Social Media Image Sizes for Local Businesses in 2021

Mar 12, 2021

Social Media Image Sizes for 2021

 

THE BASICS

If pixels, aspect ratios, and resolutions have your head spinning, you're not alone.  Making sense of social media image terminology and best practices is confusing

Most local businesses don't have the luxury of handing off their marketing ideas to a graphics department to create.  You are the graphics department.

But you still want to make sure the images you create will look great on social media.  Nothing's worse than putting together a great post, only to have your image distorted or cropped.
 

A FEW DEFINITIONS

Aspect Ratio is usually written as 4:5 or 9:16 and is the proportional relationship between the width and the height of an image.  

Image Size is the length and width of the image and for online images, this will be measured in pixels.

Resolution is the number of pixels in an image and is an indication of the overall quality.

You always want to make sure you have high-resolution images that are proportioned and sized correctly when posting to social media.

FACEBOOK

Let's start with your Facebook page.  There are several different images you can use for Facebook and they each have their own ideal aspect ratio and size.

Profile Image – 170x170 pixels
Profile images should always be a square (1:1) but will be cropped to a circle so make sure it looks ok once it's loaded.  The minimum size is 170x170 but you can use higher resolution images as long as they are square.  

Cover Photo – 820x360 pixels

One of the trickier images for Facebook as the size displayed varies from desktop to mobile.  We recommend using an image that's 820x360 but keep your text and core content in the center as Facebook crops the image vertically or horizontally depending on placement. 

Newsfeed Post with Image Only – 1080x1080 pixels
Facebook offers flexibility if you're just posting an image.  You can use square, landscape or vertical aspect ratios.  Just make sure the minimum pixels in any direction are at least 1080. 

We like using 1080x1080 since this size works well for both Facebook and Instagram making it easy to cross-post without any additional editing.

Newsfeed Post with Image and Link – 1200x628 pixels
When posting an image with a link, Facebook will crop to a landscape orientation and images look best when they are 1200x628 pixels

Facebook Stories – 1080x1920 pixels
Stories take advantage of the full screen of a phone with an aspect ratio of 9:16 so we recommend a minimum size of 1080x1920 pixel

INSTAGRAM

Profile Image – 110x110 pixels
Instagram profiles are always squares with a minimum of 110x110 pixels but you can bump up the resolution and try a larger image size as long as it's square.

Newsfeed Image – 1080x1080 pixels
Instagram allows horizontal and vertical images in its newsfeed in addition to the traditional square.  Horizontal aspect ratio is 1.91:1 or 1080x566 pixels and vertical should be 4:5 or 1080x1350 pixels.

But we like to keep things simple and use square images most of the time.  Plus since your profile grid crops to squares, your images will always look great.

Instagram Stories – 1080x1920 pixels
Just like Facebook Stories, the aspect ratio of Instagram Stories is 9:16 and we recommend a minimum size of 1080x1920 pixels.

YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA DIMENSIONS CHEAT SHEET

Here's a recap of the recommended sizes for social media images in 2021:

Facebook Profile Image - 170x170 px
Facebook Cover Image - 820x360 px
Facebook Newsfeed Post with Image Only - 1080x1080 px
Facebook Newsfeed Post with Image and Link - 1200x628 px
Facebook Stories - 1080x1920 px
Instagram Profile Image - 110x110 px
Instagram Newsfeed Post - 1080x1080 px
Instagram Stories - 1080x1920 px

 

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