Social media is showing no signs of slowing down, with Forbes data showing there are 4.9 billion users around the world - that’s over half of the world's population! With this in mind, it’s important that your business present its graphics and videos with the correct dimensions in mind so they display correctly and professionally to help you catch the attention of potential customers. To support you with this, we’ve created a handy guide with all the sizes you’ll need to consider across the major social media platforms, for your posts in 2024.
Why Can’t I Just Post My Content?
It can be tempting to just post your content to all of your chosen platforms in an attempt to increase brand visibility. However, there are major benefits to adapting your content for each platform’s guidelines including:
Avoiding your content being cropped
If your image or video is too large for your chosen platform, it’s likely that your image may be cropped, and in turn, you may lose essential parts of your asset. By ensuring your images fit within each platform’s guidelines, you can be confident that your message will remain clear to your customers because your text and images won’t be cropped, which is just what you need to grab their attention.
Reduced risk of distortion or pixelation
If your image or video is too big or too small for the social media channel you’re posting on, the platform may try to resize the dimensions to fit their guidelines. This could lead to your assets being distorted (where your content looks blurry or stretched) or becoming pixelated (leading your content to look fuzzy or made of squares and dots). When your content is created with the correct dimensions in mind, you can avoid the platform resizing your uploads. As a general rule of thumb, many social media experts, like Sprout Social, highly recommend that you upload your images as a PNG or JPG file, as these files are less likely to experience distortion.
Increased visibility
Social media algorithms (a set of rules which websites create to understand your post) will often prioritise optimised images over others, as confirmed by Social Media Examiner. The fact that you’ve spent time ensuring that your content is tailored to the platform and looks aesthetically pleasing is rewarded by being shown in more people's feeds, increasing your reach. With more people seeing your content, you have more opportunities to reach new audiences who can engage with your content and become potential customers.
Facebook Size Guide
Facebook is the world’s most active social media platform, with datareportal statistics showing that there were 2.989 billion monthly active users in April 2023, indicating that over a third of the world is active on Facebook!
If you want to ensure that your brand stands out on this busy platform, it’s important to understand the correct Facebook image sizes to use and what video dimensions are correct.
Facebook Profile Picture Size
The recommended size for your Facebook profile picture is 170 x 170 pixels, as this is how it will be displayed on most computers.
Facebook Cover Photo Size
If you want your cover photo to stand out with your message and imagery showing clearly, it’s recommended that you create the cover photo at 851 x 315 pixels.
Facebook Post Image Size
To avoid slow load times or pixelation, it’s recommended you ensure your image is created on a 1200 x 630 pixel canvas, but no smaller than 600 x 315 pixels.
Sometimes you might want to share several images in one post, for things such as showcasing various products or promoting several USPs and services. When this is the case and you’re sharing 2-10 images, which triggers a tile or carousel, it’s recommended that your images are 1200 x 1200 pixels.
Facebook Story Image Size
Because Facebook stories are designed to take up the whole of a phone screen, it uses a 9:16 aspect ratio, so the recommended image size is 1080 x 1920 pixels. If your story contains text, you might want to consider leaving sound 250 pixels worth of space at the top and bottom of your image, to ensure that it’s easily legible. This will also help any call to action prompts stand out without being covered by the buttons or your profile photo!
Facebook Video Size
Similarly to Facebook stories, videos are made to fill screens, so the aspect ratios will be 9:16 for portrait or 16:9 for horizontal videos. To ensure that your Facebook videos are optimised, it’s recommended that they’re uploaded at 1280 by 720 pixels for landscape images, or 720 pixels x 1280 pixels for portrait.
YouTube Size Guide
YouTube is the biggest video-sharing platform and according to demandsage statistics, there are over 2.7 billion active users on the platform as of 2023. With this in mind, you’ve got access to a substantial audience base should you maximise this platform’s potential.
YouTube Profile Picture Size
If you want your YouTube profile picture to stand out and be clear for everyone to see, the recommended photo size is 800 x 800 pixels. It’s highly recommended that you ensure that the focus of your photo, for example, your logo, is centred and high quality.
YouTube Banner Image Size
Your YouTube banner image will give you a space to promote your channel further, whether that be your brand’s strapline or showcasing some of your brand's work.
To ensure that your YouTube banner stands out, ensure that you work with the recommended dimensions of 2048 x 1152 pixels on a 16:9 aspect ratio. If you want to make sure that your text and logos aren’t cut off, you’ll want to ensure that you work within the safe area of 1235 x 338 pixels.
YouTube Thumbnail Image Size
YouTube thumbnails are recommended to be uploaded at 1280 x 720 pixels. They are key to ensuring that users scrolling through their feeds feel compelled to click on your video.
YouTube Video Dimensions
YouTube recommends that for optimal performance, videos should be filmed at 1920 x 1080 pixels, however, to meet HD standards, you must ensure that videos are uploaded at least 1280 x 720 pixels.
YouTube Shorts Dimensions
YouTube shorts recommended dimensions are 1080 x 1920 pixels. Due to being created with mobile users in mind, YouTube Shorts always load in a portrait orientation.
Instagram Size guide
Instagram, part of the Meta organisation, along with Facebook, is a well established platform for image sharing, but in recent times has seen an evolution, through its “Reels” feature.
To ensure that your business finds success on Instagram, many marketers recommend that you post a mixture of content, both images and videos to make the most of how users interact with different types of post formats.
Instagram Profile Picture Size
Instagram profile pictures are displayed at 110 x 110 pixels. The platform displays profile pictures in a circular format, so it’s important to ensure that any elements you want to be focussed on are centred, so they’re not cropped out.
Instagram Post Image Size
Instagram posts can be uploaded either as a portrait, landscape or square image, so it’s important to consider the dimensions of your image when uploading. The one consistent factor is that you want to aim to upload images which are 1080 pixels wide.
The recommended image sizes are as follows:
- Landscape - 1080 x 566 pixels
- Portrait - 1080 x 1350 pixels
- Square - 1080 x 1080 pixels
Instagram Reels and Stories Size
Instagram reels and stories are geared towards landscape mobile viewership. It’s recommended you upload your content at 1080 x 1920 pixels. If you upload at a smaller size, you might notice blank spaces filling your screen, or the content being resized.
TikTok Size Guide
TikTok is a platform that started to rise rapidly throughout the coronavirus pandemic and was a key channel leading the rise of short form video across social media. BusinessofApps data suggests that TikTok had 1.5 billion monthly users in 2023 and is expected to reach 2 billion by the end of 2024, showing that this platform is rapidly growing.
TikTok Profile Picture Sizes
The recommended image size to upload your TikTok profile picture is 20 x 20 pixels, however, it’s key to note that you need to upload a high quality image to ensure that your profile picture is clear.
TikTok Video Dimensions
To eliminate any blank spaces on your videos or risk of stretching, you should aim to upload your TikTok videos using 1080 x 1920 pixel dimensions.
X (Formerly Twitter) Size Guide
In July 2023, Elon Musk renamed Twitter, X and it has seen numerous changes throughout 2023. Demandsage found that X has 528.3 million monthly users and an average Twitter user spends around 30.9 minutes on the platform each day. Accounts who regularly post images find they get more engagement than purely text based content.
X Profile Picture Size
When uploading a profile picture to X, it’s recommended that you upload your images at 400 x 400 pixels. It’s also worth noting that X is unable to accept images larger than 2MB.
X Header Photo Size
It’s highly recommended that you use the maximum 1500 x 500 pixels image size to make the most of your space available. Your header image will be cropped to an aspect ratio of 3:1, so it’ll appear differently on screen.
X Post Image Size
X has maximum file sizes for you to consider (up to 5MB for images on mobile, or 15MB on web), and it’s recommended that your images are uploaded at 1600 x 900 pixels.
LinkedIn Size Guide
LinkedIn has seen a major transformation in its usage over the past few years. The perception is no longer that it’s a platform just used to search for a new job, it’s now used as a professional social media platform, which brands are using to elevate their reputation.
LinkedIn Profile Picture Size
To make sure that your image remains clear you will want to consider uploading an image at 300 x 300 pixels, but note that the file size can be no larger than 8MB.
LinkedIn Cover Photo Size
The recommended image size for your LinkedIn cover photo is 1128 x 191 pixels, and it’s important to remember that the left hand side of your image will be partially covered by your profile picture.
LinkedIn Post Image Size
Many businesses find that adding images to their posts helps increase reach and engagement, as the algorithm rewards the content and users are more likely to be engaged. The recommended post size is 1200 x 628 pixels.
In Conclusion
Every social media platform has a different set of requirements, so even if you’re thinking about posting similar content across the board, you may need to make several versions of the same image or video. You’ll find various benefits to uploading your content at the correct sizes for each platform, most importantly the increased reach and engagement, boosting your brand visibility, and increasing the chance of new customers finding your business.
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