Image Cropping Guide: Aspect Ratios for Every Use Case
Aspect ratios are not arbitrary. Each platform crops to a specific shape and content outside that shape gets cut. Here is the reference for cropping correctly the first time across the platforms most people actually publish to.
"Crop the image" is half the work of preparing visuals for the web. The other half is picking the right aspect ratio for the destination. Crop to 16:9 when the platform expects 4:5 and your image gets letterboxed or hard-cropped at upload.
The full reference, grouped by destination:
Social media
| Platform / placement | Aspect ratio | Common dimensions |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square | 1:1 | 1080 × 1080 |
| Instagram portrait | 4:5 | 1080 × 1350 |
| Instagram landscape | 1.91:1 | 1080 × 566 |
| Instagram story / Reels | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 16:9 | 1280 × 720 |
| YouTube channel art | 16:9 (with mobile-safe 4:1 zone) | 2560 × 1440 |
| TikTok | 9:16 | 1080 × 1920 |
| LinkedIn post | 1.91:1 | 1200 × 627 |
| LinkedIn banner | 4:1 | 1584 × 396 |
| Twitter / X post (landscape) | 16:9 | 1200 × 675 |
| Twitter / X header | 3:1 | 1500 × 500 |
| Facebook cover | 2.7:1 | 851 × 315 |
Web / SEO
| Use case | Aspect ratio | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
Open Graph (og:image) |
1.91:1 | 1200 × 630 |
| Blog hero (full-width) | 16:9 or 2:1 | 1920 × 960 or 1920 × 1080 |
| Blog thumbnail (card) | 4:3 or 16:9 | 600 × 450 or 600 × 338 |
| Featured image (Twitter card large) | 1.91:1 | 1200 × 628 |
Profile / identity
| Use case | Aspect ratio |
|---|---|
| Profile photo (universal) | 1:1 |
| Favicon source | 1:1 |
| Avatar (round display) | 1:1 (round mask handled by platform) |
| Use case | Aspect ratio |
|---|---|
| Photo print 4×6 | 3:2 |
| Photo print 5×7 | 7:5 |
| Photo print 8×10 | 5:4 |
| Standard letter | 8.5:11 |
Why cropping beats resizing alone
Resizing changes pixel dimensions but preserves the aspect ratio. Cropping changes the aspect ratio too: you pick which part of the image to keep. Most social platforms reject or hard-crop images at the wrong aspect ratio; resizing alone does not help. Crop first, then resize.
Crop in your browser
Use the image cropper. Drop your image in, pick the aspect ratio (or enter a custom one), drag the crop box, download. Cropping happens client-side. For automatic generation of the same image at multiple social aspect ratios at once, see the social media resizer.
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