Social Media Image Sizes: A Practical Guide for Sharp Posts
Recommended pixel sizes and aspect ratios for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, LinkedIn and Pinterest, and how to stop platforms from blurring your images.
By the ClearPix team · · 3 min read
Every platform resizes and recompresses what you upload. Send an image that is the wrong shape and it gets cropped in odd places; send one that is too small and it is stretched until it looks soft; send one that is huge and the platform compresses it hard to save space. Uploading at the size and shape a platform expects is the single easiest way to keep your posts sharp.
Platforms change their layouts from time to time, so treat the numbers below as reliable starting points and check the platform's own help pages if something looks off. The principles in the second half of this guide do not change.
Recommended sizes at a glance
| Platform and placement | Recommended size (px) | Aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram Stories and Reels | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Facebook shared link preview | 1200 × 630 | 1.91:1 |
| Facebook feed image | 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1080 | 4:5 or 1:1 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| X (Twitter) single image | 1600 × 900 | 16:9 |
| LinkedIn shared image | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 |
| Pinterest pin | 1000 × 1500 | 2:3 |
Tall formats (4:5 and 9:16) take up more of the screen in mobile feeds, which is why many creators prefer them for Instagram and Facebook.
Why your uploads look blurry
The image is too small
If you upload a 600-pixel image to a slot that displays at 1080 pixels, the platform stretches it, and stretched images look soft. This often happens with images saved from other websites, screenshots on older phones and pictures that have already been shared through chat apps.
Fix: find the original, or enlarge it with the AI image upscaler before uploading. A 2x upscale is usually enough to bring a small image up to social media size, and the network rebuilds edges rather than blurring them.
The image is the wrong shape
A landscape photo uploaded to a 4:5 portrait slot is cropped, and important parts such as faces or text may be cut off. Crop the image to the correct ratio yourself before uploading so you decide what stays in the frame.
The image has been compressed too many times
Each time an image is uploaded and downloaded again, it loses a little more quality. Reposting an image you downloaded from a platform, rather than using your original, adds a second round of compression. Our explainer on JPEG compression artefacts shows what that damage looks like.
Text and graphics saved as JPG
Graphics with text, such as quote cards, infographics and slides, show fuzzy halos when saved as JPG. Export them as PNG instead. Platforms still convert them, but starting from a clean PNG gives a noticeably sharper result. You can switch formats with the JPG to PNG converter.
Safe zones for text and faces
Profile pictures, buttons and captions are overlaid on parts of your image in many placements. Keep important content away from the edges:
- Stories and Reels: keep text and faces out of roughly the top and bottom 250 pixels, where the profile name and reply bar appear.
- YouTube thumbnails: the video length is shown in the bottom-right corner, so avoid putting key text there.
- Profile grids: some platforms show a cropped preview in the grid, so make sure the subject is near the centre.
A simple workflow
- Start from your original photo or design, never a downloaded copy.
- Crop to the target aspect ratio.
- If the image is smaller than the recommended width, upscale it 2x.
- Export photos as high-quality JPG (85–92%) and text-heavy graphics as PNG.
- Preview the post on a phone before publishing, since that is where most people will see it.