Social media image sizes that never crop badly (2026)

Quick answer

To stop social images cropping badly, design with the important content in the centre and export each platform’s ratio: 4:5 portrait (1080 by 1350) for Instagram and Facebook feeds, 1.91:1 (1200 by 630) for link previews, 16:9 for X and YouTube thumbnails, and 9:16 (1080 by 1920) for stories and reels, keeping text out of the app’s overlays.

You design a lovely post, upload it, and the platform chops off the top of the headline in the grid, or covers the phone number with the reply bar. Each platform shows the same image in several places, the feed, the profile grid, the link preview and the notification, and each place crops differently. The fix is not memorising a hundred sizes. It is knowing the handful of ratios that matter, and designing so the important bit survives any of them.

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The sizes checklist

Platforms change their recommendations from time to time, so check their own help pages when something looks off. Meta’s ads guide, which covers Facebook and Instagram formats, and YouTube’s thumbnail guidance are the sources to trust.

Where crops catch people out

• ☐ The Instagram profile grid shows a taller, narrower preview than the post itself, so text near the left and right edges of a 4:5 post can be cut off in the grid.
• ☐ Link previews crop to a wide letterbox; a square image loses its top and bottom.
• ☐ Stories and reels have the profile name at the top and captions, buttons and the reply bar at the bottom.
• ☐ YouTube thumbnails have a time stamp in the bottom right corner.
• ☐ Profile pictures are shown as circles everywhere.

Design for the safe zone

• ☐ Keep headlines, faces, prices and logos in the central area of the frame.
• ☐ In 9:16, keep text out of roughly the top and bottom sections and away from the right-hand edge.
• ☐ Leave a margin of empty space around text so small crops do not slice letters.
• ☐ Avoid putting important text in corners on any platform.
• ☐ Check the preview before posting; most apps show the crop.

Make text readable on a phone

• ☐ Use few words and large type; most people see posts at thumb size.
• ☐ Strong contrast between text and background.
• ☐ Your brand fonts, used consistently, rather than a new font each post.
• ☐ Put the details in the caption, not crammed into the image.

Export settings that keep images sharp

• ☐ Export at the recommended pixel size, not five times larger.
• ☐ JPG for photographs, PNG for graphics with text.
• ☐ sRGB colour, so colours do not shift.
• ☐ Avoid saving the same JPG over and over, which degrades it.

LinkedIn publishes its own image specifications for company pages, which are worth checking if you post there regularly.

Profile pictures and cover images

• ☐ A logo icon or simple version that reads inside a circle.
• ☐ Cover images with nothing important in the areas covered by the profile picture.
• ☐ The same profile picture across every platform, so people recognise you.

If your logo is a wide wordmark that turns into a tiny strip inside a circle, you may need an icon version. Our guide on how to use your logo explains the versions a logo should come with, and our logo design is £129 with stacked, horizontal and icon-only layouts all included.

Build templates once

• ☐ One master template per ratio, with safe zones marked on a hidden guide layer.
• ☐ Brand colours and fonts saved in the design tool.
• ☐ Text and photo placeholders so new posts take minutes.

Templates are what keep a feed looking consistent month after month; our guide to social media graphics and brand consistency covers how to plan them.

Carousels and multi-image posts

• ☐ Every slide in a carousel uses the same ratio as the first; mixed sizes get cropped to match.
• ☐ Put the hook on slide one and keep the most important text away from the edges, where swipe arrows sit.
• ☐ Number the slides, or design them to flow, so people know there is more to see.
• ☐ End with one clear action on the last slide, repeated in the caption.

A quick pre-posting test

Before publishing, shrink the image to the size of a thumbnail on your screen and look at it for two seconds. Can you still read the headline? Is the face or product still in frame? Then check the platform’s preview of the grid or link. Two minutes of checking saves deleting and reposting, which loses the early engagement a post needs.

A worked example

A florist in Brighton designed square posts with her shop’s phone number in the bottom corner. In the Instagram grid, the corner was cut off; in stories, the reply bar covered it; in link previews, the top of every bouquet disappeared. She rebuilt her templates with the phone number moved into the caption, flowers centred, and a portrait 4:5 version, a 9:16 story version and a 1.91:1 link version of each. Every export now kept the bouquet and the shop name in view.

Getting help

Our social media design is £79 one-off for scroll-stopping templates for posts, stories, carousels and ads, set up in the right sizes with your brand built in. Our guide to social media design costs compares options, and all our prices are on the pricing page.