Social media size guide and checker for 2026

The short answer, as of October 2026: an Instagram post is 1080 pixels wide and up to 1440 tall, so 1080 × 1440 (3:4) or 1080 × 1350 (4:5) for portrait and 1080 × 1080 for square. Stories, Reels, TikTok and Shorts are 1080 × 1920 (9:16). A YouTube thumbnail is 16:9, and YouTube now recommends 3840 × 2160. A YouTube banner is 2560 × 1440, with the text kept in the centre 1235 × 338 safe area. Every number on this page comes from the platform’s own help or spec page, linked next to it.

All social media sizes in one table

Need a size that is not here, or the missing side for a ratio you already know? The aspect ratio calculator works it out.

Instagram post size

An Instagram post is 1080 pixels wide, with a height anywhere from 566 to 1440 pixels: that is 1080 × 1440 (3:4) or 1080 × 1350 (4:5) for portrait, 1080 × 1080 for square and 1080 × 566 (1.91:1) for horizontal.

Instagram’s help page on photo resolution sets out the rules. A photo between 320 and 1080 pixels wide keeps its resolution as long as its ratio is between 1.91:1 and 3:4. A photo outside that range is cropped to fit. Under 320 wide, it is enlarged to 320, and over 1080 wide it is sized down to 1080. So a wider file than 1080 gains nothing, and a narrower one looks soft.

Which portrait size to use depends on how the post gets there:

• Posting from the Instagram app: 1080 × 1440 is the tallest a feed post gets, and it fills the 3:4 grid tile exactly.
• Posting through a scheduler or the API: use 1080 × 1350. Meta’s publishing API reference still lists 4:5 to 1.91:1 as the accepted range, with JPEG only and 8 MB at most, so a 3:4 image can be refused there even though the app takes it.
• Running it as an ad: use 1440 × 1800 (4:5), which is what Meta’s ads guide asks for. See Facebook ad size.

Instagram grid size

The profile grid shows each post as a 3:4 tile, not a square. Adam Mosseri, who runs Instagram, announced the taller grid in January 2025. Instagram’s help pages do not give the tile shape, so we measured it on instagram.com in October 2026: every tile was 3:4. A 1080 × 1440 post fills its tile. A 4:5 post loses about 3% off each side, and a square post loses about 12.5% off each side. To plan a grid that reads as one picture, use the Instagram grid maker; to cut one wide image into swipeable slides, use the carousel splitter.

Instagram story size

An Instagram Story is 1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical frame that fills the phone screen.

Instagram’s help center does not give a pixel size for Stories. Meta’s publishing API reference recommends 9:16 “to avoid cropping or blank space”, and Instagram stores photos at up to 1080 wide, so 1080 × 1920 is the size that loses nothing. Anything else is shown with bars or cropped. Through the API, a Story image is JPEG up to 8 MB, and a Story video lasts between 3 and 60 seconds, at up to 100 MB.

For a Story ad, Meta’s Instagram Stories ad spec asks for 1440 × 2560, up to 30 MB for an image, and suggests leaving about 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text and logos, so the profile icon and the call to action do not cover them. The checker above draws that box. To see where each app’s buttons and captions sit, use the safe zone checker.

Instagram reel size

An Instagram Reel is 1080 × 1920 pixels (9:16). Instagram accepts anything from 1.91:1 to 9:16, with a minimum resolution of 720 pixels and at least 30 frames per second.

Those three numbers are from Instagram’s help page on Reel size and aspect ratios. The same page gives 420 × 654 (about 1:1.55) for the cover photo. A Reel that is not 9:16 does not fill the screen. Through the publishing API, a Reel can be 3 seconds to 15 minutes and up to 300 MB, at 23 to 60 fps, and no more than 1920 pixels wide. The cover is cropped to its middle 9:16 in the Reels tab and its middle square when shared to the feed.

A Reels ad is 1440 × 2560 (9:16), up to 4 GB and 15 minutes, per Meta’s Reels ad spec, with the same 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% side margins kept clear.

YouTube thumbnail size

A YouTube thumbnail is 16:9, and YouTube now recommends 3840 × 2160 pixels, with a minimum width of 640. JPG and PNG are accepted, up to 2 MB when you upload from a phone and 50 MB from a computer.

Those are from YouTube’s custom thumbnails help page, which asks for the image to be “as large as possible”. Older guides say 1280 × 720 and 2 MB. 1280 × 720 is still 16:9 and over the minimum, so it still works, but YouTube no longer names it, and a 4K thumbnail now needs the computer upload because of the 2 MB phone limit. Shorts thumbnails are 9:16 at 2160 × 3840, with a minimum height of 640. One catch: a vertical video with a 16:9 custom thumbnail gets an automatic 4:5 thumbnail on the home, explore and subscription pages instead.

Once the picture is right, check the words: the YouTube title checker shows where a title gets cut off.

YouTube banner size

A YouTube banner is 2560 × 1440 pixels (16:9), the size YouTube recommends for TVs. The minimum is 2048 × 1152, the file can be up to 6 MB, and text and logos belong in the centre 1235 × 338 safe area.

YouTube’s channel branding help page gives the safe area at the minimum size only. Scaled up to 2560 × 1440, the same box is about 1544 × 423, centred. Everything outside it shows on large screens and is cropped on phones and in some views, so keep the background running edge to edge and the important parts in the middle. YouTube also asks for no shadows, borders or frames on the file. The checker draws the safe area on your banner.

YouTube Shorts and video size

A YouTube Short is a square or vertical video of up to 3 minutes; 1080 × 1920 (9:16) fills the screen. A regular YouTube video is 16:9: 1920 × 1080 for 1080p or 3840 × 2160 for 4K.

The Shorts rules are on YouTube’s Upload YouTube Shorts page. YouTube does not publish a pixel size for Shorts; 1080 × 1920 is the 9:16 frame at 1080 wide. For regular videos, the resolution and aspect ratio page lists 16:9 sizes from 426 × 240 up to 7680 × 4320, and says the player resizes to fit other shapes rather than cropping them.

Facebook ad size

A Facebook feed ad is 1440 × 1800 pixels (4:5), the same as an Instagram feed ad. Story and Reels ads are 1440 × 2560 (9:16).

From Meta’s ads guide, read in October 2026:

• Facebook Feed image: JPG or PNG, 4:5 at 1440 × 1800, up to 30 MB, at least 600 pixels wide (and 750 tall at 4:5), with a 3% tolerance on the ratio.
• Instagram feed image: 4:5 at 1440 × 1800, up to 30 MB, at least 500 wide, anywhere from 4:5 to 1.91:1, with a 1% tolerance.
• Facebook Feed video: MP4, MOV or GIF, 4:5 at 1440 × 1800, 1 second to 241 minutes, up to 4 GB.
• Facebook and Instagram Stories images: 9:16 at 1440 × 2560, up to 30 MB, at least 500 wide.
• Instagram Reels video: 9:16 at 1440 × 2560, up to 15 minutes and 4 GB.

The Facebook Feed page lists 4:5 and no range of other shapes, so if you run a 1:1 or 1.91:1 image there, check how it looks in the Ads Manager preview. Organic Facebook posts have no published pixel spec; the ad sizes above are a safe target for those too.

TikTok video size

A TikTok video is 1080 × 1920 pixels (9:16). TikTok Studio’s upload screen recommends 9:16 for vertical and 16:9 for horizontal video, at 1080p or higher, and takes files up to 30 GB and 60 minutes.

The upload limits above are what TikTok Studio shows on its upload page (read in October 2026, signed in). TikTok’s developer documentation sets the floor and ceiling for anything posted through its API: 360 to 4096 pixels on each side, 23 to 60 fps, up to 4 GB.

A TikTok In-Feed ad is stricter. TikTok’s auction In-Feed ad spec recommends vertical 9:16 at 540 × 960 or larger, and also takes 16:9 (at least 960 × 540) and 1:1 (at least 640 × 640). Files are MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP or AVI, up to 500 MB and 10 minutes. TikTok publishes its caption and button safe zones as downloads; our safe zone checker shows them on your own frame.

LinkedIn, X and Pinterest image sizes

LinkedIn: an image post is best at 1080 pixels wide, between 3:1 and 4:5, so 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1080. Per LinkedIn’s help page on sharing photos, the minimum is 552 × 276 and the limit is 5 MB. A taller or wider image is centred and cropped to the nearest allowed ratio.

X: images can be JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP up to 5 MB, and animated GIFs up to 15 MB, per X’s media documentation. X does not publish a recommended size for ordinary posts. Its ad specs list, for image ads with app buttons, 1:1 at 1080 × 1080, 1.91:1 at 2064 × 1080, 16:9 at 1920 × 1080, 9:16 at 1080 × 1920, and newly 4:5 at 1440 × 1800 and 2:3 at 1080 × 1620. A video on a post can run up to 20 minutes and 8 GB without Premium.

Pinterest: a standard Pin is 1000 × 1500 (2:3), PNG or JPEG, up to 20 MB on desktop or 32 MB in the app. Pinterest’s product specs warn that a Pin taller than 2:3 might get cut off in people’s feeds.

How the checker decides

It reads the width, height, file size and, for a video, the length from the file itself. Then it compares them with the numbers above, one placement at a time. Fits means the platform shows the whole frame. Cropped means part of it will be cut, and the row says how much and from which edges, assuming a centre crop. Not full screen means a full-screen placement will add bars or crop to fill. Too small, File too large and Too long are the platform’s documented minimums and limits. Check means the platform recommends something else but does not say what it does with your shape.

It does not read frame rate, bitrate or codecs, and it does not resize or export anything. Platforms change these pages, so when a number matters for a launch, click through to the source link before you export.

For planning one ad across every placement, read Ad aspect ratios for every placement, from the platforms themselves.

If you would rather not resize by hand

Hermoso runs your marketing on autopilot: it researches what is working in your market, makes the image and video ads, posts to your channels and runs campaigns on your own ad accounts. It renders every creative at the size each placement asks for, and turns one ad into the other sizes by laying it out again for each canvas rather than cropping it. Try it free in the web app, or use it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor through its MCP server.

Free tools: Aspect ratio calculator · TikTok safe zone checker ·

Frequently asked questions

What size is an Instagram post in 2026?

An Instagram post is 1080 pixels wide and between 566 and 1440 pixels tall: 1080 × 1440 (3:4) or 1080 × 1350 (4:5) for portrait, 1080 × 1080 for square and 1080 × 566 for horizontal. Instagram crops anything outside 1.91:1 to 3:4. Use 1080 × 1350 if you post through a scheduler, because the publishing API still stops at 4:5.

What is the YouTube thumbnail size?

YouTube recommends a 16:9 thumbnail at 3840 × 2160 pixels, at least 640 pixels wide, as JPG or PNG. The file limit is 2 MB from a phone and 50 MB from a computer. 1280 × 720 still works, since it is 16:9 and above the minimum.

What size should a YouTube banner be?

2560 × 1440 pixels, with a minimum of 2048 × 1152 and a 6 MB file limit. Keep text and logos inside the centre 1235 × 338 area (measured at 2048 × 1152, about 1544 × 423 at 2560 × 1440), because the rest is cropped on phones.

What size is an Instagram Story or Reel?

1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16. Reels accept 1.91:1 to 9:16 with a 720 pixel minimum and at least 30 fps, but only 9:16 fills the screen. Story and Reels ads are 1440 × 2560.

What size is a TikTok video?

1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16. TikTok Studio recommends 1080p or higher and takes files up to 30 GB and 60 minutes. In-Feed ads need at least 540 × 960, up to 500 MB and 10 minutes.

What is the best Facebook ad size?

1440 × 1800 pixels (4:5) for Facebook and Instagram feed ads, and 1440 × 2560 (9:16) for Stories and Reels ads, per Meta's ads guide. Images can be up to 30 MB and videos up to 4 GB.

Is my file uploaded when I check it?

No. The file is opened by your browser and measured on this page. Nothing is sent to a server or stored, and reloading the page clears it.