How to Resize an Image for Instagram, YouTube & LinkedIn
Every platform crops and compresses differently. Upload the right dimensions and your image stays sharp; upload the wrong ones and it gets squashed or blurred. Here are the sizes that matter.
The dimensions that matter
| Platform & placement | Recommended size | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram portrait | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram story | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Instagram tall portrait post | 1080 × 1440 | 3:4 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 3840 × 2160 (at least 640 wide) | 16:9 |
| LinkedIn link-preview image | 1200 × 627 | 1.91:1 |
| LinkedIn profile cover | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 |
The crop tool has these shapes ready — Square 1:1, Portrait 4:5, Tall 9:16 and Wide 16:9 — and the compress tool can also cap the width at 1080 px for Instagram.
Resize without losing quality
The golden rule is to resize down, never up. Shrinking a large image keeps it crisp; enlarging a small one invents pixels and looks soft. Always start from the highest-resolution original you have.
If the target ratio differs from your image, you’ll either crop or letterbox. For social posts, cropping to fill usually looks best — just keep the important subject near the centre so it survives the crop.
Compress after resizing
Once you’ve hit the right dimensions, export at around 80% quality. Platforms resize what you upload and may re-compress it — Instagram, for example, sizes photos down to 1080 pixels wide — so a clean, correctly sized file gives them less to change.
Ask an assistant about this page
Opens in a new tab with this page and the question already filled in.