Resize Images for Every Social Media Platform (2026)

Last Tuesday I spent forty minutes resizing a single product photo for a client’s social media rollout. One image. Seven platforms. Seven different dimension requirements. By the time I’d opened Photoshop for the fifth export, I was questioning my career choices. And here’s the kicker — three of the sizes I used were wrong because Instagram had quietly updated their recommended resolution sometime between my last project and that morning.

If you’ve ever uploaded a beautifully composed photo only to watch it get cropped into an unrecognizable mess, or noticed your carefully designed banner looks like it was made by someone who’s never heard of aspect ratios, you know the pain. Every social media platform wants something different, and they keep changing the rules without sending a memo.

I’m going to give you every dimension you need for 2026, across every major platform, and then show you how to batch resize an entire library of images so you never waste another afternoon on this again. If you also need dimensions for e-commerce, print, or web design, our image dimensions reference covers every platform in one place. Consider this your social media cheat sheet — bookmark it, because you’ll be back.

Instagram’s Size Obsession

Instagram might be the most image-obsessed platform on the internet, and it shows in how particular it is about dimensions. Get these wrong and your content either gets cropped awkwardly or displayed with those ugly letterbox bars that scream “I didn’t bother to resize this.”

Feed Posts

Instagram’s feed supports three aspect ratios, and the one you pick has a real impact on how much screen space your post commands.

Post Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio	Notes
Square	1080 x 1080 px	1:1	The classic. Still works, but not optimal for reach.
Portrait	1080 x 1350 px	4:5	Takes up the most feed space. My default recommendation.
Landscape	1080 x 566 px	1.91:1	Loses screen real estate. Avoid unless the image demands it.

Here’s something most guides won’t tell you: portrait posts at 4:5 take up roughly 25% more vertical screen space than square posts. That’s 25% more of someone’s phone screen dedicated to your content while they’re scrolling. In a platform where attention is measured in fractions of a second, that’s enormous. Unless you’ve got a compelling reason to go square or landscape, make 1080 x 1350 your default.

Stories and Reels

Both use the same dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels at a 9:16 aspect ratio. Keep critical content — text, faces, calls to action — within the center 1080 x 1420 area. Instagram’s UI elements (username at the top, reply bar at the bottom) cover the edges, and there’s nothing more frustrating than a perfectly designed story with the punchline hidden behind the “Send Message” bar.

Profile Picture

320 x 320 pixels, displayed in a circular crop. It shows up tiny in most contexts, so skip the fine details. Bold shapes, high contrast, recognizable at thumbnail size — that’s what works. I’ve seen people upload 3000 x 3000 profile pictures and wonder why they look blurry. Instagram’s going to downscale it regardless, so give it the size it wants.

Carousel Posts

Each slide follows the same dimension rules as feed posts. The critical detail: every slide in a carousel must share the same aspect ratio. Instagram forces the first slide’s ratio onto everything that follows. If you’re splitting a panoramic image across multiple carousel slides, our image splitting guide walks through the exact math. For batch resizing carousel images to consistent dimensions, the bulk resizer handles that in seconds.

Facebook: More Sizes Than You’d Expect

Facebook has been around long enough to accumulate an almost absurd number of image placement types. Cover photos, event banners, ad creatives, marketplace listings — each one wants different dimensions. Here’s what actually matters in 2026.

The Core Sizes

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Profile Picture	170 x 170 px	1:1 (circular crop)
Cover Photo	851 x 315 px	2.7:1
Feed Post (landscape)	1200 x 630 px	1.91:1
Feed Post (square)	1080 x 1080 px	1:1
Feed Post (portrait)	1080 x 1350 px	4:5
Stories	1080 x 1920 px	9:16

The Ones People Forget About

Event covers need to be 1920 x 1005 pixels — a weird dimension that doesn’t match anything else on the platform. I can’t tell you how many event pages I’ve seen with stretched or cropped banner images because someone assumed it was the same as a regular cover photo. It’s not.

Facebook ads are another minefield. The recommended size for a single-image ad is 1080 x 1080 pixels for feed placement, but carousel ads want 1080 x 1080 per card, and collection ads use 1200 x 628. If you’re running campaigns across multiple ad formats, that’s at least three different resize operations per creative asset.

Here’s the thing about Facebook cover photos that trips everyone up: the cover displays at 851 x 315 on desktop but gets cropped to roughly 640 x 360 on mobile. That means whatever’s in the center of your cover is all mobile users see. I’ve lost count of how many businesses have their phone number or tagline trimmed off on mobile because it was positioned near the edges. Always design for the mobile crop and let the extra space be a bonus on desktop.

Twitter/X: The Odd One Out

Twitter — or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week — has always done things a little differently with image display. The platform’s image preview system crops photos in the feed, and the cropping algorithm has changed multiple times over the years. As of 2026, here’s what you’re working with.

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Profile Picture	400 x 400 px	1:1 (circular crop)
Header/Banner	1500 x 500 px	3:1
Single In-Feed Image	1200 x 675 px	16:9
Link Preview Card	1200 x 628 px	1.91:1

The Multi-Image Grid

When you attach multiple images to a tweet, things get interesting. Two images display side by side at roughly 700 x 800 pixels each. Three images show one tall image on the left and two stacked on the right. Four images form a 2x2 grid. Each configuration crops differently, and the focal point algorithm can sometimes put the interesting part of your image behind the “click to expand” curtain.

My advice? If you’re posting single images, 1200 x 675 is your friend. For multi-image posts, design each image to look good at 700 x 800 and accept that Twitter’s going to do what Twitter does. Testing your posts before publishing (or at least checking them on mobile after) saves a lot of “why does that look so weird” moments.

The header banner at 1500 x 500 is extremely wide and short, which makes it tricky to design around. Edges get cropped on smaller screens, so keep your essential elements centered both horizontally and vertically within a safe zone of about 1200 x 380.

LinkedIn: The Professional Sizes

LinkedIn is the platform where image quality signals professionalism, yet it’s somehow also the platform where people most often neglect proper image sizing. Maybe because it feels more “text-first,” but poorly sized images on LinkedIn look particularly amateurish.

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Profile Picture	400 x 400 px	1:1 (circular crop)
Personal Banner	1584 x 396 px	4:1
Company Logo	300 x 300 px	1:1
Company Cover	1128 x 191 px	~6:1
Feed Post	1200 x 627 px	1.91:1
Article Cover	1200 x 644 px	1.86:1

That personal banner dimension — 1584 x 396 — is one of the most awkward aspect ratios in all of social media. It’s so wide and so short that most stock photos look ridiculous when crammed into it. Design something custom if you can, and use the aspect ratio calculator to figure out your crop before committing to a design.

LinkedIn feed posts look best at 1200 x 627, but square images (1080 x 1080) also perform well and often stand out because they take up more vertical space than the standard landscape orientation. If you’re sharing data visualizations, infographics, or quote cards, square is often the way to go.

One detail that catches people off guard: LinkedIn article cover images use a slightly different aspect ratio (1.86:1) than feed post images (1.91:1). The difference is small enough that you can usually get away with using the same 1200-wide image for both, but if you’re particular about pixel-perfect presentation, resize them separately.

TikTok and YouTube: Video Thumbnail Territory

You might think “I’m a video creator, why do I care about image dimensions?” Because thumbnails are arguably the most important image you’ll create for any video. They’re the first thing people see, and they determine whether anyone clicks play.

YouTube Thumbnails

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Video Thumbnail	1280 x 720 px	16:9
Channel Banner	2560 x 1440 px	16:9 (safe area: 1546 x 423)
Profile Picture	800 x 800 px	1:1 (circular crop)

YouTube’s channel banner is a beast. The full image is 2560 x 1440, but the safe area that’s visible across all devices — phone, tablet, desktop, TV — is only 1546 x 423 pixels, right in the center. Everything outside that rectangle might be visible on a large desktop monitor but will absolutely get cropped on mobile. I’ve seen channels with gorgeous banners where the channel name is cut in half on phones. Don’t be that channel.

For thumbnails, 1280 x 720 is non-negotiable. YouTube requires a minimum width of 640 pixels, but always upload at the full 1280. Custom thumbnails with readable text, expressive faces, and high-contrast colors dramatically outperform auto-generated ones. If you’re producing ten videos a month, that’s ten thumbnail images to create and resize — a perfect use case for batch resizing.

TikTok

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Profile Picture	200 x 200 px	1:1 (circular crop)
Video Cover/Thumbnail	1080 x 1920 px	9:16
Photo Post	1080 x 1920 px	9:16

TikTok’s photo carousel feature has changed the game for image-based content on the platform. Each photo in a carousel uses that same 1080 x 1920 vertical format. If you’re repurposing horizontal content from other platforms, you’ll need to crop or resize to fit the vertical frame — or get creative with background padding.

Pinterest: The Tall Image Platform

Pinterest is the outlier that rewards vertical images more than any other platform. While most social networks treat landscape and square images as the standard, Pinterest’s scrolling feed is built for tall content.

Image Type	Dimensions	Aspect Ratio
Profile Picture	165 x 165 px	1:1 (circular crop)
Standard Pin	1000 x 1500 px	2:3
Idea Pin	1080 x 1920 px	9:16
Infographic Pin	1000 x up to 2100 px	1:2.1 max

The 2:3 aspect ratio for standard pins is the sweet spot. Go taller than that and Pinterest will truncate your pin in the feed, hiding the bottom portion behind a “click to expand” prompt. Go wider (landscape) and your pin becomes a tiny sliver that nobody notices while scrolling.

Why does this matter so much here? Because Pinterest is essentially a visual search engine. People are scanning dozens of pins simultaneously, and taller images simply command more attention. A 1000 x 1500 pin takes up roughly twice the visual space of a 1000 x 500 landscape image. That’s not a subtle advantage — it’s the difference between being seen and being scrolled past.

If you’re creating Pinterest content, you probably have images designed for other platforms that need to be reformatted. The bulk cropper can batch-crop your horizontal images to Pinterest’s vertical aspect ratios, and the bulk resizer gets them to the exact pixel dimensions.

The Batch Resize Workflow That Saves Hours

Alright, you’ve got the dimensions. Now what? If you’ve got one image to resize, any editor will do. But if you’re managing social media for a brand, producing content across multiple platforms, or running any kind of image-heavy operation, resizing one at a time is a recipe for burnout.

Here’s the workflow I’ve settled on after way too much trial and error.

Step 1: Start With Your Highest-Quality Source

Always begin with the largest, highest-resolution version of your image. You can resize down without quality loss, but resizing up creates blur and artifacts. Our guide to resizing without quality loss explains the science behind why this matters. If your original is 4000 x 3000, great — that gives you plenty of pixels to work with for any platform.

Step 2: Open BulkImagePro’s Resizer

Head to BulkImagePro.com/bulk-resize/. No account needed, no software to download. Everything runs in your browser, and your images never leave your device.

Step 3: Drop In Your Images

Drag your source images onto the interface. You can load up to 50 images per batch. If you’re preparing a week’s worth of social content, that’s probably more than enough for a single session.

Step 4: Set Your Target Dimensions

Choose the width and height for your target platform. Want 1080 x 1350 for Instagram portrait posts? Set it and every image in the batch gets resized to exactly those dimensions. Need 1200 x 675 for Twitter? Change the settings and run the batch again.

Step 5: Download and Organize

Download your resized images as a ZIP file and drop them into platform-specific folders. I use a simple naming convention: instagram/, twitter/, linkedin/, and so on. Keeps everything organized when it’s time to schedule posts.

The Power Move: Combine With Compression

After resizing, run your images through BulkImagePro’s compressor to shrink file sizes without visible quality loss. Smaller files upload faster, and platforms that aggressively re-compress uploads (looking at you, Instagram) do less damage to images that are already lean. If you also need format conversion — say, converting your PNGs to WebP or JPEG for faster social uploads — the format converter handles that in the same session.

This whole process — resize, compress, organize — takes maybe five minutes for a full week of multi-platform content. Compare that to the forty-minute single-image ordeal I described at the start of this article. That’s the difference between working with a batch tool and working without one. And if you’re also preparing images for email newsletters or campaigns, the same workflow applies — just with different target dimensions. Our email image sizes guide has the specifics for every major email client.

One Image, Every Platform: The Master Image Strategy

Here’s the approach I recommend to anyone who asks me how to manage images across seven platforms without losing their mind.

Start with one master image at the highest resolution you can get. For photography, that usually means the full-resolution export from your camera or editing software — something in the range of 4000 x 3000 pixels or larger. For designed graphics, create your master at 2400 x 2400 or bigger.

Why so large? Because every platform you need to target has different aspect ratios, and you’ll be cropping for each one. Starting big means you have the flexibility to crop wide for Twitter’s 16:9, tall for Pinterest’s 2:3, and square for LinkedIn’s 1:1 feed posts without running out of pixels. If you start at 1080 x 1080, you can’t crop to 1080 x 1350 for Instagram portrait without losing content from the top and bottom.

Think of your master image like a source of truth. Every platform-specific version is derived from it, never created from scratch. This keeps your visual branding consistent across platforms and dramatically reduces the creative workload.

The practical sequence looks like this:

1. Create or select your master image at high resolution
2. Use the bulk cropper to crop to each platform’s aspect ratio
3. Use the bulk resizer to hit the exact pixel dimensions
4. Run everything through the compressor for optimized file sizes
5. Export and organize into platform-specific folders

For a deeper dive into resizing strategies and advanced workflows, the complete guide to bulk image resizing covers everything from resolution math to automation pipelines.

If you want to understand which file formats perform best on each platform, our social media image formats guide has the full breakdown.

Stop Letting Platforms Butcher Your Images

Every social media platform will resize your image if you don’t do it yourself. And when they do, they’re optimizing for server costs, not visual quality. They’ll crop your carefully composed shot to fit their interface, compress it to save bandwidth, and display it at whatever resolution their algorithm decides is “good enough.”

When you resize your images to exact platform specifications before uploading, you’re taking control away from the algorithm and keeping it where it belongs — with you. Your photos stay sharp, your graphics stay readable, and your brand looks polished instead of pixelated.

The dimensions change over time. Platforms update their layouts, add new features, and adjust their recommended sizes. That’s why I keep this guide current and why having a fast batch resize tool in your workflow matters more than memorizing any specific number. The numbers will change. The workflow won’t.

Try BulkImagePro’s free bulk resizer — resize images for every social media platform in seconds. No signup, no uploads to external servers, no quality compromises. Need to crop first? The bulk cropper handles that. Want to check your aspect ratios before resizing? Use the aspect ratio calculator.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the most important social media image size to know in 2026?

If you could only memorize one dimension, make it 1080 x 1350 pixels (4:5 portrait). This aspect ratio works natively on Instagram and Facebook feed posts, and it's close enough to adapt for most other platforms with minor cropping. It takes up the maximum vertical screen space on mobile feeds, which is where most social media consumption happens.

Why do my images look blurry after uploading to social media?

Social platforms compress every image you upload to save bandwidth. If you upload an image that's larger than the platform's recommended dimensions, it gets downscaled and compressed -- a double quality hit. To minimize blurriness, resize your images to the platform's exact recommended dimensions before uploading, use JPEG at 80-85% quality, and avoid uploading images that have already been compressed multiple times.

Can I use the same image size across all social media platforms?

Not if you want optimal results. Each platform uses different aspect ratios and display dimensions. A 1080 x 1080 square image will work on most platforms but won't look ideal on any of them -- it wastes screen space on Instagram (where portrait performs better), gets cropped oddly on Twitter, and looks tiny on Pinterest. The best approach is to start with a high-resolution master image and create platform-specific versions using a batch resizer.

How do I batch resize images for multiple social media platforms at once?

Use a batch resize tool like BulkImagePro's bulk resizer. Load your source images, set the target dimensions for one platform (e.g., 1080 x 1350 for Instagram), download the batch, then change the dimensions and run the same images again for the next platform (e.g., 1200 x 675 for Twitter). The entire process for multiple platforms takes a few minutes instead of hours.

Should I resize images before or after compressing them?

Always resize first, then compress. Compressing a large image and then resizing it wastes processing effort on pixels you're about to discard. Resize to your target dimensions, then apply compression to the smaller file. This produces the smallest file size with the best visual quality. BulkImagePro's compressor and resizer pair naturally for this workflow.

How often do social media platforms change their image size requirements?

Major platforms typically update their recommended image dimensions once or twice a year, often tied to app redesigns or new feature launches. Instagram and TikTok tend to change more frequently than LinkedIn or YouTube. The core dimensions (like Instagram's 1080-pixel width standard) have been stable for years, but specific aspect ratios and display behaviors do shift. Bookmarking a current guide and checking it quarterly is a good habit.