Checked against the source
Pinterest profile picture size
Short answer
The Pinterest help article for the profile photo returned a 119-character body with no text on 2026-10-07, so every Pinterest figure here comes from a publisher. Buffer reports 165 x 165 px and SocialSizes.io reports 100 x 100 px for business accounts. Both are display sizes: upload 500 x 500 px to stay sharp on a 2x screen.
Key takeaways
- The Pinterest help article for the profile photo returned 119 characters on 2026-10-07 with no body text. Nothing here is a Pinterest rule.
- Buffer reports 165 x 165 px and says the image is cropped to a circle; SocialSizes.io reports 100 x 100 px for a business account.
- The two reports differ, and both are display sizes rather than upload recommendations.
- A 165 px avatar needs 330 device pixels on a 2x screen and 495 on a 3x, so 500 x 500 px covers both.
- The circle removes 21.5% of the area. At 500 x 500 px the inscribed square is 354 px and the corner clearance is 104 px.
The size
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 165 px |
| Height | 165 px |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1 |
Reported by third parties
Reported by third parties; the Pinterest help article for the profile photo returned an empty body on 2026-10-07.
| What | Reported value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 165 x 165 px | BUF |
| Profile photo, circular crop | 165 x 165 px | BUF |
| Business account profile photo | 100 x 100 px | SZS |
Source keys: BUF = Buffer: Social Media Image Sizes in 2026 (2026-05-12), SZS = SocialSizes.io: platform image size database (2026-10-07)
To scale
What the circle removes
| Quantity | Value | Working |
|---|---|---|
| 500 px | the side (diameter = side, because the circle is inscribed) | |
| 196,350 px2 | 78.5% of the square (pi x (500 / 2)^2 = 196350) | |
| 53,650 px2 | 21.5% of the square (500^2 - 196,350 = 53,650) | |
| 103.6 px | from each edge ((500 / 2) x (sqrt(2) - 1) = 103.6) | |
| 353.6 px | largest square inside the circle (500 / sqrt(2) = 353.6) |
Computed at the 165 x 165 px profile picture this page recommends.
What your photo loses
| Source | Scale to fill | Lost each side | Lost top and bottom | Source area kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone photo, 16:9 (4032 x 2268) | 0.22 (max(500 / 4032, 500 / 2268)) | 194.4 px ((888.9 - 500) / 2) | none ((500 - 500) / 2) | 2.7% |
| Camera, 3:2 (6000 x 4000) | 0.125 (max(500 / 6000, 500 / 4000)) | 125 px ((750 - 500) / 2) | none ((500 - 500) / 2) | 1% |
| Square export (1080 x 1080) | 0.463 (max(500 / 1080, 500 / 1080)) | none ((500 - 500) / 2) | none ((500 - 500) / 2) | 21.4% |
Computed cover crop into the 500 x 500 px frame this page targets.
Device pixels at each display size
| Display size | Device pixels at 1x | at 2x | at 3x | Against this upload |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In a following list, 40 px | 40 px | 80 px (40 x 2) | 120 px (40 x 3) | 500 px covers it |
| On a board, 165 px | 165 px | 330 px (165 x 2) | 495 px (165 x 3) | 500 px covers it |
Computed at the list and board sizes; 500 px covers both on a 3x screen.
What this frame costs to upload
| Format | File size | Against PNG |
|---|---|---|
| PNG, lossless | 41,234 bytes (40 kB) | the reference |
| JPEG, `-q:v 5` | 7,639 bytes (7 kB) | 19% of the PNG |
| WebP, `-q:v 75` | 3,264 bytes (3 kB) | 8% of the PNG |
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
Scales and center-crops any image to exactly 165 x 165 px, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there is no file size cap and no daily limit.
Batch is unlimited and free - every image is processed on your device, so there is no queue and no daily cap.
Why this page has no Pinterest number
Pinterest's help center is built on a platform that returns an almost empty body to an automated fetch. The article on the profile photo returned 119 characters of page furniture on 2026-10-07, and the article on business account settings returned the same. Pinterest's product specs article, which we archived on 2026-10-05, covers Pins rather than profile images.
So the figures below come from publishers. Only one of the two is about a Pinterest profile photo directly, and they disagree.
| What | Reported value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 165 x 165 px, cropped to a circle | Buffer, published 2026-05-12 |
| Business account profile photo | 100 x 100 px | SocialSizes.io |
| Profile cover, minimum | 800 x 450 px, 16:9 | Buffer, 2026-05-12 |
Sources read 2026-10-07.
Canva's table lists the Pinterest profile photo at 165 x 165 px, matching Buffer. Where two publishers agree on 165, the useful move is to upload well above both: 500 x 500 px is inside every plausible minimum and costs nothing.
165 px and 100 px are display sizes, not upload sizes
Buffer presents 165 x 165 px alongside Pinterest's other figures, which are upload recommendations such as the 1000 x 1500 px Pin. Read in that context it looks like an upload figure. Read against how the image is actually used, it is what Pinterest displays.
Pinterest shows the avatar as a small circle next to a name. At 165 CSS px on a 2x screen the browser needs 330 device pixels and on a 3x screen 495. Uploading 165 px means the platform upscales and the edge softens, which is visible on a phone.
The 100 px business figure fails the same test more severely. Both are display sizes by the arithmetic, and neither is worth uploading as-is.
This distinction is why the recommendation is 500 x 500 px rather than one of the reported figures. It is derived from the display size, not borrowed from a publisher, and it is a small file.
The circle, computed at 500 x 500
Buffer describes the Pinterest avatar as circular. A circle inscribed in a square of side s keeps pi × (s/2)² = 78.54% of the area and removes 21.46%, with the corners clipped at 0.2071 × s from each edge.
At 500 x 500 px that is a 104 px margin on every edge, and the largest square entirely inside the circle is 354 px. A Pinterest avatar is often a portrait crop of a headshot, and hair and shoulders are exactly what sits in those corners.
Sprout Social lists the Pinterest profile picture at 165 x 165 px, and Canva the same. Neither publisher says whether the shape is a circle in the app; Buffer does, and this page follows Buffer and says so.
What a photo of the wrong shape loses
A Pinterest avatar is a square slot, and the sources that describe it describe a circle, so a photo gets cropped rather than padded.
The table above shows the cover crop for the four source shapes people actually have. A 16:9 phone photo cropped to a 500 px square keeps 25% of its area; a 3:2 camera photo keeps 19.5%. Nothing is lost in quality, since every remaining pixel is real, but most of the frame is gone and whatever was at the edges will not survive.
Move the subject to the center of the source before cropping, not after. A face centered in a landscape frame stays centered in a square crop; a face off to one side does not.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a Pinterest profile picture?
The Pinterest help page we fetched on 2026-10-07 returned a 119-character body with no text, so the figures are publisher ones: Buffer and Canva report 165 x 165 px, and SocialSizes.io reports 100 x 100 px for business accounts. Both are display sizes, so upload 500 x 500 px for high-density screens.
Why do the guides disagree on the Pinterest profile picture size?
They report different things. 165 x 165 px is what Buffer and Canva give for a Pinterest profile, 100 x 100 px is a business-account figure from a size database, and neither can be checked against Pinterest, because the help page we fetched on 2026-10-07 returned a 119-character body with no text.
Does Pinterest crop the profile picture?
Buffer describes it as cropped to a circle. A circle inscribed in a square keeps 78.5% of the area, computed as 1 − pi/4. At 500 x 500 px the corner clearance is 104 px and the largest intact square is 354 px.
Should I upload the maximum Pinterest profile picture size?
There is no published maximum to work from. 500 x 500 px covers a 3x screen at a 165 px avatar, keeps a 354 px safe square inside the circle, and is a small file.
What is the Pinterest profile cover size?
Buffer reports a minimum of 800 x 450 px at 16:9 for the profile cover. The two Pinterest pages we fetched on 2026-10-07 gave no cover specification, so that figure is a publisher report rather than a Pinterest rule.
How much of a landscape photo survives a Pinterest avatar crop?
A 4032 x 2268 px phone photo cropped to a 500 x 500 px square keeps 25% of its area, computed as 500 x 500 / 4032 x 2268. The pixels are real, so it is a framing loss rather than a quality loss: move the subject to the center before cropping.
Other Pinterest sizes
Sources
- Buffer: Social Media Image Sizes in 2026 (checked 2026-05-12)
- SocialSizes.io: platform image size database (checked 2026-10-07)
- Pinterest Help: Pinterest product specs (checked 2026-10-05)
- Sprout Social: social media image sizes (checked 2026-10-07)