Every social media size guide looks the same, because most of them are copied from each other. We went the other way: for each size below, we opened the platform's own help or specification page, read the number, and linked it. Doing that turned up four sizes that most guides — including earlier versions of our own tool pages — still repeat but the platforms no longer say.
Last checked: 24 September 2026. We recheck monthly. If a platform's page has changed since, the linked source is the one to believe.
Four sizes that have changed
| What | What most guides say | What the platform says now |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720, under 2 MB | 3840 × 2160 (at least 640 wide), 2 MB from the mobile app, 50 MB on desktop |
| Instagram tallest post | 4:5, 1080 × 1350 | 3:4, up to 1080 × 1440 |
| Facebook Page cover | 820 × 312 desktop, centred 640 on mobile | At least 400 × 150; 851 × 315 loads fastest; mobile is 2.4:1, aligned left |
| LinkedIn Page cover | 1128 × 191, or 4200 × 700 to upload | 1512 × 256, minimum and recommended |
None of the old numbers will get an image rejected: a 1280×720 thumbnail or a 1080×1350 post still uploads and looks fine. The difference matters when you want the most from the space — a 3:4 post is taller in the feed than a 4:5 one — and when a cropped edge hides something you meant people to see.
| Image | Size | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Feed post | Up to 1080 wide; any ratio from 1.91:1 to 3:4 (566 to 1440 high at 1080 wide) | Instagram Help |
Inside that range, three shapes cover almost everything: square 1080×1080, portrait 1080×1350 and tall 1080×1440. Instagram post size exports all three from one photo, cropped around the subject you choose.
YouTube
| Image | Size | File | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video thumbnail | 3840 × 2160, 16:9, at least 640 wide | JPG or PNG; 2 MB (mobile app), 50 MB (desktop) | YouTube Help |
| Shorts thumbnail | 2160 × 3840, 9:16, at least 640 high | Same | YouTube Help |
| Channel banner | At least 2048 × 1152; 2560 × 1440 recommended; safe area 1235 × 338 at the minimum size | 6 MB or smaller | YouTube Help |
The safe area is where YouTube says text and logos belong. At the recommended 2560×1440 it scales to about 1544×423 in the middle. YouTube's page says the banner "will get cropped on certain views and devices", so a name or logo placed outside the safe area may not be seen. The channel art preset in the social media image resizer draws that rectangle on your image. YouTube thumbnail size exports 1280×720, which is within YouTube's range and under the mobile 2 MB limit.
X (Twitter)
X's help centre blocks automated access, so these two rows come from the most recent archived copy of the page (June 2026). X header size exports a 1500×500 header from any photo.
| Image | Size | File | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile cover (background) | 1584 × 396 recommended | Under 8 MB | LinkedIn Help |
| Page logo | 400 × 400 recommended (268 × 268 minimum) | PNG or JPEG, 3 MB maximum | LinkedIn Help |
| Page cover | 1512 × 256 | PNG or JPEG, 3 MB maximum | LinkedIn Help |
| Image in a Page post with a link | 1.91:1, 1200 × 627; more than 200 wide | — | LinkedIn Help |
On a personal profile the round photo sits over the left part of the cover, so anything placed there is hidden. Resize image for LinkedIn crops the profile photo; the social media image resizer exports the 1584×396 cover and the 1200×627 post image. For Page covers, LinkedIn's advice is to keep key details away from the edges, especially the lower-right corner.
Facebook Pages
| Image | Size | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Profile picture | 320 × 320 for best quality; cropped to a circle; shown at 176 × 176 on computers, 196 × 196 on phones | Facebook Help |
| Cover photo | At least 400 × 150; loads fastest as an sRGB JPG, 851 × 315, under 100 KB; 2.4:1 and aligned left on phones; the profile picture overlaps it by about 40 pixels on mobile | Facebook Help |
Because the mobile view is aligned left, it is the right edge of a wide cover that disappears on phones, not both edges equally. At 312 pixels high, a 2.4:1 view keeps about the left 749 pixels of an 820-pixel cover. Facebook cover photo size marks a central area that stays inside that view.
| Image | Size | File | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Pin | 2:3 recommended, 1000 × 1500 | PNG or JPEG; 20 MB on desktop, 32 MB in the app | Pinterest Business Help |
Pinterest's page warns that Pins taller than 2:3 "might get cut off in people's feeds". The number comes from its ad specifications, which also apply to organic Pins made with the same format.
What we left out, and why
Instagram Stories, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky are not in these tables. For each of them we could not find a current number on the platform's own help pages on the day we checked, and a size guide full of copied numbers is exactly what this page is trying not to be. When a platform publishes one, it goes in, with the link.
The same rule applies to the file-size limits for email, chat and passport photos, which are in a separate dated table: upload size limits for email, chat and photo applications. If you spot a number here that no longer matches its source, write to hello@filewhisk.com and we will correct it the same day.