Facebook Cover Size on Phones

Facebook gives one recommended file for every screen: an sRGB JPG that is 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and smaller than 100 kilobytes, which it says loads fastest. That file is about 2.7:1, wider than either display shape. On a phone the cover is shown at 2.4:1, and on a computer at 16:9, both left-aligned with a full bleed. In other words, the picture fills the frame from the left and the overflow is cut on the right.

Worked out on the 315-pixel height, a 2.4:1 frame shows roughly the left 756 pixels of the 851, and a 16:9 frame roughly the left 560. The phone keeps most of the picture; the computer keeps a little under two thirds. The safest area for faces, logos and text is therefore the left two thirds of the cover, outside the corner where the profile picture overlaps it.

Decorative background can run to the right edge, where it shows on phones and is cut on computers. Other platforms publish their own banner shapes, and the cards above show two of them next to Facebook's for comparison.

The uploader is preset to Facebook's recommended file: 851 × 315 pixels, Crop to fill so the frame is covered without bars, JPG output and Limit file size at 100 KB. Location and camera data are removed by default. You only need to choose where the crop sits if your subject is not in the middle; Crop position offers top, bottom, left, right and a smart option that looks for the main subject.

A JPG this size is normally well under 100 KB at good quality, so the limit only steps in for very detailed pictures. If the result looks blocky, it is usually because the original had fine patterns such as foliage or fabric; a simpler picture compresses better at this size.

After uploading, look at the Page on a phone in portrait orientation and on a computer with a normal browser window. Facebook lets you reposition the cover by dragging it in the editor, which shifts the visible area without changing the file. If no position works on both screens, the picture's important part is too spread out; crop it tighter before resizing.

A quick test is to cover the right third of the picture with your hand. If what remains still tells the story and nothing important sits in the lower left corner, the cover will work on both devices, because that is roughly the area both crops share.

Facebook's help page also warns that a cover may be cropped and resized to fit different screens, so a cover that relies on one tiny detail at the edge rarely works. A clear subject with plenty of plain space around it survives every crop best.

Other networks use wider or taller banners. The LinkedIn banner page covers the 4:1 profile background, and the Resize Image page takes any width and height you type. To cut a picture to a shape by hand before resizing, use Crop Image.