OG Image Size Guide 2026: Every Platform Explained
Getting your Open Graph image dimensions right is one of those tasks that takes 20 minutes once and then works everywhere forever — but if you skip it, every shared link is a gamble. Each social platform has its own preferred dimensions, aspect ratios, and minimum size requirements. Use the wrong size and your image gets cropped badly, shows tiny thumbnails, or does not appear at all. This guide gives you the exact numbers for every major platform in 2026, along with a practical workflow for creating a single image that works everywhere.
The Universal Starting Point: 1200×630
If you only have time to create one og:image size, make it 1200×630 pixels. This 1.91:1 aspect ratio is the official recommended size for Facebook and LinkedIn, and it renders acceptably on all other platforms that support link card images. At 1200×630: Facebook shows the image full-width above the title. LinkedIn shows it in the same format. WhatsApp crops the center of it to a square for the small thumbnail view. iMessage shows it slightly cropped to fit its card format. Twitter, if you use summary_large_image, shows it full-width but crops to approximately 2:1, so the top and bottom edges (about 32 pixels each) will not be visible. For the vast majority of websites and blog posts, 1200×630 is the answer to 'what size should my OG image be?' It is the size that works well everywhere without platform-specific optimization. Make sure your 1200×630 image is under 8MB. Facebook's maximum is 8MB. Keep important content (faces, logos, headlines) in the central 1160×500 area — this is the safe zone that will not be cropped on any platform. The file should be JPEG or PNG. WebP is not universally supported by all social crawlers as of 2026 — stick with JPEG for photos and PNG for graphics with text or transparent elements. JPEG gives better compression for photographic images; use quality 80–90% for a good size-to-quality balance. Host the image on the same domain as your site or a reliable CDN. Avoid placing OG images on cloud storage buckets that require signed URLs — social crawlers cannot authenticate and will fail to load the image.
Platform-Specific Dimensions and Requirements
Here are the exact specifications for each major platform as of 2026. Facebook Recommended: 1200×630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) Minimum: 600×315 pixels (images smaller than this may not display) Maximum: 8MB file size Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF (GIFs not animated in cards) Note: Facebook crops images displayed in smaller card formats. Test with the Facebook Sharing Debugger. LinkedIn Recommended: 1200×627 pixels (just slightly shorter than Facebook's 630) Minimum: 1200×627 (LinkedIn may not show cards for smaller images) Maximum: 5MB file size Formats: JPEG, PNG Note: LinkedIn is one of the strictest platforms — images smaller than its minimum will result in a text-only card. Twitter/X — summary card Thumbnail: Cropped to 120×120 pixels from center of og:image Minimum recommended: 144×144 pixels Formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF Twitter/X — summary_large_image card Displayed at approximately 520×260 pixels (2:1 ratio) in feed Recommended: 1200×600 pixels Minimum: 300×157 pixels Maximum: 5MB, 4096×4096 pixels Note: Anything taller than 2:1 will be cropped at top and bottom. WhatsApp Shows a small square thumbnail (around 100×100 pixels) cropped from the center of og:image Recommended minimum: 300×300 pixels source image for a clean thumbnail iMessage Displays a card similar to Facebook, roughly 360×190 pixels Reads og:image without any special requirements beyond HTTPS
Creating a Multi-Platform OG Image Strategy
For most websites, one 1200×630 image per page is sufficient. But for high-traffic content and key marketing pages, a two-image strategy gives you better results across all platforms. Image 1 — 1200×630 pixels for Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and iMessage. This is your primary og:image. Design with a safe zone of 1160×570 pixels for content that must not be cropped. Use this URL in og:image. Image 2 — 1200×600 pixels for Twitter/X. This is your twitter:image. The 2:1 ratio fits Twitter's large card format without any cropping. Use this URL in twitter:image. Both images should be visually consistent but optimized for their respective aspect ratios. For example, if your hero image is a person standing, the 1200×630 version might show the person from waist up with a text overlay, while the 1200×600 Twitter version crops tighter on the face with less background. For blog posts and articles where creating unique images for every post is time-consuming, use a template system. Design a branded frame in Figma or Canva, then drop in the post title and a category color. Export at 1200×630 for the og:image. This system produces professional, consistent cards at scale. For e-commerce product pages, use the product photography as the og:image. Ensure the product is centered and occupies at least 60% of the frame. Add the product name or a short descriptor as text overlay to make the card self-explanatory without the title text below it.
Testing Your OG Images Before Publishing
The only way to know whether your OG image will look correct on each platform is to preview it — do not assume a correctly sized file will display perfectly. Start with the OG Preview tool. Paste your URL and inspect the simulated cards for each platform. Look for: image present and loading, not cropped in a way that cuts off important content, correct aspect ratio for each card type, and the image looking good at small display sizes (WhatsApp thumbnail). For Facebook, use the Facebook Sharing Debugger at developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/. After fetching your URL, check the Image Preview section which shows how Facebook will actually crop and display your image. If you see a warning about the image being too small, you need to resize. For Twitter, use the Card Validator at cards-dev.twitter.com/validator. This renders the actual card as Twitter users will see it in their feed — including the exact cropping for the 2:1 format. Key things to check in each test: Is the important content (headline text, logo, face, product) within the safe zone and not cropped? Is the image sharp — not blurry or pixelated from being scaled up? Does the image contrast work against both light and dark platform themes (both Twitter and Facebook have dark modes that do not affect the image itself but affect the surrounding card)? If you are using a CDN with image transformation (Cloudinary, Imgix, Vercel Image Optimization), also test that the CDN-served URL is accessible to external crawlers — some CDN configurations block requests from unknown user agents.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What happens if my og:image is smaller than the platform minimum?
- Behavior varies by platform. Facebook will display a text-only card with no image if the og:image is below 600×315 pixels. LinkedIn is stricter — it requires at least 1200×627 pixels and will show a text card for smaller images. Twitter will show a small thumbnail in the summary card format rather than a large image card regardless of your twitter:card setting if the image is too small. Always test with the official platform debugger tools to confirm your image meets the minimum for each platform.
- Should I use JPEG or PNG for my OG image?
- Use JPEG for photographic images (product photos, hero images, background scenes) — it compresses much better than PNG for photography, keeping file size under the platform maximums while maintaining visual quality. Use PNG when your image has text overlays, logos, flat colors, or sharp edges where JPEG compression artifacts would be visible. If file size is a concern with PNG, use PNG-8 or a tool like TinyPNG to compress it. As of 2026, WebP is not universally supported by social crawlers, so stick to JPEG or PNG for og:image.
- Can I use an animated GIF as my og:image?
- Technically yes — og:image accepts GIF URLs. However, social platforms do not animate GIFs in link card previews. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will display the first frame of the GIF as a static image. The animation will not play. If you want to use a GIF, make sure its first frame looks good as a static preview. For video content previews, use the og:video tag with a supported video format rather than relying on an animated GIF in og:image.