Image size

Size for raster images

Raster images are defined by their width and length in terms of pixels. From these, two other measures are derived: aspect ratio and MegaPixels (MP)

In addition, each image has a file size which depends on various factors such as the size, contents, file format and compression rate.

Recommendations

Since hardware does change, recommendations also do. The idea is to use the maximum amount of pixels that will be displayed in both dimensions. Most web services will clip the picture in one direction and they shrink or stretch. In addition, one also can minimize networking traffic, e.g. use stronger compression or send small than recommended pictures.

As of fall 2018, we found the following recommendations

Sharing pictures

• Shared images on Facebook. 1200 X 628 px
• Instagram: 1080 px width (official help)
• Twitter: 1200 X 675 px (800 x 418 px for sharing a links with a picture)
• LinkedIn article cover images: 744 x 400 px

Profile pages

Each social service has several types of profile pictures and therefore several recommendations exist for each of these.

• LinkedIn profile picture: 1,104 x 736 px
• Facebook cover: 829 x 315 px (official help)
• Facebook profile: 960 x 960px.
• Twitter profile: 500 x 500 px
• Twitter cover (header): 1500 x 500px

Links

• Always Up-to-Date Guide to Social Media Image Sizes by Kevin Kink. (as of sept. 2018, last update may 2018).

• The Ideal Image Sizes for Your Social Media Posts: Guidelines for All 7 Major Social Networks (buffer app, retrieved sept. 2018).