Social Media Image Sizes: The Complete 2025 Guide
Every platform, every format—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter/X. The only guide you'll need, with free AI resize tool to instantly convert any image to the perfect size.
Quick Reference (Most Popular Formats)
Why Image Dimensions Matter in 2025
Every social media platform has specific image dimension requirements, and using the wrong size can hurt your engagement in surprising ways. Instagram will crop your carefully composed product photo. YouTube will letterbox your thumbnail with black bars. Pinterest will downsample your high-res graphic until it looks pixelated.
The challenge? These requirements change constantly. Platforms add new features (Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn Stories), update their algorithms to favor certain formats, and quietly adjust their compression settings.
This guide covers the current optimal dimensions for every major platform in 2025, explains why each size matters, and shows you how to resize any image to fit perfectly—without cropping your subject or adding letterboxing.
Pro tip: Traditional image editors crop or stretch your images to fit new dimensions. AI-powered resizing intelligently reshapes the background while preserving your subject. Try it free on any format below.
Complete Platform Breakdown
E-commerce Product Image Sizes
Product images have different requirements than social media. E-commerce platforms prioritize square formats to enable zoom functionality and maintain consistency across listings.
Best Practices for Social Media Images
Start with High Resolution
Always upload the highest quality image you have. Platforms will compress and downscale as needed, but you can't add quality back after uploading a small image.
Use AI for Aspect Ratio Changes
When converting between aspect ratios (e.g., 16:9 to 9:16), traditional tools crop or stretch. AI-powered resizing intelligently reshapes backgrounds while preserving subjects—faces, products, text remain perfect.
Test on Mobile First
90% of social media usage happens on mobile. Always preview your images on a phone before posting—colors look different, text needs to be larger, and composition matters more.
Keep File Sizes Under 5MB
Most platforms accept up to 8-10MB, but upload speed and compression artifacts improve significantly when you stay under 5MB. Use PNG for graphics/text, JPG for photos.
Common Questions
What happens if I upload the wrong size?
Platforms will automatically crop or scale your image to fit their requirements. This often results in cut-off faces, awkward framing, or pixelation. It's always better to resize correctly before uploading.
What's the difference between "minimum" and "recommended" sizes?
Minimum sizes are what the platform technically accepts, but they often result in quality loss or poor display. Recommended sizes are what the platform's engineers suggest for best quality and engagement. Always use recommended when possible.
How to Resize Images for Social Media
Traditional Method (Cropping)
Most image editors (Photoshop, Canva, Pixlr) crop your image to fit the new aspect ratio. This means you lose parts of your image—the top/bottom for landscape-to-portrait, or sides for portrait-to-landscape. Not ideal for product photos, portraits, or any carefully composed image.
AI-Powered Method (Intelligent Reshaping)
AI-powered resizing analyzes your image, identifies the important parts (faces, products, text), and intelligently reshapes the background to fit the new dimensions. Nothing gets cropped, nothing gets distorted.
Platform-Specific Pro Tips
- •4:5 portrait gets 20% more screen space than 1:1 square
- •Stories/Reels support stickers and text in safe zones—keep important content in the middle 60%
- •Carousel posts allow 1:1 to 4:5, but all images must use the same ratio
YouTube
- •Thumbnails under 640×360 won't display in HD—always use 1280×720
- •Keep text and faces in the center—edges get cropped on mobile
- •Max file size is 2MB—compress without losing quality
- •2:3 ratio (1000×1500) gets 3x more engagement than square
- •Avoid ratios taller than 1:2.1—Pinterest will crop them
- •Text overlays perform 40% better—but keep readable on mobile
- •1200×627 is the sweet spot for link previews and engagement
- •Professional headshots should be 400×400 minimum
- •Infographics perform well—keep text large and high-contrast
Which Image Format Should You Use?
| Format | Best For | File Size | Transparency |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPG | Photos, realistic images | Small | No |
| PNG | Graphics, text, logos | Large | Yes |
| WebP | Web use, best quality/size | Medium | Yes |
Update History
This guide is updated monthly to reflect platform changes. Last verified: December 2025.