Guides › Photos

Social media image sizes 2026: the official numbers

Updated 2 November 2026 · by Vistaar Studio

Short answer: for feed posts, make images 1080 px wide: 1080 × 1350 (4:5) works on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Stories are 1080 × 1920 (9:16). Covers differ everywhere: Facebook 851 × 315, LinkedIn profile 1584 × 396, X 1500 × 500, YouTube 2560 × 1440. Pinterest wants 1000 × 1500 (2:3) and YouTube thumbnails are 16:9.

Size tables online copy each other and drift. So for every row we read the platform's own help, creator or business page and wrote down only what it says, with a link. Where a platform publishes no number, the cell says "no official size published". Last checked 2 November 2026. Platforms change these pages, so check the source before a big campaign.

The table

What the table doesn't fit

Instagram's real rule is width and shape. Its help page says photos are uploaded at up to 1,080 px wide. Anything wider is sized down, anything under 320 px is enlarged, and anything outside the 1.91:1 to 3:4 range is cropped. So a 3000 px photo isn't "better"; Instagram shrinks it anyway. For the full Instagram walkthrough, see how to resize photos for Instagram on Mac.

Some rows come from ad pages. Meta publishes story sizes and Facebook feed ratios only in its Business Help Centre, written for ads. They're the closest official numbers, so we use them and say so.

Covers get cropped differently on phones and computers. Facebook shows the same cover at 16:9 on a computer and 2.4:1 on a phone, X may trim 60 px from the top and bottom of a header, and YouTube shows only the 1235 × 338 middle of a banner on some screens. Keep text and faces in the centre.

Profile pictures end up as circles on most of these platforms. Upload a square with the face in the middle.

How to resize to these sizes on a Mac for free

Always work on a copy (select the file in Finder and press ⌘ D). The order matters: crop to the shape first, then resize, or the picture gets stretched.

With Preview

1. Open the photo in Preview. Choose Tools › Rectangular Selection and drag a box in the right shape. The size shows as you drag, so aim for the ratio you need (4:5, 9:16, 3:1…).
2. Choose Tools › Crop (⌘ K).
3. Choose Tools › Adjust Size, set the units to pixels, keep Scale proportionally ticked and type the width, for example 1080. Click OK and save.

For a square, how to make an image square on Mac has more ways, including padding instead of cropping.

With sips in Terminal

macOS includes a command called sips. It overwrites the file unless you add --out, so use copies. We tested these on macOS 26.2 with a 1920 × 1080 photo:

# 4:5 Instagram / Facebook / LinkedIn portrait (1080 × 1350)
sips -c 1080 864 photo.jpg
sips -z 1350 1080 photo.jpg

# 9:16 story (1080 × 1920)
sips -c 1080 608 story.jpg
sips -z 1920 1080 story.jpg

# square (1080 × 1080)
sips -c 1080 1080 square.jpg
sips -z 1080 1080 square.jpg

-c height width crops from the centre; -z height width resizes to exact pixels (--resampleHeightWidth is the long name). Note the order: height first. The crop numbers above suit a 1080 px tall photo; for other photos, work out the largest box of the right shape that fits.

To shrink a whole folder to 1080 px on the long side and save JPEG copies in another folder, leaving the originals alone:

mkdir resized
sips -s format jpeg -Z 1080 *.webp --out resized

macOS can read WebP but sips can't write it: ask for WebP and no file appears. Save as JPEG or PNG, which every platform above accepts. More options are in how to batch resize images on Mac.

Doing a folder at a time: Pictailor

We make this app, so weigh this part with that in mind. The free methods above work. Pictailor, our batch photo resizer for Mac, does the same jobs with buttons:

• Batch resize a whole folder in one Save. Originals are never changed; copies go to a Pictailor folder beside them.
• Ready-made sizes for social posts, online shops and more.
• Compress to an exact file size (handy for limits like Facebook's 100 KB cover), checked on the real saved file. It never enlarges a photo.
• Right-click photos in the Finder (Services) to resize without opening the app.

FAQ

What is the best image size for Instagram in 2026?

1080 px wide, between 1.91:1 and 3:4: 1080 × 1080, 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1440. Stories are 1080 × 1920.

Is there one image size that works on every platform?

For feeds, 1080 × 1350 (4:5) fits Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn; 1080 × 1920 fits stories. Covers and banners all need their own shape.

What size is a YouTube thumbnail?

16:9, at least 640 px wide, JPG or PNG. YouTube lists 3840 × 2160 for videos. The limit is 2 MB from mobile, 50 MB from a computer.

Why does Instagram not publish a profile picture size?

We couldn't find one on any Instagram or Meta help page, and the numbers elsewhere aren't official. Use a clear square with the face centred.

How do I resize an image to 1080 × 1350 on a Mac for free?

Crop to 4:5, then resize. In Preview: Tools › Crop, then Tools › Adjust Size to 1080 wide. In Terminal, on a copy of a 1920 × 1080 photo: sips -c 1080 864 photo.jpg, then sips -z 1350 1080 photo.jpg.