Social media image and video sizes: the complete 2026 reference

Identify the destination before opening the editor

Write down the platform, the exact publishing surface, and whether you are preparing an image, a video, or a cover. “An Instagram asset” is not a production specification. A feed composition, a tall video, and a profile-grid presentation raise different framing questions. Current platform behavior needs confirmation in the official guidance and publishing interface. [VERIFY: Instagram Help Center — photo resolution, Reels, and profile-grid presentation — https://help.instagram.com/]

This reference separates working canvases from official limits. The tables below contain Frenzlab's editorial planning choices, not a claim that every listed platform currently requires those dimensions. The year identifies this edition of the guide; it does not mean unverified platform specifications have been checked. Keep that distinction attached when sharing the table with a colleague.

Start with the universal post preview if the immediate problem is a crop. Use the export settings advisor if you already know the composition and need a settings checklist. Neither tool uploads your media or retrieves current platform limits.

Understand ratio, dimensions, and file size separately

Aspect ratio describes shape. Pixel dimensions describe the size of a raster canvas. File size describes the amount of stored data. These are related production considerations, but they are not interchangeable fields. A 1080 × 1920 canvas and a 2160 × 3840 canvas both have a 9:16 ratio. The second contains four times as many pixels, not twice, because both dimensions doubled.

A file's storage size cannot be read directly from its aspect ratio. Compression choices, media duration, and other encoding details affect the output. Before selecting settings, record the source dimensions and decide whether the target requires a crop or a different layout. Do not stretch the subject simply to satisfy the canvas numbers.

Consider a 3000 × 2000 landscape photograph. Its ratio is 3:2. A 4:5 fill crop retains a 1600 × 2000 region: 3.2 million pixels from an original six million by area. About 46.67 percent is excluded. A smaller exported JPEG can still be the better composition, but the discarded area must be chosen intentionally.

Use a working-canvas reference honestly

These canvases make useful starting documents for this site's tools. Confirm the actual destination before treating any row as a delivery requirement.

A platform name alone does not establish supported ratios, maximum dimensions, duration, or file-size ceilings. Verify those separately. [VERIFY: TikTok Support — creating and posting videos — https://support.tiktok.com/; YouTube Help — recommended upload encoding settings — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171; LinkedIn Help — image and video specifications — https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin; Pinterest Help — creative specifications — https://help.pinterest.com/]

For Threads, Facebook, and X, identify the actual attachment or video surface rather than borrowing a rule from another network. [VERIFY: Instagram Help Center — Threads media guidance — https://help.instagram.com/; Facebook Help Center — photo and video publishing specifications — https://www.facebook.com/help/; X Help Center — sharing media — https://help.x.com/]

Plan safe areas without inventing official measurements

A safe area is a working boundary for important content. Frenzlab's tall previews use adjustable top and bottom margins and fixed side margins. Those guides are not a traced screenshot of a platform interface. Their purpose is to make you ask where a title, face, product, or disclosure could become difficult to see.

Use a conservative first draft: place essential text nearer the middle, then inspect the actual publishing presentation. Do not confuse “inside the dashed rectangle” with a guarantee that controls will never overlap the content. Interface behavior needs current platform-specific verification. [VERIFY: TikTok for Business — creative safe-zone guidance — https://ads.tiktok.com/help/; Meta Business Help Center — placement safe zones — https://www.facebook.com/business/help]

Suppose a 1920-pixel-tall working canvas uses a sixteen-percent top margin and the same bottom margin. Each margin is 307.2 pixels, leaving 1305.6 pixels between them. This is the arithmetic of the chosen guide, not an official UI measurement. Changing the slider to twenty percent leaves 1152 pixels in the center. A tighter region can encourage a clearer layout, but it cannot certify placement.

Design alternate compositions when a crop cannot work

One master image is convenient only while its important elements survive each target. Put the subject, headline, and supporting detail on separate layers in your source design when possible. Then make alternate compositions instead of treating every destination as a mechanical resize. This is a recommended production practice, not a feature the crop tool performs automatically.

Imagine a landscape asset with a product on the right and a price block on the left. A narrow crop may retain either element but not both. Moving the focal point cannot solve that layout conflict. Recompose the portrait version with the price above the product or create a separate text treatment. Keep the meaning consistent, not necessarily the exact coordinates.

Review the smallest likely presentation rather than judging only a large editor window. If a line becomes unreadable, shortening or reorganizing it may be better than making the entire design busier. Avoid adding decorative detail simply because the new canvas has spare space. The useful question is what the person seeing this version needs to understand first.

Export video from the source you actually have

Record the source frame rate before choosing an export rate. The advisor offers 24, 25, 30, 50, and 60 fps as selectable working inputs and recommends matching the source. It does not inspect the file or create missing motion detail. Confirm destination support and editor behavior in current documentation. [VERIFY: YouTube Help — recommended frame rates and encoding settings — https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171]

Frenzlab's example preset uses MP4 with H.264 video, a suggested 8–12 Mbps bitrate, and AAC stereo audio at 48 kHz and 192 kbps. These are editorial starting assumptions. The correct settings for a delivery can depend on the destination and the material, so do not label this preset “official requirements.”

At a constant illustrative 10 Mbps, sixty seconds of video represents 600 megabits, or 75 decimal megabytes, before audio and container overhead. This calculation helps estimate scale; it is not an exact prediction for variable-bitrate encoding. Export a short representative sample, inspect it, and then decide whether the full batch needs adjustment.

Keep a specification sheet for repeat work

Create one row per destination, not one row per platform. Include the surface name, chosen canvas, verified accepted format, current file-size ceiling if stated, verification date, source URL, and any unresolved question. Leave unknown values explicitly unknown. A neatly filled table containing guesses is harder to use safely than a table with visible gaps.

A successful test establishes that particular test result, not every future upload. Keep the source file and export settings so you can reproduce the asset or investigate a later change. For team work, make one person responsible for updating the sheet instead of letting multiple contradictory versions circulate.

Complete a publication check, not just an export check

Open the finished file independently of the editor. Inspect the crop, text, orientation, audio where relevant, and the beginning and ending of a video. Then inspect the actual platform draft. Check that the caption belongs to the right version and that a required disclosure has not disappeared during adaptation. Use the caption truncation previewer for an initial rehearsal, remembering that it is not an exact platform simulation.

For a commercial post, read the country-by-country disclosure guide before assuming an export is publication-ready. Rights clearance, truthful claims, and clear relationship disclosure are separate checks from dimensions. A technically valid file can still be the wrong content to publish.

The final handoff should say which values were verified and which were chosen. That distinction is the central habit this reference recommends. It lets a future editor revise a creative choice without accidentally changing a requirement, and it prevents a planning template from becoming a false claim about a platform. Our editorial policy explains how unresolved source claims remain visible until they are checked.

Name files for the next person

Use a filename that identifies the campaign, destination, ratio, and revision. Keep draft and approved versions distinct. A name such as workshop-linkedin-landscape-approved-v2 is more useful than final-final-new. Store the corresponding specification sheet alongside the files so a publisher can verify the intended use without reopening every source project.