Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet (2026)

The sizes that matter

These are the feed and thumbnail placements where a wrong size costs you the most. Platforms change their specs occasionally, but these have been stable for years:

• Instagram feed post: 1080×1080 (square) or 1080×1350 (portrait — takes up more screen and usually performs better)
• Instagram Story / Reel cover: 1080×1920 (9:16)
• X (Twitter) post image: 1600×900 (16:9); single images show uncropped at this ratio
• LinkedIn post image: 1200×627; company page logo: 300×300
• YouTube thumbnail: 1280×720 (16:9) — export as high-quality JPEG or PNG under 2 MB
• Facebook shared link image: 1200×630

Ratio first, pixels second

The aspect ratio is what matters most. Platforms scale down gracefully — a 2160×2700 portrait post displays identically to a 1080×1350 one — but they crop badly. If your ratio doesn't match the placement, the platform decides which part of your image to amputate, and it rarely chooses well.

So the workflow is: crop to the target ratio first, compose your subject inside that frame, then resize to the platform's pixel dimensions. Doing it in the other order means re-cropping after every resize.

Compression is the silent quality killer

Every major platform re-compresses your upload, often aggressively. Two defenses work well: upload at the platform's recommended pixel size (so their scaler does less work), and upload a high-quality file (so their compressor starts from a clean source rather than compounding your artifacts).

Paradoxically, a slightly oversized, high-quality JPEG often survives platform compression better than an already-squeezed one. Don't pre-compress to the platform's limit — give their encoder good material.

One click with social presets

PPPP's export dialog includes social presets that resize your canvas to the exact target dimensions for Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Pick the preset, adjust position with a crop if needed, and export — no spec sheets required.

Combined with the target file size option, you can also guarantee the result stays under each platform's upload limit (YouTube's 2 MB thumbnail cap is the classic trap). Set the preset, set the budget, and the editor solves the quality setting for you.