Here's the thing nobody tells you: when you upload a photo to Instagram or Facebook, it doesn't keep your file. It resizes it to its own dimensions and runs it through its own compressor — and the heavier and larger your original, the more brutally it gets squeezed. The fix is to hand the platform a file that's already the right size and already clean, so there's little left for it to butcher.
The 2026 size cheat sheet
| Square post | 1080 × 1080 |
| Portrait post | 1080 × 1350 |
| Story / Reel | 1080 × 1920 |
| Feed post | 1200 × 1500 |
| Cover photo | 820 × 312 |
| Story | 1080 × 1920 |
| In-stream image | 1600 × 900 |
| Header | 1500 × 500 |
| Post image | 1200 × 1200 |
| Link preview | 1200 × 627 |
| Cover | 1584 × 396 |
| Standard pin | 1000 × 1500 |
| Aspect ratio | 2:3 |
| Thumbnail | 1280 × 720 |
| Channel banner | 2560 × 1440 |
| Video / image cover | 1080 × 1920 |
Dimensions in pixels (width × height). Platforms tweak these periodically, but these values are safe and look sharp across devices.
Three rules that keep your images crisp
- Match the native dimensions. Uploading a 6000px photo for a 1080px slot just means the platform downscales and re-compresses it — two chances to lose quality. Resize first.
- Send a clean file. A tidy JPEG at quality ~85 gives the platform's compressor little to “fix,” so it degrades less. See how to compress without losing quality.
- Mind the aspect ratio. If the ratio doesn't match, the platform crops — often through someone's head. Export at the exact ratio you want shown.
Do the whole batch at once
Planning a week of posts? Drop them all into the compressor, set the max width to the platform's dimension and quality to ~85, and export the set in one pass — every image sized and cleaned identically, ready to schedule. And if you're also putting these images on a website, don't forget image compression for web speed.
Frequently asked questions
What size should social media images be? +
Most feed images look best at 1080px on the short edge (square 1080×1080 or portrait 1080×1350). Stories and vertical video are 1080×1920. Upload at these native sizes rather than larger — the platform will downscale anything bigger and re-compress it, often making it look worse.
Why do my photos look blurry after posting? +
Platforms aggressively re-compress every upload. If you send an oversized or heavy file, their compressor makes bigger quality sacrifices. Uploading at the correct dimensions and a clean, already-optimised file (WebP/JPEG at quality ~85) gives the platform less reason to degrade it.
Should I compress images before uploading to social media? +
Yes. Resize to the platform’s native dimensions and compress to a reasonable quality first. You will get faster uploads, more predictable results, and often better final quality than letting the platform process a giant raw file.
What file format is best for social media? +
JPEG at quality ~85 is the safe universal choice and accepted everywhere. PNG is better only for graphics with text or transparency (though most platforms flatten transparency). Some platforms accept WebP, but JPEG avoids surprises.