Why sizes matter
If a picture does not match the shape a platform uses, it is cropped automatically and important parts can be cut off. Uploading at the right proportion gives you control. It also helps avoid blurry results, because a picture that is too small may be stretched to fit.
The shape, called the aspect ratio, is often more important than the exact pixel count. A square picture stays square whether it is 1080 or 2000 pixels wide. Phone screens vary a lot, so there is no single perfect size, only sensible starting points. Most platforms also recompress what you upload, so starting with a clean, reasonably sharp image gives the best chance of a good result.
Common sizes
Platforms change their recommendations from time to time, so treat these as good starting points and check the platform if exactness matters.
- Square post: 1080 × 1080
- Portrait post: 1080 × 1350
- Story or vertical video cover: 1080 × 1920
- Landscape link or post image: 1200 × 630
- YouTube thumbnail: 1280 × 720
- Pinterest pin: 1000 × 1500
A worked example
Imagine you have a landscape photo of 4000 × 3000 pixels and you want a square post. Cropping to 3000 × 3000 keeps the middle of the picture, and resizing that to 1080 × 1080 gives the right shape. If a person stands at the far left, they may be cut off, so you would move the crop or choose a portrait shape instead. A portrait post of 1080 × 1350 has a 4:5 shape, so from a 4000 × 3000 original you would crop to 2400 × 3000 and then resize it.
For a link image of 1200 × 630, the shape is much wider than the original photo, so a lot of the top and bottom would be lost. This is an illustration only, but it shows why checking the crop matters.
Fill or fit?
Filling crops the edges so the picture covers the whole area. Fitting keeps the whole picture and adds a background colour around it. Use fill for photos and fit for graphics with text near the edges. A logo, a poster or a screenshot usually works better fitted, because cropping can cut off a word. A landscape photo on a square canvas can be fitted with a plain or matching colour border, which keeps everything in view but makes the picture smaller on screen.
Keep important content in the middle
Leave a safe margin around text and faces, because apps overlay buttons and captions near the edges. Stories and vertical formats often have interface elements at the top and bottom, so keep key text away from those zones. A simple approach is to imagine a margin of roughly one tenth of the height at the top and bottom where nothing important sits. Profile pictures are often shown as circles, so keep the face centred and leave space in the corners.
Step-by-step workflow
- Check the platform for its current recommended size and shape.
- Crop to the right proportion, keeping the subject in the middle.
- Resize to the target dimensions.
- Compress if the file is large, using a high quality setting.
- View the result at small size, as on a phone, to confirm text is readable.
- Keep the original file, so you can make another version for a different platform later.
Common mistakes
- Uploading a tiny picture and letting the platform enlarge it.
- Placing text near the edge, where it may be cropped or covered.
- Using one picture for every platform without checking the shape.
- Saving the same image repeatedly at low quality, which adds blocky artefacts.
- Trusting an old size list. Platforms change their recommendations, so a number you remember may be out of date.
- Forgetting that one picture can need several versions, such as a square post and a vertical story.
Quick checklist
- Right proportion for the platform?
- Face and text inside the safe area?
- Large enough to look sharp?
- File size reasonable?
- Have I checked the platform for its current guidance?
- Is there a copy of the original?
Preparing images with DoneImg
Use the crop tool to choose the shape and the resize tool to set the final dimensions, then compress if needed. All of this happens in your browser, so your pictures are never uploaded and stay private.
You can also add a border to fit a picture into a different shape, or add text and a watermark before posting. If you resize several pictures to the same dimensions, check each one, because different original shapes crop differently. When you are finished, download the files and upload them to the platform as usual.