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October 20, 2016 •Allison Gibbs
Updated: 5/29/2017
Have you ever thought about how your images, videos, or ads will appear when you share them on Facebook? You would be surprised how easy it is to get it wrong.
Take this example: You have a great idea for a new timeline cover photo for your Facebook Business Page (the large banner photo that goes at the top of your page). You upload it and set it as your cover photo, but it's too small. Or, you upload it, view it on your desktop, and it looks great! Then, you look at it on your phone and someone's head is cut off the top. It can be tricky to get it right.
There are a few things to keep in mind as you're posting images on Facebook, creating ads with images, or using images in your blog post that will be shared on social media.
This post will reference terms that should first be defined: dimensions, pixels, aspect ratio and file size.
Wait! Skip the technical details and take me straight to an easy to understand infographic!
Dimension: image dimension is the length and width of the image, measured in pixels for digital images. If we say 180 x 180, that means 180 pixels wide by 180 pixels tall.
File size: The smaller the file size, the faster it loads. Example: 50kb photo will load much faster than a 700kb or 1MB photo. You can use tools like ImageOptim to reduce your file size without sacrificing much quality. For more about how to resize images, click here.
Format: This refers to the file type you save your image as. PNG is the recommended format for most types of image posting/sharing on Facebook. But there are times when saving as a JPG will result in a faster-loading image (as noted below).
Aspect ratio: The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of an image. For example, the aspect ratio of a square image is 1:1. This tool will help you change the width or height of an image, but preserve the aspect ratio, use this handy aspect ratio calculator!
The recommended sizes below are not necessarily the size your image will appear in a news feed or timeline, but should be the optimal specs for uploading.
Profile Photo
Your profile photo must be at least 170 x 170. Facebook will automatically resize/crop to a square.
- Recommended: 170 x 170 (Min) 340x340 (Optimal)
- Aspect Ratio: 1:1 (square)
- Recommended Format: PNG
- Displays at 170 x 170 on computers
- Displays at 128 x 128 on smartphones
- Displays at 36 x 36 on most feature phones
- Will be cropped to fit a square
Cover Photo
Displays at 820 x 312 on desktop view. Beware of how your cover photo looks on different screens, especially mobile. If you make your image taller you won't get any weird cropping on mobile, so go for 1200 x 675.
- Recommended size: 1200 x 675
- Displays at 640 x 360 on smartphones
- Loads fastest as an sRGB JPG file type, less than 100kb
- If your cover photo has your logo or text, get better results using PNG file type
Shared Link
When someone shares a link from your blog post, it should pull the image from your post. To make sure that image looks great on Facebook, and doesn't get cropped or distorted, make sure to size it appropriately first.
- Recommended size: 1200 x 630
- Appears in feed at a max width of 470 pixels.
- Appears on page at a max width of 504 pixels.
Compare the previous example (shared link from our blog) to the next example. See the difference?In this example, we added our own image and description, instead of letting Facebook pull it in from the link. You can do it either way, but this gives you some flexibility if a link is pulling in a terrible image.
Shared Image
Facebook automatically resizes and formats your photos when you add them, but there are a few things you can do to help control the final result.
- Recommended: 1200 x 630
- Recommended File Size: <100KB
- Recommended Format: JPG, with sRGB color profile
Ad Posts
There are many different ad post types that your business may choose to use for social advertising. These are a few of the most popular, with image size recommendations.
- Clicks to Website: 1200 x 628
- Website Conversions: 1200 x 628
- Page Post Engagement: 1200 x 900
- Page Likes: 1200 x 444
- Offer Claims: 1200 x 628
- Video Views: 1200 x 627
- Lead Generation: 1200 x 628
This infographic has all of the above, in one spot.
Keep in mind, Facebook is constantly changing and tweaking the way they handle and display photos across devices. We're putting together a series of posts and tools so that we can all stay up-to-date with their latest changes. Stay tuned for more!
