Why "just upload it" isn't reliable
Most platforms accept whatever dimensions you upload, then crop or scale the image to fit their layout. The platform decides which part of your photo survives. Upload a 4:3 photo as a square profile picture, for example, and the sides get trimmed. Cropping to the target size yourself before uploading is the only way to choose what's shown.
Common social image sizes, by platform
Where a platform publishes a size in its own help pages, that's the number below. These were checked in September 2026. The rest are sizes that are widely used, not official requirements. Platforms change these, so for a paid ad or brand asset, check the platform's help pages again before you export.
- Instagram: feed photos 1080px wide, anywhere from 1.91:1 landscape (1080×566) to 3:4 portrait (1080×1440). Square is 1080×1080 and the older 4:5 portrait is 1080×1350. Stories and Reels are 1080×1920 (9:16).
- Facebook: Page cover photo shows at 820×312 on computers. Link previews commonly use 1200×630. Stories are 1080×1920.
- X (Twitter): header 1500×500 and profile photo 400×400. For in-feed images, 1200×675 (16:9) is a common choice.
- LinkedIn: profile background 1584×396. Link previews commonly use 1200×627 (about 1.91:1).
- YouTube: thumbnail 1280×720. Channel banner 2560×1440 recommended, 2048×1152 minimum. On a 2048×1152 banner, keep text and logos inside the middle 1235×338, because that's the part every device shows.
- Pinterest: Pin 1000×1500 (2:3).
- TikTok: video cover 1080×1920 (9:16) is the common size.
Why favicons need so many sizes at once
A favicon isn't one file. It's a set. Browser tabs, iOS home screens, and Android install prompts each look for their own specific size: a 16×16 or 32×32 icon for a browser tab, a 180×180 apple-touch-icon for iOS, and 192×192 / 512×512 icons for Android and PWA install prompts, tied together by a web manifest file. A single scaled-up or scaled-down image doesn't serve every one of these contexts well, which is why a complete setup generates all of them from one source at once.
Why favicon.ico still exists alongside PNGs
Modern browsers can use a PNG favicon directly, but .ico remains the one format some older browsers and crawlers check for by default at a site's root — regardless of what the page's own HTML links to. Browsers can't produce a .ico file themselves the way they can a PNG, since it's a multi-resolution binary container (typically bundling 16, 32, and 48px versions in one file), which is why a proper favicon generator builds that container directly rather than just renaming a PNG.
Square sources and cropping
Favicons and most profile-style images are square by convention. If your source photo or logo isn't square, it has to be cropped to a centered square before those sizes can be generated — there's no way around that for a square-format output. If the centered crop doesn't keep the right part of the image, crop it to a square yourself first, choosing exactly what's kept, then generate the final sizes from that result.