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In just over a decade, social media has transformed the world. Your social media profile picture is often the first thing that followers, clients, and audiences see when they encounter you or your brand online for the first time. So, you want that impression to be a good one. If you’re looking to project an image of maturity, creativity, or professionalism, then you’re going to want to make sure your social media profile picture is on point. In this article, you’ll learn about the latest profile picture size for every platform. We’ll also cover the importance of a good social media profile picture, tips to consider when taking photos, and share how to put your best foot forward with a cool profile picture.
Importance of a Good Profile Picture
With much of the world’s global commerce being online, it’s more important than ever to use your online presence to ensure you’re communicating the right messages to your audience. Your profile picture is especially important in this regard. It’s a way to develop a personal brand and build an online network of supporters, followers, clients, patrons, and contacts. The line between personal and professional is only getting blurrier, so what you put on social media can have some professional consequences. Ensure your profile picture size adheres to the latest dimensions required for each platform.
5 Elements of a Good Profile Picture
There is, unfortunately, no formula for a great profile picture. What yours should look like largely depends on the platform you’re on, whether they’re professional or personal. For professional purposes, here are the top five things to consider for your profile pic.
1. The Smile:
Use your profile pic as an opportunity to emphasize important facial features, such as your smile. Studies show that people who smile with teeth have a greater tendency of forming a good first impression. Don’t be shy about letting your teeth have a moment.
2. The Background:
Particularly if your photo is a headshot, you should be careful about making sure the background isn’t too busy. Keeping it a bit out of focus is a good bet. But also try to choose a backdrop that will contrast nicely with your face. Keeping a bokeh effect in the background can be a useful way of creating a mood and some contrasting colors. The blur will allow you to have a busier landscape, like maybe trees or skyscrapers, without detracting from your face.
3. Composition:
Profile pics which place the subject at the center of the photograph make a lot of sense, but having the subject a bit off-center can still achieve a professional look, and even give you a bit of an edge.
4. Clarity:
It can be very tempting to experiment with all the filters out there. But there’s a time and place for that and the profile pic is usually not it. Unless that is, you’re wanting your picture to be black and white, which is always a classy move.
5. Consistency:
This is especially important if you’re someone who has a common name. Using the same headshot across social media profiles can help people searching for you to identify you from the crowd of people who share your surname.
Profile Picture Size Tips for Every Social Media Platform
Every social media platform has its own conventions, rules, and guidelines for image sizes and profile pictures. That’s why we’ve put together an up-to-date cheat sheet with social media image sizes, including dimensions and file types for the most popular platforms. And always remember, people might be viewing your profile from a desktop or a mobile device, so you should try to find something that will be clearly viewed by both. If you want to be always up to date, use our free profile picture maker to easily resize your profile picture for specific social platforms.
Twitter Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 400 x 400
Image Types: JPG, GIF, or PNG.
Pro Tip: Maximum file size 2 MB
Why it matters?
Twitter has hundreds of millions of monthly active users. While that puts it pretty far down the list in terms of usage (behind behemoths like Facebook and YouTube), Twitter’s power is in its professionalism. It’s a great platform for media professionals to make a name for themselves. It gives journalists, authors, and creatives an opportunity to interact directly with audiences. For this reason, the profile picture is even more important on this platform. Your profile photo is the main image that represents you or your brand across the network, and it appears across the site in a number of places.
Facebook Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 180 x 180 (applies to both personal and professional pages)
Image Types: JPG, GIF, or PNG
Why it matters?
With 2.7 billion monthly active users, Facebook is by far the world’s largest social network. While many use this platform to interact with friends and family online, Facebook pages can also be a professional networking tool. That’s especially true as the internet continues to dissolve the lines between personal and professional. Recognizing this, the platform has moved towards a more professional and career-oriented service. Personal profiles now give more space to work and education information. And it’s well-known that employers have checked applicants on Facebook for years. So, as your Facebook profile picture is likely to come up in a cursory Google search, make it count.
Instagram Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 110 x 110
Image Types: JPG or PNG
Pro Tip: Maintain an aspect ratio of 1:1
Why it matters?
Instagram, boasting 1.12 billion active monthly users, is the world’s most popular photo-sharing social network. Its humble origins allowed users to upload snapshots of their lives, the instant it was happening, but today, it is much more highly curated. Many users still use it for this original function – to give glimpses into their personal lives – but it’s also become a place for creatives (illustrators, designers, and artists) to showcase their work and build their brand. On Instagram, the profile picture is important, but in a way, it’s kind of an afterthought, as it shows up quite small on the app so as not to detract from the images being shared. For this reason, many brands will use shortened versions of their logos as the Instagram profile picture.
LinkedIn Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 300 x 300 (applies to both personal and company pages)
Image Types: JPG, GIF, or PNG
Pro Tip: Maximum file size 10MB
Why it matters?
With over 722 million registered users, LinkedIn is a platform for professionals. The platform has been evolving rapidly in recent years to meet the needs of an increasingly digital workforce, with a sleeker, more simple user interface and a new layout for personal profiles. While on Facebook, Instagram, and even maybe Twitter, you can get away with a profile picture that speaks to a more quirky side, on this platform, professionalism reigns supreme.
YouTube Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 800 x 800
Image Types: JPG, GIF, BMP, or PNG
Why it matters?
YouTube is second only to Facebook as the most widely used content-sharing platform, with 2 billion active users every month. It’s attractive both to brands as well as individuals because it provides a more direct route for reaching new and old audiences. It’s a video-sharing network, so as you can imagine, the value of the profile picture on this platform is neglible. Certainly less than on, say, Facebook or LinkedIn. But ensure your
TikTok Profile Pictures
Dimensions: 200 x 200
Image Types: JPG, PNG
Why it matters?
TikTok, a short-form video-sharing platform, enjoys about 850 million active monthly users. That’s a lot, especially for a platform that was virtually unheard of until a couple of years ago. Like YouTube, your profile picture is second to the videos being shared, but it’s still an opportunity to build your brand. Make sure the profile picture size doesn’t let you down regardless.
How To Ensure the Correct Profile Picture Size & Create the Perfect Avatar
Ready to get your profile picture up and running across all socials? If so, we’re here to help. Picsart can help you edit your profile picture size to perfection before uploading it to social platforms. That’s simple. But you can go beyond simply ensuring it works for each platform by customizing it in all manner of unique ways. We’ll walk through some ideas below.
On the Web
1. Open the Picsart Web Editor, click on Custom Size, and input the dimensions required for the correct profile picture size.
2. Click on the Uploads tool and select the image you want to edit.
3. From the editing panel above the canvas, you can customize the look and feel of your profile pic. This includes removing the background, erasing elements, adjusting the colors, lightness, and much more.
4. If you do remove the background of the original image you can always add a fresh backdrop using the Background tool and choosing a new texture or color.
5. With a new background in place, you can further edit the overall aesthetic by adding a filter. Click on the FX tool and experiment with the available options until you find one that suits your style.
6. Theres no limit to how much you can customize your profile pic using Picsart creative tools. Play around with things like text, elements, and more. To finish, click on the Export button and select download to save the edit to your device.
On Mobile
1. Open the Picsart app and tap on the purple plus sign at the bottom of your screen.
2. Scroll down to the Backgrounds category and tap on See All to browse the options available.
3. Choose your preferred style of canvas background.
4. Now let’s add your profile image by tapping on Add Photo and selecting a pic from your device.
5. Tap on the Remove Background button.
6. Add a filter to your image by tapping on the FX tool and experimenting until you find something suitable.
7. Make any final adjustments and tap on Apply to confirm your edits.
8. Click Next and download or share your image.
Create at the Speed of Culture
Picsart is a full ecosystem of free-to-use content, powerful tools, and creator inspiration. With a billion downloads and more than 150 million monthly active creators, Picsart is the world’s largest creative platform. Picsart has collaborated with major artists and brands like BLACKPINK, Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, Lizzo, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, One Direction, Sanrio: Hello Kitty, Warner Bros. Entertainment, iHeartMedia, Condé Nast, and more. Download the app or start editing on web today to enhance your photos and videos with thousands of quick and easy editing tools, trendy filters, fun stickers, and brilliant backgrounds. Unleash your creativity and upgrade to Gold for premium perks!
