video thumbnail
1280 × 720 px · 16:9 · ≤ 2 MB
The custom thumbnail a long-form video can upload, capped at 2 MB; Shorts cannot take one the way long videos can.
Social media photo sizes
Photo sizes for social media: 11 specs across 7 platforms, each with pixel dimensions, aspect ratio, published file limits, and the cropping and interface overlap worth knowing about.
YouTube
Thumbnail and channel banner — one drives click-through, the other the channel’s first impression.
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channel banner
2560 × 1440 px · 16:9 · ≤ 6 MB
The full-width image across the top of a channel page. Desktop, tablet and phone each show a different crop of the same file, so it has to be composed around the safe area.
X (Twitter)
A 3:1 banner and a circular avatar; banner cropping shifts with screen and browser.
profile banner
1500 × 500 px · 3:1
The 3:1 banner at the top of a profile, recommended at 1500 × 500. Display crops vary by screen and browser, and the official guidance notes roughly 60px may be lost top and bottom.
JPG / PNGDisplay rules and framing advice
avatar
400 × 400 px · 1:1 · ≤ 2 MB
Always rendered as a circle in timelines, replies and search. You upload a square and the platform applies the circle, so anything in the corners effectively does not exist.
Square posts, Story canvases and a separate Reels cover — three different framing problems.
square post
1080 × 1080 px · 1:1
The workable 1:1 square post canvas. Instagram preserves original resolution between 320 and 1080px wide and ratios from 1.91:1 to 3:4; outside that it crops.
Story image
1080 × 1920 px · 9:16
1080 × 1920 (9:16) is the common Story design canvas, not a size the platform mandates. Interface overlays change with device and feature set.
JPG / PNGDisplay rules and framing advice
Reels cover
420 × 654 px · 1:1.56
Instagram recommends 420 × 654 (about 1:1.55) for Reels covers. This is the cover canvas, not the 9:16 video size, and the official documentation notes the cover cannot currently be edited after upload.
JPG / PNGDisplay rules and framing advice
The 1.91:1 link card, and the de facto standard for og:image.
shared image
1200 × 630 px · 40:21 · ≤ 8 MB
The lead image of a link share card at 1.91:1. The same ratio is reused across the Open Graph ecosystem and is the de facto standard for og:image.
A 4:1 profile banner that has to survive every screen and browser window.
profile banner
1584 × 396 px · 4:1 · < 8 MB
The 4:1 background at the top of a profile. LinkedIn recommends 1584 × 396, JPG or PNG under 8 MB; display changes with browser window and screen resolution.
JPG / PNGDisplay rules and framing advice
TikTok
A 9:16 canvas reference; the cover frame is picked from the video at publish time.
vertical video canvas
1080 × 1920 px · 9:16
1080 × 1920 (9:16) is the common vertical video design canvas, not a separate cover-image size TikTok publishes. TikTok covers are normally chosen from a frame of the video.
The common 2:3 vertical ratio; unusually tall images may be truncated in the feed.
Pin image
1000 × 1500 px · 2:3
1000 × 1500 (2:3) is the common standard Pin vertical canvas. It is a recommended design ratio, not the maximum height the platform allows.
Sizes and limits come from each platform’s published documentation and may change after a redesign. Where nothing is published we leave it blank rather than invent a number.