Social Media Image Sizes 2026 — Complete Guide (All Platforms)
· 5 min read
The current sizes are 1080x1080 for an Instagram post, 1080x1920 for a story, 1280x720 for a YouTube thumbnail, 1500x500 for an X header and 1200x630 for a link preview. Two rules outlast any table: portrait beats landscape on any feed, and keep anything essential away from the edges.
Every platform has its own dimensions and they change often. This is the current set, and the reasoning that outlasts any particular number.
On this page
Current sizes
These are the sizes to export at. Platforms will accept larger and scale down, but supplying the right dimensions avoids a second round of re-compression at their end.
| Placement | Size | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram post (square) | 1080×1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram post (portrait) | 1080×1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram story / reel | 1080×1920 | 9:16 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280×720 | 16:9 |
| X / Twitter post image | 1600×900 | 16:9 |
| X / Twitter header | 1500×500 | 3:1 |
| LinkedIn post | 1200×627 | 1.91:1 |
| LinkedIn banner | 1584×396 | 4:1 |
| Facebook post | 1200×630 | 1.91:1 |
| Open Graph / link preview | 1200×630 | 1.91:1 |
The two rules that do not change
Portrait beats landscape on any feed people scroll with a thumb. A 4:5 image occupies noticeably more screen than a 1:1, and a 9:16 story fills it entirely. Attention follows area.
Keep anything essential away from the edges. Every platform crops differently in different contexts — a link preview, a notification, a search result — and the centre is the only region that reliably survives all of them.
Resize ImageSet exact pixel dimensions, or pick a platform presetExport once, at the right size
Uploading a 4000-pixel photo to Instagram means it gets resized and re-compressed by their pipeline, on top of whatever compression your export already applied. Two lossy passes look worse than one.
Resize to the target dimensions yourself, at a quality you chose, and the platform has far less left to do.
Why the numbers keep changing
Platforms adjust dimensions when they redesign feeds, and they do that regularly. A guide written two years ago will be wrong in places, which is why the reasoning matters more than the table.
The durable rules are: match the ratio the placement uses, supply roughly twice the display width for high-density screens, and keep anything important away from the edges.
Safe zones, and where each platform puts its furniture
The dimensions tell you the canvas; they do not tell you which parts of it are covered by interface. Stories are the extreme case — the top carries a profile row and progress bars, the bottom a reply field and share controls.
| Placement | Keep clear | What sits there |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram story | Top and bottom ~250px | Profile row, progress bars, reply field |
| YouTube thumbnail | Bottom-right corner | Duration badge |
| X / Twitter header | Lower-left | Profile picture overlaps |
| LinkedIn banner | Left third | Profile picture and name block |
| Any link preview | Outer 10% | Cropped differently per client |
Why the platform re-compresses whatever you send
Every social platform re-encodes uploads to control its own bandwidth, and it does so with a fixed setting applied to everything. Sending a 4000-pixel original means that pass has to resize as well as compress, and it does both aggressively.
Arriving at the target dimensions with a quality you chose leaves the platform's encoder almost nothing to do. The visible difference is real, and it is the same principle that applies to messaging apps.
One image, several placements
If the same photograph has to work as a feed post, a story and a link preview, export it three times rather than letting each platform crop a single file. Automatic crops are centre-weighted and routinely cut off the subject.
Shoot loose enough that all three crops are available from the same frame.
Common questions
What is the best universal size for social media images?
1200×630 pixels covers Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter link cards, and OG link previews. If you can only maintain one size, this is the most versatile. For Instagram specifically, use 1080×1080 (square) or 1080×1350 (portrait).
What size should Instagram posts be in 2026?
Square: 1080×1080 px. Portrait (best reach): 1080×1350 px. Landscape: 1080×566 px. Instagram recommends a minimum of 1080 px on the shortest side. Stories and Reels: 1080×1920 px (9:16 ratio).
What is the best YouTube thumbnail size?
1280×720 px (16:9 ratio) is the recommended YouTube thumbnail size with a minimum width of 640 px. File size must be under 2 MB. Use JPG, GIF, or PNG.
What does OG image mean?
OG stands for Open Graph — the metadata that controls how your page looks when shared as a link on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, etc. The recommended OG image size is 1200×630 px.
How do I resize an image to exact pixel dimensions for free?
Enter the exact width and height and the resize runs in your browser in seconds — no upload, no account. Crop to the right ratio first if the shape is wrong, so you choose what leaves the frame rather than the tool.
Why does my image look worse after uploading it?
The platform re-encoded it with a fixed setting applied to everything. Arriving already at the target dimensions leaves its encoder far less to do, so the result is visibly cleaner than uploading the original.
Where should I avoid putting text on a story?
The top and bottom roughly 250 pixels. The profile row and progress bars sit at the top, the reply field and share controls at the bottom, and both cover whatever is underneath.
Do these sizes change?
Regularly, whenever a platform redesigns a feed. The durable rules do not: match the ratio the placement uses, supply about twice the display width for high-density screens, and keep essentials away from the edges.