The images that appear within our contents are extremely important. In addition to helping to convey the desired message, images are the first visual stimulus that potential readers receive when we share content on social networks.
For this reason, sharing images on social networks with the optimal size is key to prevent issues in the assets that our audience sees. Small bugs here, even though not affecting functionality, provide a feeling of sloppiness that is best avoided.
Let’s see for each social network what size we should use for the images we share when promoting our content.
Recommended Image Sizes For Each Social Network
Not all social networks display images in the same way. That is why we need to take into account what sizes work well for each social network and use them properly.
Recommended Image Sizes For Twitter
Twitter is perhaps the most popular social network today. Everyone has a Twitter profile. That is why sharing images properly there is very important for our content.
When we share an image on Twitter it may be the case that it is the featured image of a blog post linked to the content of the tweet, or we just share the image itself directly.
When in the content of a tweet we share a link, Twitter tries to create a card with the preview of the content including the featured image (as you can see in the previous example). This image is obtained from the meta tags of the linked URL.
This image must have an aspect ratio of 2:1 with minimum dimensions of 300×157 or maximum dimensions of 4096×4096 pixels. Images must weigh less than 5MB. Twitter supports JPG, PNG, WEBP, and GIF formats. But if you use a GIF, only the first frame will be shown if the GIF is animated (you won’t see the animation). Note that SVG files are not supported.
The image will appear on Twitter downsized to 507×265 pixels. Therefore, any image above this size maintaining the indicated proportions will work well.
In the case of images shared directly, the above conditions are maintained. The only thing that changes is that animated GIFs are shown with animation and that the downsized preview image has a width of 507 pixels, with a height that varies depending on the image itself. Also, if you click on the image, Twitter expands it occupying the full screen.
You have more details on how to work with images on Twitter here.
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Recommended Image Sizes For Facebook
Facebook is also one of the most relevant social networks. Aimed at connecting people, Facebook is still a very interesting network to share our content.
Facebook automatically changes the size and format of your photos when you upload them. To ensure that your photos appear with the highest possible quality, we recommend that you scale them at a width of 720, 960 or 2048 pixels.
As in the case of Twitter, sharing a link on Facebook creates a preview card that includes the featured image of the link. This image is displayed at 500×261 pixels.
If you want to know more information about images on Facebook, visit their help center.
Recommended Image Sizes For LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the best known social network for professionals. It allows you to show your content to other professionals in your same sector, thus increasing the possibilities of growing your audience.
The images you share with your content are shown in the LinkedIn feed with a width of 552 pixels. The height depends on the type of content shared. If it is a link, the height is usually fixed around 300 pixels. But if what you share is just an image, then LinkedIn fixes the width and shows the image with a height that keeps the original proportions.
LinkedIn supports JPG, PNG, and non-animated GIFs. You have more details about it in the documentation.
Recommended Image Sizes For Instagram
Instagram is the most widely used social network for sharing pictures. It is the ideal place to upload our creations whether we are professionals or even if all we want is to show outstanding images within our content.
The images that appear on Instagram are shown in an image list within our profile in square format. But if we go to see a particular image it can be squared, vertical or horizontal, with a size that goes up to a maximum of 1080 pixels.
If you share a photo with a width between 320 and 1080 pixels, Instagram maintains this resolution as long as the aspect ratio of the photo is between 1.91:1 and 4:5. If the aspect ratio is not supported, the image will be cropped.
On the other hand, if you share a photo with a smaller width, Instagram will resize it to 320 pixels. And if the width is greater than 1080 pixels, Instagram will reduce the image. For more information visit the Instagram help.
Recommended Image Sizes For Pinterest
Pinterest is a social network for picture sharing aimed at displaying products or designs, where our visual content may also have a place.
When you share images on Pinterest, it is recommended that these are vertical, taller than they are wide, with an aspect ratio of 2:3. This means that your image’s width is ⅔ its height.
For example, your Pin could be 1,000 pixels wide and 1,500 pixels tall, keeping the proportion that Pinterest wants. If your image is out of this proportion, it could be cropped in the users’ feeds and they will not be able to see it in full.
If you want to know more details about Pinterest images, visit this link.
Recommended Image Sizes For Tumblr
Tumblr is a social microblogging network, acquired by Automattic, in which you can share your content.
The images you share on Tumblr must be JPG or PNG, and must not exceed 20MB in size. However, you should never use images so heavy unless you know what you are doing.
The maximum supported size for displaying images is 500 pixels wide by 750 tall. If you stay within those limits or above, you will prevent your images from resizing and losing quality. You have more information about it in the Tumblr documentation.
A Perfect Size For All Social Networks
When we talk about size we always refer to dimensions of width and height in pixels. However, remember that image weight is also very important, so make sure you only use compressed images.
Now the important question is: is there a one-size-fits-all dimension to share images on any social network?
Since we have social networks that use vertical images and others that use them horizontally, getting a perfect single size is impossible. However, if you still want to opt for a size that works well in almost all networks, use images of 1200×800 pixels. By following this advice your images will look good on almost any social network, including Pinterest and Tumblr.
In addition, for social networks that use vertical images you can choose, if you wish, to invert the width and height and use images of 800×1200 pixels. This way, only with two versions of the same image you cover the entire spectrum of social networks.
Remember that if you use Nelio Content you can easily share images of different dimensions for each social network, as explained here.
Featured image by William Warby on Unsplash.
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