Three sizes cover most of your work
Agencies rarely need a separate export per platform. In practice three masters cover the majority of a content calendar:
- 1080 × 1350 (4:5 portrait), Instagram feed, Threads, and it crops cleanly to square for LinkedIn and Facebook.
- 1080 × 1920 (9:16 vertical), Stories, Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and WhatsApp Status.
- 1200 × 630 (1.91:1 landscape), link previews, Facebook posts and Open Graph images.
Banners and thumbnails are the genuine exceptions. Each is cropped differently by its own platform and needs a dedicated export.
The crops that catch people out
- YouTube channel banner. Only the central 1546 × 423 is visible on every device. Anything outside it is decoration.
- Instagram Reel cover. Shown 9:16 in the Reels tab, cropped to a centre square in the profile grid.
- Facebook page cover. Cropped differently on mobile and desktop, keep text away from both side edges.
- LinkedIn personal banner. The profile photo overlaps the lower left on desktop.
- Profile photos. Displayed as circles nearly everywhere, so square logos lose their corners.
Frequently asked questions
What size should an Instagram post be?
1080 × 1350 pixels, a 4:5 portrait. That is the safest feed size because it takes the most vertical space without being cropped. 1080 × 1080 square also works and is easier to repurpose across platforms.
What is the safe area on an Instagram story?
Export at 1080 × 1920, but keep text and faces inside roughly the middle 1080 × 1420. The top is covered by the profile row and the bottom by the reply bar, and both vary by device.
Why does my Reel cover look wrong in the grid?
A Reel cover is 9:16 in the Reels tab but the profile grid crops it to a centre square. Anything positioned near the top or bottom of the cover disappears in the grid. Design so the subject survives both crops.
Do I need different files for every platform?
Usually not. A 1080 × 1350 portrait covers Instagram feed and Threads; a 1080 × 1920 vertical covers Stories, Reels, TikTok, Shorts and WhatsApp Status. The exceptions are banners and thumbnails, which are genuinely platform-specific and need their own exports.
How current are these dimensions?
Every size on this page was checked on 2026-09-09, and the date is shown so you can judge it. Platforms change these without announcement, which is why a dimensions table without a date is worth very little.