The quick answer: for a single feed image, use 1200 x 1200px square or 1200 x 628px landscape. For a vertical image that eats more mobile screen space, use 1080 x 1350px. For carousels and document posts, use 1080 x 1080px per slide. None of that matters if your text sits in the crop zone or your file is over 5MB, so I’ll cover both.
I’ve spent five years posting on LinkedIn almost daily, and I still see people asking me the same question in my DMs: “what size should this image be?” So let’s sort it, with the actual numbers, not vague ranges.
The exact pixel sizes for every LinkedIn image type
LinkedIn doesn’t publish one tidy chart for all of this, which is half the reason people get confused. So here’s what I use, checked against how images render on desktop and mobile in 2026.
Single feed image (the standard post)
- Square: 1200 x 1200px (1:1 ratio). This is what I use for 80% of my posts because it renders large on both desktop and mobile without cropping.
- Landscape: 1200 x 628px (1.91:1). Good for screenshots, quote cards, or anything wider than tall.
- Minimum LinkedIn will accept: 552 x 289px, but don’t upload anything that small, it looks blurry on a modern phone screen.
- File size cap: 5MB. Compress before you upload, not after LinkedIn rejects it.
Vertical image (the one people forget)
Vertical images at 1080 x 1350px (4:5 ratio) take up noticeably more vertical space in the mobile feed than a square or landscape image does. On a phone, that means someone has to scroll further before they get past your post, which can mean more time with your content in view. I’ve watched this work well on personal posts with a strong quote or a single bold stat over a plain background. It works less well for screenshots of text, because at that ratio small text becomes unreadable on mobile.
Carousel and document posts (PDF style)
These are the “swipe through slides” posts, and they’re built differently to a single image. Each slide should be 1080 x 1080px, uploaded as one PDF, up to 300 pages, max file size 100MB. Your first slide is doing the job of an ad headline: it needs to work as a standalone thumbnail because that’s all people see before they decide to click through.
Cover photo and company page assets
- Personal profile cover banner: 1584 x 396px
- Company page cover banner: 1128 x 191px
- Company page logo: 300 x 300px
If you’re running paid image ads rather than organic posts, the specs shift again, and the crop behaviour in the ad manager preview is different from the organic feed. I’ve written a full breakdown of that in my guide to LinkedIn advertising, worth reading before you brief a designer on a sponsored campaign.
The test I ran that changed how I size images
Two years ago I ran a scrappy experiment across 40 of my own posts: 20 with square 1200 x 1200 images, 20 with landscape 1200 x 628 images, same topics roughly matched, same posting times, same length of caption. The square posts got, on average, 22% more impressions and noticeably more comments. Not because square is magic, but because on a phone, which is where most of my audience lives, the square image simply takes up more of the screen before it gets cropped or compressed by LinkedIn’s own rendering. It’s a small thing. It’s also the kind of small thing that adds up to real reach over a year of posting.
What I didn’t expect: the vertical 4:5 images I tested later underperformed the square ones on my account, despite taking up even more screen space. My theory, after looking at the comments, is that a full-height image feels like it’s trying too hard on a professional network. People scroll past it faster than they scroll past a square one. LinkedIn is not Instagram, and audiences on it seem to notice when a post is optimised to grab attention rather than to say something useful.
The uncomfortable bit nobody wants to say out loud
Here’s the thing most “ideal size” posts skip over: the exact pixel dimensions matter far less than what’s inside the frame and where you put it. LinkedIn compresses and crops images differently depending on device, feed placement, and whether someone’s viewing through the app or a browser. I’ve uploaded the “correct” 1200 x 1200 image and still watched LinkedIn crop 15% off one edge on certain Android devices. There is no dimension you can pick that guarantees a perfect, uncropped render on every screen, every time.
So the real skill isn’t memorising a spec sheet, it’s designing with a safe zone. Keep your text, logo, and any critical detail in the centre 80% of the image. Treat the outer edges as expendable. That single habit has saved me more embarrassing crops than any pixel-perfect template ever has.
And here’s the second uncomfortable truth: the algorithm doesn’t reward the right image size. It rewards dwell time, comments in the first hour, and shares. A brilliantly sized image with nothing to say underneath it will still flop. I’ve covered exactly what LinkedIn’s algorithm is weighing in my guide to beating the LinkedIn algorithm in 2026, and image size barely gets a mention in there because it’s a footnote next to engagement signals.
How to size an image without a design degree
Here’s the exact process I use, step by step, no design software required beyond a free browser tool:
- Step 1: Decide the format first, not the size. Single insight or quote? Go square. Screenshot or chart? Go landscape. Story or personal moment? Vertical can work, sparingly.
- Step 2: Open a template tool at the exact canvas size you need (1200 x 1200 for square, for example) rather than resizing after the fact. Resizing after design is how you end up with blurry logos.
- Step 3: Keep any text at least 100px from every edge. This is your safe zone against unpredictable cropping.
- Step 4: Export as JPG for photos and PNG for anything with sharp text or a logo, since PNG holds up better under LinkedIn’s compression.
- Step 5: Check the file size. If it’s over 5MB, compress it before upload rather than letting LinkedIn do it for you, because LinkedIn’s own compression tends to be more aggressive and can soften text.
- Step 6: Preview on your phone before you schedule it. What looks sharp on a 27 inch monitor can look rough on a 6 inch screen.
For the actual building of these images, I’ve used a fair few tools over the years, and PosterMyWall has become one of my go-tos because it lets you set the exact LinkedIn canvas size before you start designing rather than cropping after. Canva does the same job with pre-set LinkedIn templates. Either way, set the dimensions first.
Where scheduling tools get this wrong
One thing that trips people up: not every scheduling tool previews your image the way LinkedIn will display it. I’ve had posts look perfect in the scheduler and then render cropped oddly once they went live, because the tool’s preview pane used a different aspect ratio to LinkedIn’s real feed. If you’re choosing a scheduler, this is worth testing before you commit to a paid plan, and I go through exactly what to check in my piece on what to look for in an app for scheduling posts. For smaller teams juggling multiple platforms and multiple image ratios at once, I’ve also broken down which tools cope well with that in my review of the best social media post tool for small teams.
How LinkedIn sizing compares to Instagram
If you’re repurposing the same visual across platforms, and most of us are, remember that LinkedIn’s ratios don’t map directly onto Instagram’s. A Story image built at Instagram’s ideal 1080 x 1920px full screen ratio will get cropped hard if you drop it straight into a LinkedIn feed post. I’ve written a full comparison of what determines the ideal size for an Instagram Story image, and the short version is: design each platform’s version separately, or at minimum, resize with the safe zone rule in mind rather than assuming one image fits every network.
Common mistakes I still see, weekly
- Uploading a screenshot straight from a phone at whatever odd ratio the phone captured it in, then wondering why half the text is cropped off in feed.
- Using a landscape image built for a blog header, at 1600 x 900px or similar, without checking how much gets sliced off the sides on LinkedIn’s feed crop.
- Ignoring the safe zone and placing a logo right in the corner, which then gets clipped on mobile.
- Exporting at such high resolution the file exceeds 5MB, and letting LinkedIn’s automatic compression soften every line of text in the process.
- Assuming a bigger, more elaborate image will outperform a plain one. Some of my best-performing posts have been a single stat on a plain colour background, sized correctly, with nothing else competing for attention.
What matters more than the pixel count
If I had to rank what drives a LinkedIn image post’s performance, size would sit fourth or fifth, behind the hook in your first line, whether the image adds information rather than just decoration, whether it’s legible on a small screen in under two seconds, and whether the caption gives people a reason to comment. Get the size roughly right using the numbers above, then spend your remaining time on those four things. That’s where the actual reach comes from.
If your question is a different LinkedIn one, the LinkedIn guide lists every answer I have written.
Related reading: can we edit post in linkedin.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best image size for a LinkedIn post in 2026?
Square 1200 x 1200px is the safest default because it renders large on both desktop and mobile without heavy cropping. Landscape 1200 x 628px works well for screenshots and charts. Both stay under LinkedIn’s 5MB file limit if exported.
Should I use a square or vertical image on LinkedIn?
Square generally performs better on LinkedIn than vertical, in my own testing, despite vertical taking up more screen space. LinkedIn’s audience tends to respond better to a clean square image than one that feels designed purely to dominate the scroll.
Why does my LinkedIn image look cropped after I upload it?
LinkedIn crops and compresses differently depending on device and app version, so even a “correct” size can lose some edge detail. Design with a safe zone: keep text, logos, and important detail within the centre 80% of the image so nothing critical gets clipped.
What size should a LinkedIn carousel or document post be?
Build each slide at 1080 x 1080px and upload the whole thing as one PDF, up to 300 pages and 100MB total. Treat the first slide like a thumbnail, since that’s the only slide people see before deciding whether to swipe through the rest.
