A badly cropped image ruins a good post. Each network changes its preferred formats from time to time, and in 2026 vertical keeps taking over, because more and more content is consumed on a phone alone. Here are the social media image sizes worth keeping at hand when you prepare content, so you stop guessing every time.

Instagram

Instagram now favours the portrait format — it takes up more screen on a phone and catches attention better. A square still works, but it gives up visual space in the feed.

  • Feed post (portrait) — 1080 × 1350 px.
  • Square post — 1080 × 1080 px.
  • Stories and Reels — 1080 × 1920 px.
  • Profile picture — 320 × 320 px.

Facebook

On Facebook the share image and the cover matter most — they’re what people see first on the page.

  • Image post — 1200 × 630 px.
  • Page cover — 1640 × 624 px.
  • Stories — 1080 × 1920 px.

Stories and the vertical format

Stories, Reels and TikTok all use the same 1080 × 1920 px frame. The key rule: keep text and key elements away from the edges, because the interface covers the top and bottom with buttons, names and captions. A safe zone in the centre keeps your message visible on any phone, in any app.

Why the right size matters

An image at the correct resolution looks sharp, not pixelated, and doesn’t lose important parts when cropped. Design built for the right format from the start looks professional and saves rework. A common mistake is using one image everywhere — a feed visual squeezed into a story looks cut off and amateurish.

One visual, several formats

The most effective approach isn’t one image you force-stretch, but a design adapted to each format from the start. The same idea, recomposed for square, portrait and vertical, looks right everywhere. That way you post across every network with no compromise, and the message stays intact wherever it appears.

Conclusion

Sizes change, but the principle stays: prepare the visual exactly to the network’s format. At shadowforge we deliver social media graphics in all the correct sizes for 2026, adapted to each format — ready to publish with no unwanted cropping.