How to Resize an Image for Social Media
The current sizes, plus why your upload looks worse than the file you made.
Resize to the platform's native dimensions before uploading — 1080×1350 for an Instagram portrait post, 1200×675 for X, 1200×627 for LinkedIn and 1280×720 for a YouTube thumbnail. Uploading a correctly sized image matters because every platform recompresses what you send; giving it the exact dimensions avoids a resize pass and preserves noticeably more quality.
Last updated 17 July 2026 IST · Maintained by SnoopTool, a free online tools website with 165+ browser-based utilities.| Platform / placement | Pixels | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram Story / Reel | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| X (Twitter) in-stream | 1200 × 675 | 16:9 |
| LinkedIn link post | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 |
| Facebook link share | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| Open Graph (websites) | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
Why your upload looks worse than your file
Every platform recompresses images on upload — it's not optional and you can't turn it off. Instagram re-encodes to roughly 1080px wide regardless of what you send.
That's why size discipline matters. Send a 4000px image and the platform downscales it with a fast, generic algorithm tuned for throughput, then compresses the result — two lossy operations you didn't control. Send exactly 1080×1350 and it skips the resize, so only one compression pass happens, on an image you already optimised.
The other half is portrait beats landscape on mobile. A 4:5 Instagram post occupies substantially more screen than a 1:1 square, and a 9:16 Story fills it entirely. More screen means more attention. If you're making one size, make it portrait.
Safe zones stop the decapitations
Automatic cropping is what ruins otherwise good images:
- Profile pictures crop to a circle. Upload a square, but keep everything important within the inscribed circle — the corners will be cut.
- Stories and Reels overlay UI on roughly the top 250px and bottom 250px. Your text goes in the middle 1400px or it sits under a username and a Send button.
- Link previews crop differently everywhere. A 1.91:1 OG image gets cropped toward square by some apps. Centre the important content.
- Feed previews may crop to square even when the full post is portrait. The top of a 4:5 image is what people see first.
Use the social media image resizer for presets, and crop deliberately first.
Tools used in this guide
Frequently asked questions
What size should an Instagram post be?
1080×1080 for square, 1080×1350 for portrait (4:5), and 1080×1920 for Stories and Reels (9:16). Portrait is the better default — a 4:5 post takes up considerably more phone screen than a square, which means more attention. Instagram re-encodes everything to about 1080px wide, so sending exactly those dimensions avoids an unnecessary resize pass.
Why does my image look blurry after uploading to Instagram?
Because Instagram recompresses every upload, and sending an oversized image makes it worse: the platform downscales with a fast generic algorithm and then compresses, giving you two lossy passes you didn't control. Resize to exactly 1080×1350 (or 1080×1080) at quality 85 before uploading, so only one compression happens — on a file you already optimised.
What is the correct size for a YouTube thumbnail?
1280×720 pixels (16:9), under 2 MB, in JPG or PNG. That's the minimum for the 'HD' thumbnail slot. Keep essential text in the centre and reasonably large — thumbnails are frequently viewed at around 320×180 in sidebars and search results, where fine text is unreadable. The duration badge sits over the bottom-right corner, so keep it clear.
What size should an Open Graph image be?
1200×630 pixels (1.91:1) — the size Facebook, LinkedIn and most link-preview renderers expect. Keep it under about 1 MB and centre the important content, because some apps crop toward square. Use an absolute URL in the og:image tag; relative paths silently fail in many crawlers, which is a common reason previews come back blank.
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