPEG. An important exception: PNG images under approximately 900 KB are preserved as PNG without re-compression. This makes Twitter one of the few platforms where uploading a well-optimized PNG can survive intact. For photographs, Twitter converts to JPEG at reasonable quality — less aggressive than Instagram or Facebook.
Best practice: For graphics and screenshots, keep your PNG under 900 KB. For photographs, JPG at Q85–90 at 1600 × 900 or 1080 × 1080.
LinkedIn applies moderate JPEG compression to all uploads. Image quality is generally better than Facebook but not as clean as Twitter. LinkedIn heavily prioritizes professional content, so text-based infographics and data visualizations are common and the compression pipeline handles them reasonably well.
Pinterest preserves image quality better than most platforms because the entire product is visual. High-resolution pins at the recommended 1000 × 1500 dimensions look sharp. Pinterest supports both JPG and PNG and applies lighter compression than Instagram or Facebook.
Metadata Handling by Platform
When you upload a photo, it typically contains EXIF metadata — GPS coordinates, camera model, serial number, date and time taken, lens information, and sometimes an embedded thumbnail. This metadata raises privacy concerns, especially the GPS coordinates that reveal exactly where a photo was taken.
What platforms strip
Most major platforms strip EXIF metadata on upload:
- Instagram — strips all EXIF data including GPS, camera info, and timestamps.
- Facebook — strips GPS and most EXIF fields. Facebook previously retained some data for internal use but has moved toward full removal from publicly accessible images.
- Twitter / X — strips GPS coordinates and most EXIF data from uploaded images.
- LinkedIn — strips EXIF metadata from uploaded images.
- Pinterest — strips most EXIF data.
Privacy recommendation: While most platforms strip GPS data, behavior can change without notice and edge cases exist. For maximum privacy, strip EXIF metadata yourself before uploading to any platform. Convertio.com removes EXIF data during PNG to JPG conversion, giving you both a smaller file and better privacy protection.
Copyright metadata
Some photographers embed copyright and contact information in IPTC/XMP metadata fields. Unfortunately, most social platforms strip this data along with EXIF. If copyright attribution is important, watermark your images directly — embedded metadata is not a reliable way to preserve authorship on social media.
Aspect Ratio Guide
Each platform has preferred aspect ratios. Uploading an image with the wrong ratio results in one of three outcomes: automatic cropping (the platform cuts off parts of your image), letterboxing (black or white bars added around the image), or forced fitting (the image gets squeezed or stretched). None of these produce a good result.
Common aspect ratios explained
- 1:1 (square) — The universal safe format. Works well on Instagram feed, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Use 1080 × 1080.
- 4:5 (portrait) — Instagram's maximum portrait ratio. Takes up the most screen real estate in the feed, leading to higher engagement. Use 1080 × 1350.
- 16:9 (landscape) — Standard widescreen. Ideal for Twitter, YouTube thumbnails, and Facebook cover photos. Use 1600 × 900 or 1280 × 720.
- 9:16 (vertical full-screen) — Stories and Reels on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat. Use 1080 × 1920.
- 1.91:1 (wide landscape) — Facebook shared links and LinkedIn articles. Use 1200 × 628.
- 2:3 (tall portrait) — Pinterest's preferred ratio. Tall pins get more visibility in the feed. Use 1000 × 1500.
What happens with the wrong ratio
Instagram allows ratios between 1.91:1 (landscape) and 4:5 (portrait). Anything outside this range gets center-cropped to fit. A 16:9 image on Instagram will have both sides trimmed, potentially cutting off important content.
Facebook automatically adds letterbox bars to images that don't match the display area, but also allows custom cropping during upload. For link previews, images that aren't 1.91:1 get center-cropped to fit the preview card.
Twitter / X center-crops tall images to approximately 16:9 or 1:1 in the timeline. Users must click to see the full image. If your image is taller than 1:1, the most important content should be in the center.
Pinterest displays pins in their full height up to a 1:2.1 ratio. Pins taller than this get cropped in the feed, though users see the full image when they click through.
Practical Workflow: Prepare Images for Social Media
Here is the step-by-step workflow for preparing any image for social media posting, whether it's a photograph from your camera or a graphic from a design tool.
Step 1: Resize to platform dimensions
Start by resizing your image to the exact pixel dimensions required by your target platform. Do not upload a 6000 × 4000 camera photo and let the platform downscale it — you lose control over the downscaling algorithm and the result is always softer than resizing in a proper image editor.
For multi-platform posting, prepare separate sizes: a 1080 × 1350 version for Instagram, a 1200 × 628 version for Facebook links, and a 1600 × 900 version for Twitter. The few minutes spent resizing pays off in dramatically better image quality across all platforms.
Step 2: Choose the right format
Apply the decision table from the format recommendations section. Photographs go to JPG at Q85–90. Graphics, text overlays, and screenshots stay as PNG.
If you are converting PNG screenshots or graphic exports to JPG for smaller file size (common for photographs that were exported from editing software as PNG), use the converter at the top of this page. It produces optimized JPG files with sensible quality defaults.
Step 3: Optimize quality and file size
For JPG files, quality 85–90 is the sweet spot. Going higher than Q90 adds significant file size with no perceptible quality improvement — especially since the platform will re-compress your upload anyway. Going below Q80 starts introducing visible compression artifacts in gradients and skin tones.
For PNG files, ensure you are using PNG-24 for photographic content and PNG-8 for simple graphics with fewer than 256 colors. PNG compression level affects encoding speed but not quality — all PNG is lossless.
Step 4: Strip metadata
Remove EXIF data before uploading. This protects your privacy (GPS coordinates, camera serial numbers) and reduces file size slightly. Most platforms strip metadata on their end, but stripping it yourself ensures no data leaks regardless of platform behavior changes.
Step 5: Upload at full resolution
Upload the properly sized and optimized file directly. Do not let your operating system or browser resize the image during upload. On mobile, avoid sharing through apps that add their own compression layer — upload directly through the platform's native app or website.
Platform-Specific Optimization Tips
Instagram engagement tips
Use 4:5 portrait ratio (1080 × 1350) to take up maximum feed space. Carousel posts allow up to 10 images — the first image determines engagement, so make it count. For graphics with text, use at least 30pt font size (after resize to 1080px width) to remain readable on mobile screens. Instagram compresses carousel images slightly less aggressively than single posts.
Facebook optimization
Facebook displays images differently in feed vs. link previews vs. albums. Feed photos at 1080 × 1080 or 1080 × 1350 look best. For link share previews (OG images), use exactly 1200 × 628 — other sizes get center-cropped and may look wrong. Cover photos should be 1640 × 924 and avoid placing critical content near the edges since mobile and desktop crops differ.
Pinterest optimization
Tall 2:3 pins (1000 × 1500) get the most visibility in Pinterest's masonry grid. Include readable text on the pin itself — Pinterest's algorithm reads text in images and uses it for search ranking. Use high-contrast, warm-toned images with clear subjects. Pinterest favors JPG for photographs and handles PNG well for infographics.
YouTube thumbnail optimization
YouTube thumbnails must be exactly 1280 × 720 (16:9). Use large, bold text (3–5 words maximum) and high-contrast faces or objects. JPG at Q90 is ideal — YouTube has a 2 MB thumbnail limit. Thumbnails are displayed at various sizes across devices (from tiny sidebar thumbnails to large featured images), so text must be readable even at small sizes.
TikTok photo mode
TikTok's photo carousel mode uses 9:16 vertical images at 1080 × 1920. Each photo should stand on its own since users swipe through quickly. Use high saturation and contrast — TikTok's interface has a dark background, so low-contrast images can look washed out. JPG for photos, PNG for graphics with text.