The short version
- Most social media image sizes reduce to a handful of shapes: square 1:1, portrait 4:5, vertical 9:16, landscape 16:9, and wide headers around 3:1 or 4:1.
- The most used sizes are 1080×1350 for Instagram and Threads posts, 1080×1920 for stories, Reels and TikTok, and 1600×900 for X and Bluesky posts.
- Headers and banners are the trickiest formats because profile photos, buttons and different screen widths cover or crop their edges.
- Upload at the platform's recommended size in sRGB, and prefer PNG for designs with text or smooth gradients to avoid compression artefacts.
- A design made for one shape should be laid out again for each other shape, not stretched or cropped.
On this page
The social media image sizes you will use most are 1080×1350 for Instagram and Threads feed posts, 1080×1920 for stories, Reels and TikTok covers, 1600×900 for X and Bluesky posts, 1200×1200 for Facebook and LinkedIn posts, 1280×720 for YouTube thumbnails and 1000×1500 for Pinterest pins. Headers and banners vary more: 1500×500 on X, 1584×396 on LinkedIn, 2560×1440 on YouTube. Every size in this guide follows each platform's recommended upload size.
Below: the shapes behind all of them, the full tables by platform, the safe zones that catch people out, and how to export so your design arrives looking the way you made it. Each platform has its own detailed guide, linked as we go.
The six shapes behind every size
There are dozens of sizes but only a few shapes. Design for the shape and the exact pixel size follows. If you only prepare three layouts, make them portrait 4:5, vertical 9:16 and landscape 16:9.
Square 1:1
1080 × 1080
Portrait 4:5
1080 × 1350
Vertical 9:16
1080 × 1920
Pin 2:3
1000 × 1500
Landscape 16:9
1600 × 900
Header 3:1
1500 × 500
Post, story and video cover sizes by platform
| Platform | Format | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 | |
| Square post | 1080×1080 | 1:1 | |
| Landscape post | 1080×566 | 1.91:1 | |
| Story and Reel | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | |
| Post | 1200×1200 | 1:1 | |
| Portrait post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 | |
| Story | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | |
| X | Post image | 1600×900 | 16:9 |
| X | Portrait post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 |
| Post | 1200×1200 | 1:1 | |
| Portrait post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 | |
| Link image | 1200×627 | 1.91:1 | |
| YouTube | Thumbnail | 1280×720 | 16:9 |
| YouTube | Shorts cover | 1080×1920 | 9:16 |
| TikTok | Video cover | 1080×1920 | 9:16 |
| Standard pin | 1000×1500 | 2:3 | |
| Long pin | 1000×2100 | 1:2.1 | |
| Square pin | 1000×1000 | 1:1 | |
| Threads | Post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 |
| Threads | Square post | 1080×1080 | 1:1 |
| Bluesky | Post | 1600×900 | 16:9 |
| Snapchat | Story | 1080×1920 | 9:16 |
| Status | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | |
| Post | 1080×1080 | 1:1 | |
| Tumblr | Post | 1280×1920 | 2:3 |
Header, banner and cover sizes by platform
| Platform | Format | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | Header | 1500×500 | 3:1 |
| Profile banner | 1584×396 | 4:1 | |
| Company cover | 2256×382 | about 5.9:1 | |
| Cover | 1640×624 | about 2.6:1 | |
| Event cover | 1920×1005 | 1.91:1 | |
| YouTube | Channel art | 2560×1440 | 16:9 |
| Bluesky | Banner | 3000×1000 | 3:1 |
| Community banner | 1920×384 | 5:1 | |
| Discord | Server banner | 960×540 | 16:9 |
| Discord | Profile banner | 680×240 | about 2.8:1 |
| Twitch | Profile banner | 1200×480 | 5:2 |
| Twitch | Offline screen | 1920×1080 | 16:9 |
| Twitch | Panel | 640×320 | 2:1 |
| Link preview | Open Graph image | 1200×630 | 1.91:1 |
Safe zones: what gets covered or cropped
The size is only half the story. Every platform lays something over your image or crops it differently on different screens. Keep the words and logo out of these areas.
- Stories, Reels and TikTok: the top carries the profile name and progress bar; the bottom carries captions, buttons and the reply field. Keep text in the middle band.
- X and LinkedIn headers: the profile photo sits over the lower left, and the header is cropped differently on phones and desktops.
- YouTube channel art: TV shows the whole image, desktop shows a wide strip across the middle, and phones show less still. Only the centre is always visible.
- YouTube thumbnails: the video length sits in the bottom right corner.
- Instagram profile grid: feed posts are shown cropped in the grid, so a portrait post loses a little from its edges there.
How to export social media images
Avoid
- Uploading far larger than the recommended size and letting the platform shrink it
- JPEG at low quality for designs with text or smooth gradients
- Wide-gamut or CMYK colour profiles
- Tiny text that only reads when zoomed
- Stretching one design into every shape
Do
- Export at the exact recommended size, or a clean multiple of it
- PNG for text and gradients, high-quality JPEG for photos
- sRGB, so colours look the same on every phone
- Headlines large enough to read on a phone at arm's length
- A separate layout for each shape
Platforms recompress what you upload. Smooth gradients suffer most, showing visible steps; gradient banding explains why and how a little grain prevents it.
One design, every size
The biggest time sink in social design is remaking the same announcement for six shapes. Each shape needs its own layout, but the look, the words and the colours should stay identical. In Gradiently every size above is built in, custom sizes run from 200 to 8,000 px, and copy to sizes lays a finished design out again for each format you choose.
The announcement as a story…
…and as an X post. The same design, laid out again for a landscape frame.
Questions people ask
What is the best image size for social media?
There isn't one size for every platform. 1080×1350 portrait works for Instagram, Threads, Facebook, X and LinkedIn feeds, and 1080×1920 covers stories, Reels, Shorts and TikTok.
What size is an Instagram post?
1080×1350 pixels for portrait (4:5), 1080×1080 for square and 1080×566 for landscape.
What size is a story on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat?
1080×1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical frame. Keep text away from the top and bottom, where the interface sits.
What size should a social media header be?
It depends on the platform: 1500×500 on X, 1584×396 for a LinkedIn profile, 1640×624 for a Facebook cover and 2560×1440 for YouTube channel art.
Should I upload PNG or JPEG to social media?
PNG for designs with text and smooth gradients, high-quality JPEG for photographs. Use the sRGB colour profile for both.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
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