Facebook post image: 1200×630px. Profile photo: upload at 320×320 minimum (displayed at 170×170). Cover photo: 820×312px. Stories: 1080×1920px. Facebook recompresses all images on upload — PNG reduces visible quality loss for images with text; JPEG is better for photographs.
| Image type | Recommended size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Feed photo post | 1200 × 1200 px | Square displays well in all feed layouts |
| Shared link preview | 1200 × 630 px | Set via og:image meta tag |
| Profile photo (display) | 170 × 170 px | Upload at 320×320 minimum |
| Cover photo | 820 × 312 px | Mobile crops to center 640px |
| Stories | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 ratio |
| Event cover photo | 1200 × 628 px | Displayed at 470×174 in event listing |
| Group cover photo | 1640 × 856 px | Displayed at 820×428 |
The cover photo mobile crop that ruins most designs
A Facebook cover photo is 820×312 pixels. On desktop, the full width is visible. On mobile, Facebook displays the cover at 640×360 — cropping approximately 90px from each side. If your cover photo has a logo, text, or important design element within 90px of either edge, it will be cut off on mobile.
Since the majority of Facebook browsing is now mobile, this means a cover photo that looks perfect on your desktop may be broken for most of your audience. Design with a center-safe zone of 640×312 (keeping important elements within the center 640px of the 820px width).
Why PNG uploads look sharper than JPEG on Facebook for graphics
Facebook's JPEG recompression is aggressive, particularly for images with text, sharp edges, or flat colour areas. A JPEG infographic or promotional image with text often comes out of Facebook's compression with visible artifacts around the letterforms — the classic JPEG "ringing" artifact that makes text look fuzzy.
PNG files receive less aggressive treatment. For images that are primarily text, diagrams, or flat-colour graphics, uploading as PNG produces noticeably sharper results in the feed. The tradeoff is file size — a PNG infographic is 3–5× larger than the JPEG equivalent.
For photographs — faces, product shots, lifestyle images — JPEG at 85%+ quality is the right choice. The photographic content compresses efficiently and the artifacts are less visible in photographic content than in text or graphics.
Shared link images and the og:image tag
When someone shares a link to your website on Facebook, the preview image is pulled from the og:image meta tag on your page. Facebook fetches and caches this image when the URL is first shared. The recommended size is 1200×630px (1.91:1 ratio).
One non-obvious issue: Facebook caches shared link previews. If you update the og:image on your page, existing shares won't automatically update. You need to use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to clear the cache and force a re-scrape.
For the og:image itself, keep the file under 8MB and at least 200×200px (Facebook's minimum for display). 1200×630 at under 500KB is the practical optimum.
Facebook ads image requirements
Facebook ad images have different requirements from organic posts. The key specs:
- Feed ad: 1080×1080px recommended (1:1). Minimum 600×600px.
- Right column ad: 1200×628px
- Stories ad: 1080×1920px
- Text in image: Facebook previously enforced a 20% text rule (images with more than 20% text area got reduced reach). This rule was officially removed, but images with heavy text overlays still reportedly see reduced delivery in practice.
Ad images should be prepared at their exact recommended dimensions before upload, then compressed to under 1MB. Facebook's ad delivery system optimizes images during serving, but starting from a clean prepared file produces better output.