How to resize a photo without stretching it
Every picture has an aspect ratio, the shape you get from width ÷ height. Keep the aspect ratio lock on and change only one number, and the photo resizer works out the other, so faces and products keep their proportions.
The presets set both width and height at once. If your photo isn't already that shape, it will be squeezed or stretched to fit. For a different shape, crop to the right ratio first in the Image Cropper, then resize here. Shrinking is safe; enlarging a small image beyond about 150% starts to look soft, and an AI upscaler does that job better.
Image sizes for social media in 2026
These are the sizes the presets use, plus the ones people ask about most.
| Platform | Size (px) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram square post | 1080 × 1080 | 1:1 |
| Instagram portrait post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Instagram / Facebook story, Reels, TikTok | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Facebook cover (desktop display) | 820 × 312 | about 2.6:1 |
| X (Twitter) header | 1500 × 500 | 3:1 |
| LinkedIn profile banner | 1584 × 396 | 4:1 |
| YouTube thumbnail | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
Pixels, file size and resolution explained
Pixel dimensions (1080 × 1080) decide how big an image looks on screen. File size (KB, MB) is how much space it takes, and depends on the dimensions and on compression. Halving the width and height cuts the number of pixels to a quarter, which usually shrinks the file a lot.
DPI only matters for print: a 3000 × 2000 photo prints sharp at 10 × 6.7 inches at 300 DPI. On screens, DPI is ignored; only the pixel size counts. If a form asks for a maximum file size rather than a pixel size, use the Image Compressor after resizing.
A good order of operations for most uploads: crop to the shape you need, resize to the pixel size the platform shows, then compress if the file is still too big. Doing it the other way round wastes quality, because each step works on what the previous one left behind. For a batch of photos, keep the same settings and process them one after another.
