Social Media Image Resizer

Why each platform needs its own size

Every platform shows images in its own shapes: a circle for profile pictures, a wide strip for covers, squares and portraits in feeds, and tall 9:16 frames for stories and short videos. If you upload an image of a different shape, the platform crops it for you, often cutting off a face, a logo or the text on a poster. Cropping it yourself to the right shape and size means you decide what stays in.

The pixel size matters as well. An image smaller than the platform’s recommendation is enlarged and looks soft, while a much larger one is scaled down by the platform anyway (Instagram, for example, reduces photos wider than 1080 pixels to 1080). The recommended sizes are usually the safest choice.

Where the sizes come from

The sizes come from each platform’s own help pages and advertising specifications wherever they exist. Because the platforms do not publish a figure for everything, each size is labelled:

• Recommended by the platform: the platform states this size.
• The platform’s stated minimum: only a minimum is published, so we use it or a common size above it.
• Worked out from the platform’s guidance: the platform gives a ratio or a width, and the size is calculated from it (for example 4:5 at Instagram’s recommended 1080-pixel width is 1080 × 1350).
• Unofficial: the platform publishes nothing, so the size comes from a widely used guide, which is named.

Each size links to its source and shows the date we checked it. Platforms change their recommendations without warning, so for an important campaign, follow the link and check the current guidance. The full list is in All sizes and their sources under the tool.

Crop to fill or fit with a background

Crop to fill covers the whole frame with your image and cuts off what does not fit. Drag the preview (or select it and use the arrow keys) to choose what stays in, and zoom in to tighten the framing. When you export several sizes at once, each one is centred on the same point of your image, so your subject stays in view as the shape changes.

Fit with a background colour shows the whole image and fills the space around it with a colour of your choice. Use it for logos, posters and flyers whose edges must not be cut off, for example a portrait poster on a square post.

Reading the notes

Many sizes have notes from the source: file size limits, accepted formats, and safe zones where the platform places buttons or profile pictures over your image. Facebook, for example, says its Page cover is shown at different shapes on computers and phones, and Meta’s advertising guide asks you to keep the top and bottom of Stories adverts free of text and logos. Keep important text and faces away from the edges of tall and wide formats.

Next steps

To straighten or adjust an image before you resize it, use the photo editor. Planning what to post? The social media content calendar helps you plan a month at a time. If you would like help with design and campaigns, see our digital marketing and branding and design services.