The Picture Perfect Guide to image sizing on social media platforms

So, you’ve decided to work with a professional photographer or content creator to capture some fantastic imagery of you, your products, you and your products, or your clients. You know that you want to use them on social media, but have no idea of the optimal sizing for posting your images.

You may have experienced it with your personal social media platforms, but we think there’s very little worse than perfectly framing an amazing photograph that you’ve taken, then when you upload it to your Facebook or Pinterest, half of the image is cropped off, taking the shine off an otherwise great picture. 

Perfect Image Aspect Ratio for social media platforms

When you’re creating images for digital platforms, it’s important to use the right image size, also known as the image aspect ratio. The image ratio is the relationship between the width and height of an image. Different platforms have different preferred image ratios, so it’s important to use the right one for each platform. 

Here are the preferred image sizes for some of the most popular digital platforms:

It’s important to note that these are just the preferred image ratios. You can use other image ratios, but your images may not look as good, or they may not be displayed properly.

If you’re not sure what image ratio to use, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and use the preferred image ratio for the platform you’re uploading your image to.

Perfect Video Size Ratio for social media platforms

As with images, the size ratio of your videos is the direct relationship between the width and height of the video, and just as with images the different platforms have different preferences for displaying your video the best. 

Previously, the likes of Facebook and Instagram had different preferences, but with the introduction of TikTok and the portrait aligned videos that came with it, those more established social brands have changed their own preferences to get involved. Even YouTube has added the Shorts feature to keep hold of its own audience.  

Here are the preferred video size ratios for some of the most popular digital platforms:

YouTube: 16:9

YouTube Shorts: 1.91:1

Facebook: 9:16 or 16:9

Facebook Reels: 1.91:1

TikTok: 1.91:1

Twitter: 1:1

Instagram: 1.91:1

Pinterest: 2:3

LinkedIn: 16:9

The importance of displaying the correct ratio as a brand

It is vitally important that you get the aspect ratio correct for your videos and images when you post them on social media, particularly if you’re representing a brand. Here are some reasons why:

Brand credibility

If the images and videos are not displayed in the optimal aspect ratio, it can look terribly unprofessional and make your brand appear less credible than you are. This is a crime against your business. You’ve spent thousands of pounds, or hundreds of hours, honing your products, building a brand and investing in professional photography to capture your products and services in the best possible light, only for your credibility to be impacted by poor choice of image size on the wrong platform. 

Engagement impact

By displaying your images and videos in a poor aspect ratio on your social platforms will surely impact the level of engagement that they’ll get. We’ve been there as scrollers, looking through the content shared by the accounts we follow, and one image or one video is part of a bigger picture that we cannot see. Some people may be tempted to click to see more of the image to see what they’re missing, but as professionals, it turns us right off and we will not engage with the post. 

Technical issues

If you have used some software to crop your images and done it in the incorrect size, you may just find that the platform struggles to upload the content, causing you to spend further time editing the images again to the correct aspect ratio. This is time you could be spending doing something much more productive and profitable!

Picture Perfect Photography

Hopefully this short guide has provided some great help and advice for posting images and videos on social media, but if you’re still not sure then worry not; Picture Perfect Photography is a digital visual agency with a one-stop shop approach to photography, video content production, and social media management. 

We can offer a start-to-finish service, which incorporates an initial strategy session around who you are, what your brand is about, and what you’re wanting to achieve. Our team will work with you to create a perfect social media strategy and shot list of potential images and videos that will work for your brand. 

We are a very adaptable team here, and we are as happy to invite you to our Yorkshire photography studio as we are to travel to the likes of London or Newcastle to meet you on your location of choice. During the photography or video shoot we will work through the pre-agreed shot list, plus offer words of wisdom and capture any additional images we can, to offer you a fully versatile series of visual assets. 

We will then edit your photos, videos and provide you with fully optimised images and videos that are suitable for use on social media, in your promotional literature, or on your website. 

Our social media expert Jen will then work with you to implement and schedule your social media plan to perfection, with help and advice so that you can get the absolute most out of your content assets. 

Or – if you’d prefer, we can simply get you in for a photography or videography session and provide you with a series of amazing, edited visuals that you can do with as you see fit, but we hope that you’ll be back to our guide to ensure you’re posting the content in the best possible way, that will provide you and your brand with the most possible amount of engagement, web traffic, or revenue, whatever your objective might be. 

Simply get in touch with the team via the form below and we’ll be in touch for a discovery call to understand your brand and its objectives.