Image Sizes for Every Social Platform, and How to Hit Them

Updated 28 October 2026 · by the My Gadgets team

Get the shape right first and the pixel size second: square (1:1), portrait (4:5), tall (9:16) and wide (1.91:1 or 16:9) cover almost every slot on every platform. If your image has the right proportions, the platform scales it cleanly; if it doesn't, the platform crops it for you, usually through someone's head or your logo. Below is a table of the common sizes, then how to crop and resize to them in two steps.

Platforms change their layouts often, so treat the numbers as current at the time of writing and check the platform's own help pages for anything critical, like ad specifications.

The sizes at a glance

Three habits make this list easier:

• Portrait beats landscape in feeds. On phones, a 4:5 image takes more of the screen than a wide one, which is why it's the default choice for Instagram and Facebook posts.
• Profile pictures are cropped to a circle. Keep the face in the middle and leave space around it; corners disappear.
• Banners are cropped differently on phones and computers. Keep text and faces in the middle third of LinkedIn and X headers and YouTube channel art.

Step 1: Crop to the shape

Open the photo in Crop Image and choose the shape from Aspect Ratio: Square (1:1), Instagram portrait (4:5), Story / Reel (9:16), Link preview (1.91:1) or Widescreen (16:9). Drag over the photo; the selection keeps that shape. Move it by dragging inside it, or resize it from a corner, so the subject sits where you want.

Leave some breathing room. Apps place buttons, captions and profile names over the edges of Stories and Reels, so keep faces and text away from the top and bottom eighth of a 9:16 image.

Step 2: Set the pixel size

You have two options:

• In Crop Image itself, choose an output width under Size Preset, such as 1080px (Instagram) or 1200px (HD). The height follows from the shape you cropped: 1080 wide at 4:5 gives 1080 × 1350.
• In Resize Image, type the exact width and height for any other size. With the aspect lock on, typing the width fills in the matching height.

Upload sizes slightly larger than these (say 1440 wide for Instagram) also work, because the platform scales them down. Much smaller images look soft, because the platform scales them up.

Step 3: Keep the file sensible

Most platforms recompress what you upload. Sending a 12 MB original doesn't make the result sharper; it just takes longer to upload and gives the platform's compressor more to throw away. A JPG at quality 85–90 at the sizes above is a good balance. Compress Image does this for a whole set of photos at once.

Screenshots and graphics with text are the exception: save them as PNG, which keeps text sharp, as explained in which image format to choose.

Posting a screenshot?

Screenshots rarely have a social-friendly shape. Screenshot Studio places a screenshot on a background with padding, rounded corners and a shadow, and exports it at preset sizes including 1080 × 1080, 1080 × 1350 and 1200 × 675. Before you post one, check what to hide in a screenshot.

Quick answers

Why does Instagram crop my photo in the grid? The profile grid shows posts in a taller rectangle than a square, so the sides of square posts and the top and bottom of others may be trimmed in the grid view (not in the post itself). Keep the subject in the centre.

Does uploading at a higher resolution improve quality? Up to a point. Above roughly 1080 to 1440 pixels wide, platforms scale images down, so extra pixels mostly add upload time.

What size should a profile picture be? Square, at least 400 × 400 pixels, with the face centred so the circle crop doesn't cut it.

Will my photo lose its location data when I post it? Major platforms remove it on upload, but other routes don't. See what your photos reveal.

What to do next

Crop to the shape with Crop Image, set the exact size with Resize Image if needed, and frame screenshots with Screenshot Studio.