Social Media Image Sizing Guide 2022

2022 Image Sizing Guide:
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest

Some might say size doesn’t matter, but it totally does, especially when it comes to social media image sizing.

The size of your images on your social media can make a huge difference in the performance of your posts. Unfortunately, every social media platform; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest is a wee bit different!

Image sizing is one of the many common mistakes we see businesses make all the time. If there is one thing that makes us and social media managers all over the world squirm in our seats, it’s incorrectly sized images.

Today we will explore the current ‘correct sizes’ in 2022 for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. So here’s what Rocket Fuel Design and the social media sites themselves suggest with image sizing:

Facebook:

Lucky and unlucky for you, Facebook has a whole range of image sizes. This allows for a lot of flexibility when posting in the feed, but, requires you to be a bit more precise when it comes to sizing images for your profile picture and cover photo.

Profile Pictures:

Your profile picture on Facebook is one the first things people will see when they search for your business on Facebook, so making sure you display it correctly is super important.

According to Facebook, profile pictures are displayed at:

• 170 x 170 pixels on computers (most recommended)
• 128 x 128 pixels on smartphones
• 36 x 36 pixels on most feature phones
• Use PNG file format for better result

Don’t forget when your scroll in your newsfeed your Facebook profile picture appears even smaller again. That’s why we suggest that you use less text-heavy profile pictures and more image-based profile pictures!

Your logo and just your logo is a great way to make sure your business looks smart and identifiable.

Here at Rocket Fuel Design, we don’t include the text – RFD – from our logo in our Facebook profile picture, why? Because on mobile it would be much too hard to see.

With the ‘RFD’ text included, you can hardly read it in any of the profile pictures. Showing the ‘RFD’ in our logo isn’t needed, since where ever our profile picture is, so our business name.

Profile pictures are cropped to a circular shape. Make sure to adjust your logo sizing to fit snuggly into the circle – there is nothing worst than an oversized logo in a profile picture.

As there is a huge variance in the sizes between devices,180 x 180-pixel images will size perfectly in every place a profile is displayed.

Cover Photos:

A cover photo should be branded and represent your business. They can promote the most important aspect of your organization – your products, services, offers, career opportunities, etc. Make sure to align the theme of your cover photo with your featured Call to Action [CTA] button.

What size should you use for your Facebook cover photo? Well, that’s a tricky one because your Facebook cover displays differently on mobile devices.

Facebook displays cover photos at: 

• 820 x 312 pixels on computers
• 640 x 360 pixels on smartphones
• 400 x 150 pixels for minimum size

For Facebook Event:

• 1200 x 628 pixels (recommended)

Facebook cover video:

• 820 x 462 pixels (820 x 312 minimum. 20-90 secs)

Tips:

• To make the file is not more than 100 kilobytes for better loading time
• Use PNG or JPG format to avoid distortion
• once the cover photo is added to the event it can’t be edited later on

The safe option that we recommend to fit both displays on computers and smartphones is using the dimensions 820 x 360 pixels.

Remember that the end and tops of your images will be cropped depending on where they are being viewed. Display any important information in the safe zone.

Canva has loads of ‘Facebook Cover Temples’ if you don’t already have one.

Posts/Images:

Facebook can automatically resize your images and post based on each user interface however to avoid pixelation and slow loading time here are the recommended sizes.

Timeline post image size:

• 1200 x 630 pixels (recommended)
• 300 x 315 pixels minimum size
• 1200 x 1200 pixels for carousel display

Panorama or 360 Photos:

• 30,000 in any dimension and less than 135,000,000 pixels in total size

Facebook Stories:

• 1080 x 1920 pixels (recommended) – don’t use pictures with a width smaller than 500 pixels

Facebook Image size for Ads:

• 1080 x 1080 pixels – feed ads, instant articles, marketplace ads, Facebook search ads, and sponsored messages (minimum of 600 x 600. Max file size of 30 MB)
• 1080 x 1080 pixels – right column ads (minimum of 254 x 133. desktop-only format ad)
• 1080 x 1080 pixels – messenger inbox ads (minimum of 254 x 133. Max file size of 30 MB)
• 1080 x 1080 pixels – messenger stories ads (Minimum width of 500 pixels)

 

So what about Instagram image sizing?

Instagram:

Instagram is an image-centric application, it is essential to size images correct to optimise the benefits of the social media platform.

Profile Picture:

The ideal sizing for Instagram profile photos is  320 x 320 pixels.

Make sure that your Instagram profile photo is image-heavy, not text-heavy. Because Instagram is mobile-centric your business profile will hardly ever feature on a large enough screen to see text. If you head to Rocket Fuel Designs Instagram page you will see we have used the same concept as our Facebook profile, as it is super easy to see no matter the size.

Posts/Images:

Instagram will always post your images at the best possible resolution and it automatically changes the sizing of your images to their supported aspect ratio.

To avoid cutting the most important aspects of your images, make sure to follow the rules from the start.

Sizing options for Instagram posts are: (same for ads image sizes)

• 1080 x 1080 pixels – Square sized posts
•  Landscape – 1080 x 556 pixels
• 1080 x 1350 pixels – Portrait sized
• 161 x 161 display size and 1080 pixels wide – thumbnail photo

Instagram Reels:

• 1080 x 1920 pixels

Instagram Stories:

Stories are a great way to connect with your audience. 1080 x 1920 pixels is the perfect image sizing for Instagram stories and Instagram highlight covers. 

To optimise Instagram highlight covers use imagery, not text, and display important aspects in the centre in the middle of the page.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has all sorts of funny sizing when it comes to images. Because LinkedIn is a business-focused application, it is super important to have a professional-looking page.

You wouldn’t have terrible sized images on your website so why would you on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Page Sizing:

• 400 x 400 pixels – profile picture
• 1584 x 396 pixels – Cover image
• 300 x 300 pixels – company logo
• 1128 x 191 – company cover image
• 1128 x 376 pixels – Main image
• 502 x 282 pixels – Custom modules
• 900 x 600 pixels – Company photo
• 60 x 60 pixels – square logo

By now we trust you understand that text-heavy profile photos are a no-no.

Lainey’s Profile image on LinkedIn isn’t too text-heavy and the most important text is large and bold so it’s easy to read.

 

Seeing that your LinkedIn cover and image sizes are skinny it’s important to ensure that you only have the most important information conveyed via text. So what image sizes are ideal for LinkedIn post images?

LinkedIn Post Photos Sizes:

• 1200 x 627 pixels – Link Images, Linked Post, Mobile Image Post
• 1200 x 900 pixels – Desktop Image Post

Image size for Ads:

• 100 x 100 – company logo size for ads and spotlight ads logo size
• 300 x 250 pixels – spotlight ads custom background image
• 1200 x 627 – sponsored content image
• 1080 x 1080 – sponsored carousel post

Twitter:

Even though Twitter seemingly is all about the talk, research shows that tweets with images get 150% more retweets than tweets without images. So you better get it right!

Here’s what Twitter suggest when it comes to sizing images for profiles, headers and images:

• 400 x 400 pixels – Profile Images minimum of 200 x 200 and max file size of 2MB
• 1500 x 500 pixels – Header Image
• 1600 x 900 pixels – In-stream photos minimum of 600 x 335 pixels. Gif, JPG and PNG are supported with a max of 5MB for mobiles and 15 MB on the web.

Image size for Ads:

• 600 x 335 pixels – single and multi-image tweets
• 800 x 418 or 800 x 800 pixels- website card image (max of 20MB), App card image (max of 3MB) or carousel (max 20 MB for 2-6 image card)
• 800 x 418 pixels – direct message card and conversion card (max of 3MB)

Pinterest:

Pinterest is another image-based application and because multiple images displayed all at once, the quality and sizing of your images are so, so important!

It is suggested by Pinterest to ‘pin’ images that are compelling and tell a story, this will increase the likely hood of someone clicking on your post and make them want to learn more. Use images that have context and bring your topic to life, including important text/copy over your images can help to do this.

Your brand should be the focal point, so make sure to include your logo [avoid placing your logo in the lower right corner]!

Pinterest Photos Sizes:

Something different about Pinterest is that it asks you to think vertical, so pinning a Facebook size image here would look bad and will most likely be cut down to fit in the feed. Pinterest recommends using a 2:3 aspect ratio for pins, so intend to create pins where your image’s width is ⅔ its height.

Here are some examples of sizes you can use for your pins:

• 1000 x 1500 pixels or 1000 x 1000 pixels – square pins (max 20MB) and collection pins (max 10MB)
• 1080 x 1920 pixels – story pins (Max 20MB) and fleets

Square sized images 180 x 180 pixels can also be used,  but they may not perform as well. You can also extend the length of your Pins, to make them as tall as you like, but be aware they will be cropped in the feed.

Image sizes for ads and carousels:

• 1000 x 1500 pixels – apps installation ads or shopping ads
• 1000 x 1000 or 1000 x 1500 pixels – carousel pins and ads (up to 5 images)

Pinterest Video Sizes:

For videos, it is suggested to use either vertical or square sizing. For best results pin videos that teach how to do something and that is around 6-15 seconds in length. Instead of relying on audio use text overlays of captions to describe your video as most people scroll through Pinterest without sound on.

• 1920 x 1080 pixels – Vertical
• 280 x 720 pixels – Vertical
• 180 x 180 pixels – Square
• MOV or MP4 – Files
• Up To 2GB – File Size
• 5 minutes – Max Length

Pinterest Profile Sizes:

• 165 x 165 pixels – Profile Picture
• 800 x 450 pixels – Board Cover

And as we have said throughout – don’t go too text-heavy on profile and cover board images. It is important to be able to see text and images clearly on desktop and mobile devices.

Understanding and posting content on all the different social media sites can be a long and tedious task. But it does make a massive difference to the performance of your posts. Hopefully, we have helped you to understand the difference in images sizes to the best preform on; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.

Keep in mind social media platforms are updating and changing their best practises around images all the time. So make sure to check up on each social media applications recommended sizes often and update your profile, cover and post sizes when they do!

Sometimes when it comes to crucial parts of your businesses social media pages, it’s best to leave it to someone with a good eye.
We would love to help in the process of creating your businesses social media cover designs and more.

Let us know below if you found this information useful.