Checked against the source
Link preview Open Graph image size
Short answer
Design 1200 x 630 px. Meta publishes that for link shares, asks for a 1.91:1 ratio, and 1200 / 630 = 1.905, which is that ratio to within 0.3%. It is the one link-preview frame that works across Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Slack, Discord and WhatsApp without a second export.
Key takeaways
- Meta publishes: at least 1200 x 630 px for best display, 600 x 315 px as the smallest that still shows a large card, 200 x 200 px as the minimum dimension, and an 8 MB cap.
- Meta asks for a ratio as close to 1.91:1 as possible. Computed: 1200 / 630 = 1.905, which is 0.3% away.
- A 1200 x 630 px image keeps 99.9% of its area in a 1.91:1 card but only 52.5% in a square card, so keep essentials inside the central 630 x 630 px.
- A crawler must see the image once before it renders, so the first share of a new URL often shows no image. The width and height tags skip that.
- Meta caches by URL, so replacing the file at the same address will not update the preview.
The size
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 1200 px |
| Height | 630 px |
| Aspect ratio | 40:21 |
| Where this comes from | Meta for Developers: 1200 x 630 px best display, 600 x 315 px minimum large card, 200 x 200 px minimum |
To scale
What your photo loses
| Source | Scale to fill | Lost each side | Lost top and bottom | Source area kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camera, 3:2 (6000 x 4000) | 0.2 (max(1200 / 6000, 630 / 4000)) | none ((1200 - 1200) / 2) | 85 px ((800 - 630) / 2) | 3.2% |
| Square export (1080 x 1080) | 1.111 (max(1200 / 1080, 630 / 1080)) | none ((1200 - 1200) / 2) | 285 px ((1200 - 630) / 2) | 64.8% |
| Vertical post, 4:5 (1080 x 1350) | 1.111 (max(1200 / 1080, 630 / 1350)) | none ((1200 - 1200) / 2) | 435 px ((1500 - 630) / 2) | 51.9% |
Computed cover crop into the 1200 x 630 px frame this page targets.
What this frame costs to upload
| Format | File size | Against PNG |
|---|---|---|
| PNG, lossless | 1,079,248 bytes (1054 kB) | the reference |
| JPEG, `-q:v 5` | 129,449 bytes (126 kB) | 12% of the PNG |
| WebP, `-q:v 75` | 49,254 bytes (48 kB) | 5% of the PNG |
| Meta maximum file size, if that is the cap | 8,388,608 bytes (8192 kB) | the PNG is 13% of it |
ffmpeg 6.1.1. Upper bounds: a flat logo or a soft portrait compresses much further. The full method is in the evidence file.
Resize it now
1200 x 630 px, which is the frame Meta publishes and the one that avoids the 1.91:1 card crop entirely. The tool center-crops into it, so a portrait source loses its top and bottom and a square loses its sides rather than being padded.
Batch is unlimited and free - every image is processed on your device, so there is no queue and no daily cap.
What Meta publishes, and why it is the number to design to
Meta's "Images in Link Shares" developer page, updated 30 June 2026, is the most complete published link-image specification available on any network. It gives four hard figures and one ratio request, and every one of them is quotable.
It is also the most useful, because link preview conventions are shared even where the documentation is not. Facebook, Messenger, LinkedIn, X, Slack, Discord and WhatsApp all render an Open Graph image into a card whose ratio is close to 1.91:1. Meta is the only one of them that publishes the numbers, so its numbers are the ones that transfer.
| What | Published value |
|---|---|
| Best display size | at least 1200 x 630 px |
| Smallest that displays a large card | 600 x 315 px |
| Minimum allowed dimension | 200 x 200 px |
| Maximum file size | 8 MB |
| Aspect ratio to target | as close to 1.91:1 as possible |
| Supported encodings | gzip and deflate only |
Images in Link Shares, updated 2026-06-30.
Two independent guides agree with the arithmetic. Krumzi's 2,617-word Open Graph guide gives 1200 x 630 px, and myogimage's 1,529-word guide gives the same figure with the same 1.91:1 target. Neither adds a figure beyond the four Meta published on 2026-06-30, which is itself worth noting.
The crops that decide whether your headline survives
Link cards do not share one shape. Each platform crops the same 1200 x 630 px source into its own card, and that crop is what decides what a reader sees.
The table below computes each one: the visible box, what is cut, and the share of the area that remains. A square card keeps 52.5% and a 9:16 preview keeps 29.5%, which is why a portrait image is a bad link preview even though it is a good post.
The region that survives every shape on this page is the central 630 x 630 px square, 52.5% of the width. Anything you need legible belongs inside it.
LinkedIn and X, and the agreement that matters
LinkedIn's own pages give custom image guidelines for page posts with a URL: use a 1.91:1 ratio at 1200 x 627 pixels, keep the image more than 200 pixels wide, and note that below 200 pixels wide it appears as a thumbnail on the left of the post. LinkedIn also states that images on mobile are not cropped and that other ratios appear in full size with subtle white padding.
That 1200 x 627 px figure is one pixel short of 630, and both are the same ratio. Two networks publishing independently and landing on the same frame is the strongest available evidence that 1200 x 630 px is the shared convention.
Buffer independently reports 1200 x 630 px for X link images and 1200 x 627 px for LinkedIn, which matches LinkedIn's published figure exactly. Threads is the outlier at 1200 x 600 px, which is 4.7% away from 1.91:1 and does lose a little.
| Platform | Frame | Ratio | Difference from 1.91:1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta (Facebook, Messenger) | 1200 x 630 px | 1.905 | 0.3% |
| LinkedIn, company pages | 1200 x 627 px | 1.914 | 0.2% |
| X, per Buffer | 1200 x 630 px | 1.905 | 0.3% |
| Threads, per Buffer | 1200 x 600 px | 2.000 | 4.7% |
Link preview frames as published or reported, and how close each is to 1.91:1.
Format and file size, measured
In the measured run on this page, 1200 x 630 px is 126 kB as JPEG and 48 kB as WebP, against 1.1 MB as PNG. Meta's cap is 8 MB, so PNG is legal but wasteful for photographic art.
Use PNG for flat color and type, JPEG for a photograph, and WebP where the target platforms accept it. The important thing is not the format: it is that the file is under the cap and that the URL changes when the image does.
Frequently asked questions
What size should a link preview image be?
1200 x 630 px. Meta publishes that as the best display size for link shares and asks for 1.91:1, and 1200 / 630 = 1.905. LinkedIn publishes 1200 x 627 px for the same ratio, which is why one file covers both.
What is the minimum link preview image size?
Meta states 200 x 200 px as the minimum allowed dimension, and 600 x 315 px as the smallest that still displays a large link post. Below that the card still appears but the image is much smaller.
Why is my link preview not showing an image?
The crawler has to see the image at least once before it can render it, so the first share of a new URL often shows no image. Pre-cache the URL through the Sharing Debugger, or add og:image:width and og:image:height so the crawler does not need to fetch it asynchronously.
How do I change a link preview image after publishing?
Use a new image URL. Meta caches images by URL, so replacing the file at the same address will not update the preview. Do not delete the old file either, because older shares may still reference it.
Do link previews need width and height tags?
They help. Meta states that og:image:width and og:image:height let it render the image immediately rather than downloading and processing it asynchronously, which is what makes the card appear on the first share.
Can I use the same link preview image on every platform?
Yes, at 1200 x 630 px. Computed, that frame keeps 99.9% of its area in a 1.91:1 card and 52.5% in a square card, so keep anything essential inside the central 630 x 630 px.
Sources
- Meta for Developers: Images in Link Shares (checked 2026-10-07)
- LinkedIn Help: Image specifications for your LinkedIn Pages and Career Pages (checked 2026-10-07)
- Krumzi: Open Graph image sizes for social media, 2026 guide (checked 2026-10-07)
- myogimage: Open Graph image size and meta tags guide (checked 2026-10-07)
- Buffer: Social Media Image Sizes in 2026 (checked 2026-05-12)
The card figures are Meta's and LinkedIn's, both of which publish. X, Threads and WhatsApp render link cards on the same convention but their pages gave us nothing to quote, so those rows are attributed to Buffer rather than presented as platform rules.