Image Cropping Guide: Aspect Ratios for Every Platform
Every social media platform and website has preferred image proportions. Upload the wrong ratio and your carefully composed photo gets awkwardly auto-cropped, leaving a bad impression. Upload the right ratio and your content looks polished and professional across every device. This guide covers the exact crop dimensions you need for every major platform — Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, and website use cases — so you never have to guess again.
Instagram Crop Dimensions
Instagram supports multiple aspect ratios depending on the post format, and knowing each one helps you plan your content composition. Instagram Feed — Square Posts: 1:1 ratio, 1080x1080 pixels. The classic Instagram format. Works well for product shots, portraits, and any image that adapts naturally to a square frame. Instagram Feed — Portrait Posts: 4:5 ratio, 1080x1350 pixels. This format takes up approximately 20% more vertical space in the feed than a square post, making it more prominent. Many creators prefer this ratio for portraits and lifestyle images because the extra height shows more content. Instagram Feed — Landscape Posts: 1.91:1 ratio, 1080x566 pixels. This wide format takes up less vertical space than a square, meaning it occupies less of the viewer's screen. Generally not recommended unless the horizontal composition is essential. Instagram Stories: 9:16 ratio, 1080x1920 pixels. Full-screen vertical format. Content placed in the safe zone (avoiding the top and bottom 250 pixels) will not be obscured by the interface elements. Instagram Reels: 9:16 ratio, 1080x1920 pixels. Same as Stories dimensions. Leave safe zones at top and bottom for interface overlays. Instagram Explore Grid Thumbnail: Instagram generates a 1:1 square preview from your post for the Explore grid. For non-square posts, Instagram auto-crops the center. Plan your composition accordingly — the most important content should be in the center of the frame. Instagram Profile Picture: Displayed as a circle cropped from the center of a 1:1 square. Provide at least 320x320 pixels, ideally 500x500 or larger for quality on high-DPI screens.
YouTube, TikTok, and Video Platform Dimensions
Video platforms primarily use landscape 16:9 for horizontal content and 9:16 for vertical, but each platform has specific thumbnail and channel art requirements. YouTube Thumbnail: 16:9 ratio, 1280x720 pixels minimum (1920x1080 recommended). Thumbnails are one of the most important factors in YouTube click-through rate. A strong thumbnail with the correct dimensions looks sharp both in search results and in the suggested video sidebar. YouTube Channel Art (Banner): 2560x1440 pixels total. The visible safe zone is 1546x423 pixels at center, which displays consistently across all devices. Design your primary content within this safe zone. Our Image Cropper's 16:9 preset works for the display area, but the full banner needs to be 2560x1440 with a centered safe zone design. YouTube Community Post Images: 1:1 ratio or 16:9. Square images work best for single-image community posts. TikTok Video Cover: 9:16 ratio, 1080x1920 pixels. The cover image (thumbnail) of a TikTok video is extracted from the video itself or set manually. Ensure the most visually striking frame is within the center 9:16 area. TikTok Profile Picture: 1:1, minimum 200x200 pixels. Twitch Profile Banner: 1920x480 pixels (4:1 ratio). Twitch Offline Screen: 1920x1080 pixels (16:9). Twitch Profile Picture: 256x256 pixels minimum.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Dimensions
Professional and social networking platforms have specific requirements for profile images, cover photos, and shared content. Facebook Profile Picture: 1:1 square, displayed as a circle. Minimum 180x180 pixels but 400x400 or larger recommended for quality. Facebook Cover Photo: 820x312 pixels (approximately 2.63:1 ratio). Displays differently on mobile (640x360) versus desktop. Keep important content centered to ensure it is visible in both views. Facebook Shared Link Preview: 1200x628 pixels (roughly 1.91:1). This is the image shown when you share a URL on Facebook. Configure this in your site's Open Graph meta tags. Using a 1200x628 image ensures it fills the preview completely. Facebook Post Image: 1200x630 pixels or 1:1 square. Multiple-image posts use a variety of cropping depending on how many images are in the post. Twitter / X Profile Picture: 1:1 square, displayed as a circle. Minimum 400x400 pixels. Twitter / X Header Photo: 1500x500 pixels (3:1 ratio). The profile picture overlaps the bottom left of the header, so avoid placing important content in that area. Twitter / X Post Image (single): 16:9 ratio for landscape, up to 5 MB JPEG or PNG. Single images in tweets are cropped to roughly 2:1 in the feed preview; the full image shows when tapped. LinkedIn Profile Picture: 1:1, 400x400 pixels recommended. Displayed as a circle. LinkedIn Background Banner: 1584x396 pixels (4:1 ratio). LinkedIn Post Image: 1200x628 pixels (1.91:1). Square images at 1200x1200 also work well.
Website and E-commerce Crop Dimensions
Websites need images at specific dimensions depending on where they will appear in the layout. Unlike social media where platform requirements are fixed, website dimensions depend on your specific theme or template — but these guidelines apply broadly. Website Hero Image: 1920x1080 pixels (16:9) for full-viewport-width heroes. Some themes use shorter heroes at 1920x600 or 1920x700 — check your theme documentation. The safe zone for hero images (the part that is visible on all screen sizes) is typically the center 1200x500 pixels. Blog Post Featured Image: 1200x628 pixels (1.91:1) is the standard that works both as an on-site featured image and as the Open Graph social share image. This means the same image looks good both on your site and when the post is shared on social media. E-commerce Product Image: 1:1 square. Shopify recommends 2048x2048 pixels; WooCommerce works well with 800x800 or 1000x1000. Consistent dimensions across all products are essential for grid layouts. Blog Thumbnail / Archive Grid Image: Typically 400x300 (4:3) or 600x400 (3:2). Check your theme's featured image size specification. Pinterest Pin Image: 2:3 ratio (1000x1500 pixels). Pinterest is the one major platform that favors portrait orientation in its feed. Tall pins occupy more screen space and tend to get more engagement. Our Image Cropper's preset aspect ratio options cover all the ratios listed above, and the free-form mode handles any custom dimensions your specific template requires.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What aspect ratio should I use for Instagram feed posts?
- Instagram supports three aspect ratios for feed posts: 1:1 square (1080x1080), 4:5 portrait (1080x1350), and 1.91:1 landscape (1080x566). Portrait 4:5 takes up the most vertical space in the feed, making it more prominent, and is the recommended ratio for most content creators. Square 1:1 works well for product shots and clean visual compositions. Landscape 1.91:1 is best when the horizontal composition of the image is essential to its meaning.
- What is the correct image size for a Facebook cover photo?
- Facebook cover photos display at 820x312 pixels on desktop and 640x360 pixels on mobile. To ensure important content is visible on both, design your cover to 820x312 and keep critical elements (text, logos, faces) centered within a 640x312 pixel area. Provide the image at a higher resolution — 1640x624 is recommended for sharp display on high-DPI screens. The 1:1 profile photo overlaps the bottom-left corner of the cover photo, so avoid placing key content there.
- Why do my images look cropped differently on different platforms?
- Each platform auto-crops images in feeds and previews to fit its own display format. Instagram crops non-square images to 1:1 in the Explore grid. Twitter/X crops images to approximately 2:1 in the tweet feed preview. Facebook crops link preview images to 1.91:1. The solution is to crop your images to the target platform's aspect ratio before uploading — that way you control exactly which part of the image is shown, and no important content is accidentally cut off by the platform's automatic cropping.