Use-case guide
Banner and Cover Image Sizes: The Complete Guide for Every Platform
Banners and cover images are the largest visual real estate on any profile or page. They set the tone before a visitor reads a single word. But they are also the most frustrating images to design because almost every platform crops them differently depending on the device — mobile, desktop, tablet, and sometimes even TV. This guide covers cover image and banner sizes across social media, gaming, and professional platforms. For each one, you will get the upload dimensions and context about how the image gets cropped on different screens, so you can design confidently without the upload-preview-redo cycle.
Social Media
Social media banners are among the most viewed and most frustratingly cropped images online. Facebook covers shift between desktop and mobile layouts, Twitter headers get partially obscured by the profile photo, and YouTube banners have three different safe zones depending on the device.
| Platform | Size Name | Dimensions | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
Facebook | Facebook Cover Photo | 820 × 312px | 2.63:1 |
X (Twitter) | X Header Image | 1500 × 500px | 3:1 |
LinkedIn | LinkedIn Profile Banner | 1584 × 396px | 4:1 |
LinkedIn | LinkedIn Company Cover | 1128 × 191px | 5.91:1 |
Reddit | Reddit Banner (Desktop) | 4000 × 128px | 31.25:1 |
Tumblr | Tumblr Blog Header | 3000 × 1055px | 2.84:1 |
YouTube | YouTube Channel Banner | 2560 × 1440px | 16:9 |
Gaming
Gaming banners display in contexts ranging from your Twitch channel page (seen while you are offline) to your Steam library. These images need to be visually striking and brand-forward since they compete for attention in content-dense environments.
| Platform | Size Name | Dimensions | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
Twitch | Twitch Offline Banner | 1920 × 1080px | 16:9 |
Steam | Steam Library Hero | 3840 × 1240px | 3.1:1 |
Professional and Publishing
Professional platform headers appear on blog posts, newsletters, documentation pages, and workspace dashboards. They tend to be simpler than social media banners — often a clean photo or gradient — but wrong dimensions still cause ugly cropping or compression.
| Platform | Size Name | Dimensions | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
Notion | Notion Page Cover | 1500 × 600px | 2.5:1 |
Substack | Substack Header Image | 1100 × 220px | 5:1 |
WordPress | WordPress Header Image | 1920 × 600px | 3.2:1 |
Medium | Medium Post Image | 1400 × 1050px | 4:3 |
Tips
- Always design with multiple safe zones in mind. Most banners are cropped differently on mobile vs desktop — keep text and logos in the center where they survive both crops.
- Use subtle, non-repeating backgrounds for banners. Patterns that tile obviously look unintentional when the crop shifts the alignment on different devices.
- Export banners as JPG for photographic content and PNG for graphics with text overlays. Banners are large files, so JPG compression at 85-90% quality offers the best size-to-quality balance.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my banner look different on mobile and desktop?
Most platforms crop banners to different aspect ratios depending on the device. Facebook covers, YouTube banners, and LinkedIn headers all show a wider view on desktop and a narrower, taller crop on mobile. The solution is to place critical content in the center overlap zone that is visible on both.
What is the best format for banner images?
JPG at 85-90% quality is the best choice for photographic banners — it keeps file size manageable while maintaining visual quality. For banners with text, logos, or flat-color graphics, PNG preserves sharper edges. Avoid BMP and TIFF — they are unnecessarily large and most platforms convert them anyway.
How do I make one banner design work across multiple platforms?
Start with the largest required dimensions (YouTube banner at 2560×1440), design your content within the smallest common safe zone, and export crops for each platform. This way the visual language stays consistent even though the aspect ratios differ. Use a template with overlay guides for each platform's safe zone.
After resizing, you can also:
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