One of the first few things people see when they visit your social media profiles is your cover photo.
Whether it’s your Facebook Page, LinkedIn Company Page, or YouTube channel, your cover photo is the biggest image on the page. And people will see your cover photo even before they see any of your posts.
So how do you make your cover photo show up the exact way you want it to be?
One of the key factors is the size. Without the correct dimensions (width and height), your cover photo might be cropped to fit the space available and people will miss the important details on your photo.
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all cover photo size for all the social media platforms, the information is out there.
We’ve collected all the answers here so that you can have a single point of reference for all cover photo sizes.
The best cover photo size for all major social media platform
Some social media platforms display cover photos slightly different on the desktop and on mobile. But in general, here are the ideal cover photo sizes for the platforms with a cover photo.
(Feel free to click on a social media platform to see more details for that particular platform.)
Facebook – 820px x 462px (Profile, Page, and Group), 820px by 465px (Page video), 1920px by 1080px (Event)
LinkedIn – 1584px x 396px (Profile), 1536px x 768px (Company Page)
Twitter – 1,500px x 500px
Google+ – 1600px x 900px (Profile and Page), 368px x 207px (Collection and community)
If you spot an error or an outdated information, I’m be grateful if you could let me know in the comments section below. Thanks!
Ideal cover photo size for Facebook
Facebook profile cover photo – 820px x 462px
The ideal size for your Facebook (personal) profile cover photo is 820 pixels wide by 462 pixels tall. According to Facebook, your cover photo has to be at least 720 pixels wide.
There are four important details to take note of when creating a cover photo for your Facebook profile:
1. Your cover photo will look slightly different on mobile.
On mobile, Facebook shows your cover photo at a different dimension — slightly taller or narrower. Facebook will either show more of your image if your image is tall enough or crop the sides away.
From my tests, 820 pixels wide by 462 pixels tall is an ideal size for both desktop and mobile. Facebook will show the blue section on the desktop and both the green and blue sections on mobile.
You can grab a Photoshop file of this template here.
2. You can reposition your cover photo on the desktop.
In case you have any important details at the top or bottom of your cover photo and you worry that Facebook will crop them away on the desktop, Facebook allows you to reposition your cover photo by dragging it up or down.
3. Your profile photo, your name, and a few buttons overlay your cover photo.
As you might have noticed in the example above, several things overlay the cover photo. You might want to take this into consideration when choosing or creating your cover photo. On mobile, your profile photo will overlay your cover photo in the middle.
A good rule-of-thumb is to avoid having any important details in the lower half of your cover photo that might be hidden behind your profile photo.
4. Facebook shows only about half of your cover photo when someone lands on your profile.
When someone navigates to your Facebook profile, Facebook would not show your entire cover photo immediately. She or he has to scroll up a little to see the full image.
To encourage people to scroll up and check out your full cover photo, you might want to have something attractive enough in the bottom-half of your cover photo.
Facebook Page cover photo – 820px x 462px
We have a post that goes into more detail about the Facebook Page cover photo. Here are some of the key points:
1. Unlike your profile cover photo, nothing overlays your Facebook Page cover photo.
This is great because you don’t have to worry about anything blocking important details on your cover photo.
2. Like your profile cover photo, your Facebook Page cover photo will look slightly different on mobile.
According to Facebook, your Facebook Page cover photo displays at 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall on desktops and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall on mobile.
From my tests, I found that it’s best to use an image that is 820 pixels wide by 462 pixels tall and to have what you want to show up on the desktop within a 820-pixels wide-by-312-pixels tall box (or the blue section).
You can grab a template of the ideal Facebook Page cover photo here.
3. Use a PNG file for better resolution.
According to Facebook, if your cover photo has your logo or text, your logo or text might show up better when you use a PNG file.
Facebook Page cover video – 820px by 465px
Yes! You can use a video for your cover photo. Isn’t that amazing?
Here are the recommendations by Facebook for your Facebook Page cover video:
- Your video should be at least 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall. For best results, upload a cover video that’s 820 pixels wide and 456 pixels tall.
- Your video should be between 20 and 90 seconds.
As for the video file format, I believe MP4 or MOV is recommended; though any of the formats on this list should work, too.
Facebook Group cover photo – 820px x 462px
The Facebook Group cover photo is almost identical to the Facebook Page cover photo — just a little shorter.
The ideal cover photo size is 820 pixels wide by 462 pixels tall (similar to the Facebook Page cover photo). But the area visible on the desktop is 820 pixels wide by 250 pixels tall (slightly shorter than the Facebook Page cover photo). Your photo has to be at least 400 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall, according to Facebook.
Feel free to grab a template of the ideal Facebook Group cover photo here.
One thing to bear in mind is that while nothing overlays your Facebook Group cover photo on the desktop, your Facebook Group name will overlay your cover photo on mobile.
Another thing you might want to think about is…
