Best Image Sizes for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in 2026
Every social platform crops, compresses, or stretches images that do not match its expected dimensions - which is why a photo that looks perfect on your phone can end up cropped strangely or blurry once posted. Here are the current recommended sizes for the most common post types, and how to resize your images to match them exactly.
- Square post: 1080 x 1080 px
- Portrait post: 1080 x 1350 px
- Story / Reel: 1080 x 1920 px
Instagram compresses images fairly aggressively, so starting with a properly sized image (rather than relying on Instagram to crop and compress an oversized one) generally produces a sharper result.
- Shared post image: 1200 x 630 px
- Cover photo: 820 x 312 px
- Profile photo: 170 x 170 px
Facebook's cover photo dimensions are wider than they are tall by a significant margin - photos not shot with this in mind often end up losing the top and bottom when Facebook crops them to fit.
Twitter / X
- In-feed image: 1600 x 900 px
- Header image: 1500 x 500 px
- Shared post image: similar to Facebook, roughly 1200 x 627 px
- Banner image: 1584 x 396 px
- Profile photo: 400 x 400 px
Why Exact Sizing Matters
When you upload an image that does not match a platform's expected dimensions, one of two things usually happens: the platform crops it to fit (potentially cutting off important parts of the photo), or it stretches/squeezes it to fill the space (distorting proportions). Resizing to the exact target dimensions ahead of time gives you full control over what shows and avoids both problems.
Should You Preserve the Original Aspect Ratio?
If your original photo has different proportions than the target size, you have two choices: crop it to match the new aspect ratio exactly, or stretch it to fit (which can distort faces and straight lines if the ratio is very different). For most social media graphics with text or logos, matching the exact target dimensions - even if it means a slight stretch - is usually preferable to an unpredictable auto-crop.
Step-by-Step: Resizing an Image for Social Media
- Identify which platform and post type you are preparing the image for (feed post, story, cover photo, etc).
- Look up the exact recommended dimensions for that specific format.
- Resize your image to those exact pixel dimensions rather than a rough approximation.
- Preview the result to check nothing important has been cropped or distorted.
- Repeat for each platform you plan to post to, since each has its own preferred dimensions.
Skip the Guesswork - Use Our Free Image Resize Tool
Our free Image Resize tool includes ready-made presets for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and YouTube, so you can resize an image to the exact dimensions each platform expects in a couple of clicks - no need to look up or manually enter pixel values.
Final Thoughts
Social media platforms are unforgiving about image dimensions - upload the wrong size and you risk an awkward crop or a stretched, distorted result. Resizing to each platform's exact recommended dimensions before you post is a small extra step that consistently produces a cleaner, more professional-looking result.