Recommended dimensions

1200 x 630 pixels at a 1.91:1 aspect ratio. This produces the largest preview in the News Feed and Messenger.

Size thresholds

Facebook uses different layouts depending on image size:

• 1200 x 630px or larger: full-width large image preview
• 600 x 315px to 1199 x 629px: large preview, may lose some sharpness
• Below 600 x 315px: small square thumbnail next to the text
• Below 200 x 200px: image ignored entirely

Aim for at least 1200 x 630px to guarantee the large format.

File size and format limits

• Max file size: 8 MB
• Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF (static frame only)
• No hard pixel cap, but files over 8 MB are rejected regardless of resolution

Facebook re-encodes and caches all images on its own CDN. The source image is fetched once, then served from Facebook’s servers going forward. The first share of a URL may briefly show no image while Facebook processes it.

Dimension hints with og:image:width and og:image:height

These tags let Facebook render the preview immediately on first share without downloading the image first:

<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">

Without them, the first person to share your URL may see a blank image slot. Subsequent shares display correctly once Facebook finishes processing.

Image URL requirements

The og:image URL must be:

• An absolute URL (not a relative path like /images/og.jpg)
• Accessible to facebookexternalhit without auth
• Served over HTTPS
• Not behind redirects requiring cookies or JS
• Returning a valid image content type (image/jpeg, image/png, etc.)

Cropping

Facebook center-crops to fit the 1.91:1 preview area. If your image isn’t exactly 1.91:1, edges get trimmed. Keep important content in the center 80%.