Social Media Cheat Sheet 2018: Must-Have Image Sizes!

Searching for the ultimate social media cheat sheet?

I’ve been looking forever, and can’t find one that’s completely correct. So I made my own!

Simple – but accurate! Outdated infographics are still widely posted and shared, despite their misinformation. Here are the updated social media sizes, as of September 1, 2018.

Full chart at the end of the post. Log in as a member to get your free printable!

I’ve included ALL essential sizes for Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, AND YouTube on the chart. You’ll find notes about aspect ratio and maximum file size where known.

Google+ and Tumblr sizes are listed at the end of this post, though not on the chart.

The platforms are now listed in order of my audience’s interest, and I’ve added a Table of Contents if you need a quick answer. You’ll find it underneath the important cross-platform considerations below. 👇

Please leave a comment if any need to be corrected. I’ll update as quickly as possible!

Social media image sizes that work across platforms

Here’s a brief rundown of some critical social media photo sizes.

Best size for image posts

1200 pixels square is ideal for Facebook and Instagram posts. It also works well for Google+ and LinkedIn posts – and for Twitter, if you keep any type or other critical elements away from the top and bottom of the image.

A square is a 1:1 aspect ratio.

Squares can also be posted on Pinterest. Test these against the recommended 2:3 Pins, and see how squares go over with your audience.

If Pinterest is your main platform, try the 2:3 images on Facebook, as they work there too.

Want to cover both Instagram and Pinterest? Try 4:5 aspect ratio. It’s my favorite size for IG, as it takes up all available height in the feed. Note that it’ll still be cropped to a square on your profile gallery.

Best size for link posts

Facebook, Twitter and Linked in are all recommending 1200 x 628 pixels, which is 1.91:1 aspect ratio. You need to be including this shape image on every blog post and page!

Multiply the width of your content area by .524 to get the image height. Since my content area is 720px wide, this comes out to 720 x 377 pixels for me.

How do I get images to these sizes?

Q: Do you have recommendation for how to get photos these desired image sizes? I am using iPhoto and I am not getting exact dimensions you describe.

A: You could use a free online photo editor like pixlr.com. Alternatively, you can use an online image creator that has lots of sizes already set up for you!

The two easiest ones I’ve found are Stencil and Snappa. Choose a size template, pick or upload a photo, and it’s automatically sized to fit. Adjust cropping as desired.

Both have a free option or free trial. The paid plans have an amazing Instant Resize feature, so you can make perfectly-sizes images for every network! Watch it on Stencil below.

Disclosure: If you upgrade for additional features, I may get a small commission. I only recommend what I’ve tried, and think you’ll love!

• • • Click here to try Stencil for FREE • • •

Facebook Photo Sizes

In August 2018, Facebook applied Page Templates based on your business type, such as Services, Restaurant, or Store. This hasn’t affected the image sizes though. Cover photos are still the same.

Recommended proportion for all Facebook cover photos: 16:9.

This works perfectly on mobile. You must allow cropping top and bottom on desktop, so don’t place text or other critical elements near the top and bottom.

This proportion works out to: 1200 x 675, 1640 x 923, or 1920 x 1080. Your choice!

I always recommend going with a larger image for best quality. While FB sometimes specifies minimum sizes required for upload, modern displays have such great resolution that low quality images don’t cut it any more. Go BIG!

New in June 2017: You can use a video as your cover photo.

Tell More of Your Story
Instead of a cover photo, now you can use a video. It can be 20-90 seconds and should be at least 820 x 312 pixels.

Re minimum wall post size, I hope you are using larger photos than minimum already! Up to 2048 x 2048 works for Facebook photo posts.

For more details on Facebook image sizes, see the linked posts.

• Facebook Page Cover photo size: 820 x 312 desktop / 640 x 360 mobile | Optimize for both!
• Facebook Profile photo size: upload 170 x 170 | Make the best Facebook Profile Picture
• Facebook Link preview size: min. 600 x 314 | How to get a LARGE link thumbnail
• Facebook Photo post size: on the wall, 476 x varied height, larger gives better quality.
• Facebook Group Cover photo size: 1640 x 859 minimum, this post helps you optimize for mobile and desktop.
• Facebook Event Cover photo size: 1200 x 675, see the post for details: Facebook Event Cover for Desktop AND Mobile
• Facebook ad sizes: COMPLETE infographic of ALL Facebook photo sizes, including ads: Facebook sizes infographic

Pin the Facebook image sizes cheat sheet, and read on.

Pinterest Photo Sizes

Pinterest has verified that Pins taller than 2.1 times their width will be cropped in the feed. They recommend 600 x 1260 as the tallest proportion for Pins. However, taller Pins will be seen in full when clicked (March 2018).

I still recommend tall infographics! They perform for me. Read all the details on Pinterest sizes.

Pinterest’s recommended sizes are 600 x 600, 600 x 900, and 600 x 1260. You can still use your favorite width, and keep your Pin dimensions in these proportions:

• 1:1 or square
• 1:1.5 or slightly tall
• 1:2.1 or moderately tall
• Tall as you like, but will be cropped in feed

Note that Pins no longer appear at 736 pixels wide when clicked (changed Fall 2017). Now they’re never seen bigger than 564 pixels wide.

I had a reader who made Pin images to 564 width and reported that gave her the best quality result after uploading. However, I’ve also been told that Pinterest says not to go smaller than 600px width.

Pinterest is recommending 2:3 proportion as optimal (example: 600 x 900 pixels), and also saying squares are fine. I don’t see squares performing as well as taller Pins, though. If you already have square images for Instagram, test with your audience on Pinterest.

Pinterest board covers are SQUARE. I recommend 600 x 600. If you use the Showcase feature, you’ll want to make sure you make them at least 340 x 340.

Note: Few Pinners look at profiles and boards, so covers aren’t a necessity.

• Pinterest Profile Photo size: 180 x 180 or larger
• Maximum pin width when clicked: 564
• Board cover: suggested minimum 340 x 340
• Minimum image size that can be pinned: 100 x 200 source

Pin the Pinterest image sizes cheat sheet, and read on.

Instagram Photo Sizes

Instagram posts are no longer limited to square! However, your images will still be cropped to square on your profile page gallery.

For details, read: Instagram Photo Format Breaks Out of the Box!

• Instagram Profile Photo size: 110 x 110 minimum | Rock your IG profile photo
• Instagram photo size: minimum 1080 width for best quality | Instagram photo size tips
• Instagram landscape photo size: 1.91:1 proportion, or 1080 x 566.
• Instagram portrait photo size: 4:5 proportion, or 1080 x 1350.

Pin the Instagram image sizes cheat sheet, and read on.

Twitter Photo Sizes

Tweeted image size changed in 2017 and is still quoted incorrectly almost everywhere.

Let’s go by what Twitter says, shall we?

• Twitter Header size: 3:1 or 1500 x 500 pixels | Twitter header details and free template
• Twitter Profile size: 1:1 or 400 x 400 pixels | New round Twitter profile picture
• Tweeted Image size: 16:9 or 1200 x 675 pixels | Details on Twitter Images
• Twitter Card image size: 1.91:1 or 1200 x 628 pixels | Details on Twitter Images

Tweeted images are not 2:1 proportion! If you post that size, the edges will be cut off in the stream.

Tweet images will still be shown in full when clicked, so you can use square for portability across social media networks – but they’ll be cropped in the feed on mobile.

Multi-image tweet sizes

• For two images, the images will be side by side, both at 7:8 aspect ratios.
• For three images, there will be one 7:8 aspect ratio image on the left, with two 4:7 aspect ratio images running up the right side of the image.
• For four images, there will be four 2:1 aspect ratio images in a grid.

Pin the Twitter image sizes cheat sheet, and read on.

LinkedIn Photo Sizes

Those maddening responsive background images (banner / cover photo) on personal profiles were dumped in August 2017. The new recommended size is 1584 wide by 396 high. This is exactly 4:1 proportion.

You can also crop, filter, and adjust your photo after you upload it to LinkedIn.

Tips from LinkedIn:

If your background image appears blurry or pixelated, please choose an image with a file size as close to the maximum (8 MB) as possible, as images with larger file sizes typically look better. Photos will also look better than images with logos.

LinkedIn image recap: Max file size 8MB and file type must be PNG, JPEG, or GIF.

• LinkedIn profile cover photo: 1584 wide by 396 high. This is exactly 4:1 proportion.
• Linked in profile picture: Per LI, upload any size between 400 x 400 pixels and 20,000 x 20,000 px.
• LinkedIn blog post link shares match Facebook’s! 1200 x 628 px.
• LinkedIn photo share: 1200 x 1200 square looks best on desktop, but gets cropped to horizontal in the mobile feed. The link share size works best there¹.
• LinkedIn Company cover photo size: 1536 x 768 px².
• LinkedIn logo size: 300 x 300 square. No more horizontal.
• More company and career page image sizes on LinkedIn here.

¹LinkedIn photo post size seems difficult to determine. It appears to be a slightly taller shape than previously, but no one seems to agree on the size (see this discussion). If you find someone who makes picture quotes specifically to a LinkedIn size, won’t you let us know?

One woman suggested 792 x 528px. I checked and it did look the same on desktop and mobile. However, when you click on desktop, it gets so much bigger. I’d double those dimensions for best clarity.

LinkedIn company cover photo

²There’s some question as to how they work. The height is greatly cropped. I suspect that the cover image proportions work for mobile.

Just as with Facebook and Twitter, the height gets cropped on desktop – although much more severely.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to create something and test it on different devices if it has critical elements that need to show. Or else think of it as more of a “background” image that doesn’t have faces, type, or other elements that would look bad when cropped on different devices.

What LinkedIn recommends:

Your cover image may have to be adjusted to fit the screen which may involve trimming the image horizontally or vertically. We recommend uploading a high-quality image with as little text as possible to ensure an optimal display on all devices and screen sizes. Our accepted image formats for uploads are PNG or JPEG.

Here’s a LinkedIn company cover photo template from Breanna Tillman that a reader shared: Download the LI company cover.

The proportions don’t seem correct, but I’ll let you mess with that if you want. With these responsive headers, I recommend uploading an appropriate photo background and letting the cropping fall where it may. With different crops on different devices, LinkedIn company page headers have become too difficult to place text on.

Pin the LinkedIn image sizes cheat sheet, and read on.

Now that you’ve got the sizes – what images should you post?

• • • CLICK to Get your FREE Social Media Content Guide! • • •

YouTube Photo Sizes

• YouTube Channel Art size: 2560 x 1440 | Right click to download template
• Be sure to check the template as cropping varies widely from TV to mobile to desktop
• Video thumbnail: 1280 x 720
• Channel icon: 800 x 800

Google+ Photo Sizes

Is anyone on Google+ any more? If you are, here are your sizes:

• Google+ Cover photo size: 1080 by 608 (this is also 16:9, so reuse your FB cover
• Google+ Profile photo size: 250 x 250

Tumblr Photo Sizes

It’s hard to find image sizes for this platform, and one reason may be that it’s pretty freeform. Different themes can vary greatly.

I don’t use Tumblr and decided not to add it to the cheat sheet, since I won’t know if things change.

April 2017: Here’s an excellent Tumblr sizes overview offered by reader Morgana Johnson:

Although all themes are different, the most common sizes still display 500 and 400 width posts (and most “photography” themes either display everything with a width of 1280, or even the highest resolution available).

However, anything on the dashboard feed is shown at and resized to 540. Size limitations have also risen to 10MB for pictures, and supposedly 3MB for animated .gif images (However animated gifs are just buggy on tumblr, it’s best to “aim” between 1-3MB.)

Anyone using tumblr as a portfolio would have the best experience, and largest variety of themes to choose from, if they create images with a width of 500 or 400. However, those who plan to market themselves and gain a following on tumblr should create images meant to be displayed at 540. Those particular users should also pay close attention to the following new feature:

Tumblr has implemented a “dashboard pop-over” with a header, which works both as a mobile theme and allows desktop users to have a quick glance at a blog without leaving the dashboard. The header displays at “various sizes” with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Generally, it displays at 1240 x 700 for desktop browsers, but is optimized at 640 × 360 for mobile.

(It can also display animated gif images with the same size restrictions as posts. From my personal experience, however, I can’t get any header to animate if it’s larger than 1.5MB.)

It’s also worth noting that users whom choose to keep the default theme show the same header at 3000 x 1055 on their blog, and displays posts with a width of 540. ~MJ

Social Media Cheat Sheet 2018: Must-Have Image Sizes

I hope you find my cheat sheets helpful! Let me know if your experience differs.

Members: download a printable version by logging in (Or get a free membership here!)

Help battle the misinformation being passed around. Size does matter!

Pin and share this complete updated social media cheat sheet with your friends and followers.