OG Image Size Guide: 1200×630 Spec for Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook

You designed a great OG image. You set it live. Then someone shares your link on LinkedIn and the image gets cropped awkwardly, cutting off your headline mid-word.

Wrong dimensions make good images look amateur. And every platform has its own rules.

Here are the exact sizes you need for every major platform, plus the one universal size that works almost everywhere.

The Universal Starting Point: 1200 x 630

If you only remember one number, make it this: 1200 x 630 pixels.

This is the Facebook-recommended OG image size, and it works reasonably well across most platforms. The aspect ratio is approximately 1.91:1, which is close enough to what Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook all expect.

But "reasonably well" isn't the same as "optimized." Each platform has subtle differences in how it crops, scales, and renders your image. If you want pixel-perfect results, here are the platform-specific specs.

Twitter/X Card Image Dimensions

Twitter uses two card formats, and each handles images differently.

Summary Card with Large Image (recommended): Summary Card (small thumbnail):

Always use `summary_large_image` unless your content specifically calls for a small square thumbnail. The large card format gets significantly more engagement. A Twitter card generator can help you create images at these exact dimensions.

Twitter cropping behavior:

• Images wider than 1.91:1 get cropped from left and right
• Images taller than 1.91:1 get cropped from top and bottom
• Cropping is center-aligned, so keep important content in the middle
• In dark mode, light borders around your image can look odd

LinkedIn Share Image Dimensions

LinkedIn handles link previews differently from regular image posts.

Link preview images (OG images): Important LinkedIn behavior:

• Images smaller than 400px wide render as small square thumbnails on the left side of the card, not as large preview cards
• To get the full-width card format, your image must be at least 1200px wide
• LinkedIn adds a subtle border and shadow to card images
• The platform aggressively caches images. Use the Post Inspector to force a refresh after updating

Facebook Share Image Dimensions

Facebook created the Open Graph protocol, so its support is the most straightforward.

Link share images: Facebook rendering rules:

• Images at least 600 x 315 display as large share cards
• Images between 200 x 200 and 600 x 315 display as small thumbnails
• Images below 200 x 200 may not display at all
• Facebook Messenger renders cards at a smaller size, so high contrast helps legibility

Discord Embed Image Dimensions

Discord is increasingly important for developer and community marketing. It renders rich embeds when links are posted in channels.

Discord embed images: Discord-specific considerations:

• Embeds render at a smaller size than other platforms, roughly 400px wide on desktop
• Text in your OG image needs to be legible at this reduced size
• Discord supports dark mode only, so design with dark backgrounds in mind
• The platform displays the embed within a colored sidebar, so edge contrast matters

Slack Link Preview Dimensions

Slack unfurls links in channels and DMs, showing an OG image preview.

Slack unfurl images: Slack rendering behavior:

• Images render significantly smaller than on social platforms
• Text smaller than 48px at full resolution becomes unreadable
• Slack compresses images aggressively, so use high contrast to survive compression
• Workspace admins can disable link unfurling, so don't rely on it exclusively

WhatsApp Link Preview Dimensions

WhatsApp link previews appear in 1-on-1 chats, group chats, and Status posts. Because WhatsApp is the dominant messaging app in much of Latin America, India, the Middle East, and Africa, getting the link preview right is increasingly important for global product launches.

WhatsApp link preview images: WhatsApp rendering behavior:

• WhatsApp aggressively compresses preview images. Aim for a source file under 300 KB to survive compression with detail intact.
• The 600 KB ceiling is the hardest cap among all major platforms. Larger files are silently dropped and the link shows up unfurled.
• WhatsApp reads the standard `og:image` Open Graph tag. No platform-specific meta tags are required.
• On low-bandwidth networks (common in target markets), WhatsApp may not load the preview at all. The text-only fallback should still read well.
• Previews are cached for roughly 7 days. To force a refresh, change the image URL (append a version query string) rather than overwriting the same URL.

For apps targeting WhatsApp-heavy markets, design the preview image to be readable even after compression: bold typography, high contrast, no fine detail or thin lines.

Quick Reference Table

Retina and High-DPI Considerations

Modern screens have 2x or 3x pixel density. An image displayed at 600px wide on a retina screen actually renders 1200 pixels. If your source image is only 600px, it looks blurry.

For OG images, 1200px wide is effectively 1x on many devices. For maximum sharpness:

• Standard quality: 1200 x 630 px (sufficient for most uses)
• Retina quality: 2400 x 1260 px (scales down beautifully, but larger file size)

The trade-off is file size. A 2400px image at high quality can be 500KB+, which slows down social card rendering. For most use cases, 1200 x 630 at 80-90% JPEG quality or optimized PNG strikes the right balance.

Format recommendations:

• PNG: Best for images with text, flat colors, and sharp edges
• JPEG: Best for photographs or complex gradients where file size matters
• WebP: Excellent compression, but not universally supported by all social platform crawlers yet

The Quick Way to Get Dimensions Right

Manually resizing images for each platform is tedious. And if you get it wrong, you end up with cropped headlines and cut-off branding.

Screenhance handles this for you. Upload your screenshot, choose your styling, and export at the exact dimensions you need. No guessing, no manual cropping, no surprises when someone shares your link.

For a deeper look at design principles beyond just dimensions, read the OG Image Best Practices guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 1200 x 630 the right size for all platforms?

It's the best universal size. Twitter technically uses 1200 x 628 and LinkedIn uses 1200 x 627, but the 2-3 pixel difference is imperceptible. Using 1200 x 630 means one image works everywhere without platform-specific cropping issues.

What happens if my OG image is too small?

Platforms handle undersized images differently. Facebook shows a tiny thumbnail instead of a full-width card. LinkedIn does the same for images under 1200px wide. Twitter may not display the image at all if it's below 300 x 157. Always use at least 1200 x 630 to guarantee full-width display.

Should I create separate OG images for each platform?

For most content, one image at 1200 x 630 is sufficient. If you're optimizing high-traffic pages where every click matters, you can use Twitter's dedicated meta tags (twitter:image) to serve a Twitter-specific image while using the standard og:image for everything else.

Does WhatsApp need a different OG image size than Twitter or LinkedIn?

No, the dimensions are the same (1200 x 630 px). The difference is file size. WhatsApp caps preview images at 600 KB, the strictest limit of any major platform. A 2 MB PNG that works fine on Twitter and LinkedIn will be silently dropped by WhatsApp. Optimize file size with WebP or compressed JPEG if WhatsApp shares matter for the launch.

Why doesn't my WhatsApp preview update when I change the OG image?

WhatsApp caches link previews for roughly 7 days. To force a refresh, change the URL (for example, append `?v=2` as a query string) rather than overwriting the same URL with new image data. This is the same pattern that works for LinkedIn's aggressive cache.

Related Reading

• OG Image Best Practices: The Complete Guide to Social Share Images - Design principles for effective OG images
• Screenshot Size Guide: Dimensions for Every Platform - Complete dimension reference for all image types
• What Is the Best Screenshot Size? Complete Guide for Every Platform - Optimal screenshot dimensions

Conclusion

OG image dimensions aren't complicated, but they're easy to get wrong. The result of wrong dimensions is awkward cropping, tiny thumbnails, or missing images entirely.

Memorize 1200 x 630 as your default. Design with center-weighted content so cropping never cuts anything important. And if a specific platform matters more than others for your audience, optimize for that platform's exact specs.

Get the dimensions right once, and every share of your content looks exactly how you intended.