Serving an image at the wrong size is one of the most common and fixable performance problems on websites. Too large and you waste your visitors' data and slow every page load. Too small and the image appears blurry on high-density screens or when users zoom in. This guide provides specific recommended dimensions for the most common image contexts so you can prepare every image correctly before uploading.
Blog and editorial images
Blog featured images appear at the top of individual posts and as thumbnails in post listing pages. These two contexts often require different dimensions, though many CMS themes handle the cropping automatically if you upload a large enough source image.
For the hero image at the top of a blog post displayed at full column width, 1200 pixels wide by 630 pixels tall is the most widely compatible size. This 1.9:1 aspect ratio also works for social sharing, so the same image serves as both the post header and the Open Graph image used when the article is shared on social platforms. At 80 percent JPEG quality, an editorial photograph at these dimensions typically runs between 100KB and 250KB.
For blog post thumbnail images in listing pages, 600 by 400 pixels covers the display needs of most themes. At 80 percent JPEG quality, a thumbnail at this size should be between 40KB and 100KB.
For images embedded within a blog post body at full column width, 1000 to 1200 pixels wide is appropriate for a standard desktop column. These in-content images are often where the most oversized images appear, because writers copy images directly from reference sources without checking dimensions.
Portfolio images
Portfolio images have different requirements depending on whether they are displayed as thumbnails in a gallery or as full-size work samples that visitors click through to view at maximum detail.
Gallery thumbnails at 600 by 600 pixels work well for a square grid layout. For a rectangular layout, 800 by 600 pixels at a 4:3 aspect ratio is common. These thumbnails should be compressed to 80 to 85 percent JPEG quality and should each be under 150KB.
Full-size work samples viewed after clicking a thumbnail should be large enough to show your work clearly but not so large that they time out on slower connections. For most design, photography, and illustration portfolios, 1800 to 2400 pixels on the longest side provides enough detail for close inspection while keeping the file under 500KB in WebP or 800KB in JPEG at appropriate quality.
For photography portfolios specifically, full-size display images at 2400 pixels wide in JPEG at 85 percent quality are standard. This allows visitors to zoom in and appreciate detail without serving a file that would take several seconds to load on mobile.
E-commerce and product images
Product images have specific requirements driven by the need to show product detail at zoom while also loading quickly on mobile.
The main product image displayed on a product detail page should be at minimum 800 by 800 pixels and ideally 1000 by 1000 pixels for a square format, or 1000 by 1333 pixels for a portrait format used by many fashion retailers. At these dimensions, most platform zoom features work effectively. In WebP at 80 percent quality, a product photo at 1000 by 1000 pixels should be between 60KB and 200KB depending on image complexity.
Thumbnail images in category pages or search results at 300 by 300 pixels for square format or 300 by 400 for portrait. Each thumbnail should be under 40KB in WebP. If your platform generates these automatically from the full-size product image, upload a source image that is at least 1000 pixels on each side so the downscaled thumbnail has good quality.
Zoom images, where the platform supports customer zoom on hover or touch, should be 2000 by 2000 pixels or larger. These large images are typically not loaded until the customer initiates a zoom action, so they do not affect initial page load time.
Social media platform dimensions
Social platform image dimensions change periodically as platforms update their interfaces. These are the recommended sizes as of 2026.
For LinkedIn: feed post images at 1200 by 628 pixels. Company page banner at 1128 by 191 pixels. Profile photo at 400 by 400 pixels minimum, displayed as a circle. Article cover image at 2000 by 600 pixels.
For Instagram: square posts at 1080 by 1080 pixels. Portrait posts at 1080 by 1350 pixels (the maximum portrait ratio allowed). Landscape posts at 1080 by 566 pixels. Stories and Reels covers at 1080 by 1920 pixels. Profile photo at 320 by 320 pixels, displayed as a circle.
For Twitter (now X): in-feed images at 1200 by 675 pixels for landscape, or 1200 by 1350 for portrait. Profile photo at 400 by 400 pixels. Header image at 1500 by 500 pixels.
For Facebook: post images at 1200 by 630 pixels. Page cover at 820 by 312 pixels on desktop and 640 by 360 on mobile. Profile photo at 170 by 170 pixels on desktop.
Email newsletter images
Email clients impose specific constraints on images that websites do not face. Images in emails must be fast to load because many email clients preview emails in a small panel before the reader opens them, and slow-loading images in that preview cause abandonment.
The maximum width of an email body is typically 600 pixels in most email client rendering environments. Images wider than 600 pixels will be scaled down. A full-width email banner at 600 by 200 pixels is appropriate for a standard single-column layout. At 80 percent JPEG quality, this should be under 30KB.
Product images within an email at 300 by 300 pixels maximum. These images repeat in every email sent to every subscriber, so keeping each one under 30KB is important for total email size. Many email service providers set a maximum total email size of 100KB to avoid spam filters.
Email images should be hosted on a public URL and referenced from the email rather than embedded as attachments. Most modern email clients block embedded images by default but load externally hosted images that are referenced by URL. Use a fast hosting service for email images, as the load speed of the hosting server directly affects how quickly the email appears fully rendered for readers.
Open Graph and social preview images
The Open Graph image is the preview image shown when a URL is shared on social platforms. Every page on a website should have an Open Graph image defined in its head tags. Without one, social platforms will either use a random image from the page or display no image, both of which significantly reduce click-through rates from shared links.
The recommended Open Graph image size is 1200 by 630 pixels. This is the same as the LinkedIn feed post image and the Twitter landscape format, making it suitable for sharing across all major platforms. The file should be in JPEG or PNG format, as WebP is not universally supported in social platform previews. Keep the file under 300KB.
Important text or branding in an Open Graph image should be kept within the central safe zone of approximately 900 by 470 pixels, as some platforms crop the edges of preview images to fit their display format.