When someone shares your link on LinkedIn, X, Slack or iMessage, the card that appears is built from your Open Graph tags. The image is the biggest part of that card, and a missing or badly sized one makes your link look broken.
The size: 1200 × 630
1200 × 630 pixels at a 1.91:1 ratio is the one size that displays well everywhere. Keep the file under 1 MB if you can, and use JPG for photos or PNG for graphics.
The tags
Add these to the head of every page:
- og:image with the full https URL of the image.
- og:image:width set to 1200 and og:image:height set to 630.
- og:image:alt describing the image.
- twitter:card set to summary_large_image, so X shows the large version.
Most frameworks and CMSs have a field for this. If yours generates one image for the whole site, at least give your most shared pages their own.
The safe area
Different platforms crop the edges slightly and overlay their own interface. Keep text and logos within the centre 1000 × 500 area, with generous margins.
What works on the image
- Large title type, four to eight words.
- Strong contrast, so it reads at thumbnail size. Check text against the background with the contrast checker.
- Your brand colour and logo, small.
- A product screenshot for software, more trusted than an illustration.
Making one
Design it at 1200 × 630, or take any image and crop it to exactly that size with the free Image Resizer; Open Graph is one of its presets. Compress it afterwards with the Image Compressor so it loads fast in the preview.
Testing
Platforms cache previews for days. After changing an image:
- Paste the URL into the LinkedIn Post Inspector and click Inspect.
- Paste it into the Facebook Sharing Debugger and click Scrape Again.
- Paste the link into a Slack message to yourself.
For the full set of platform sizes, see social media image sizes 2026.
Common questions
- What size should an Open Graph image be?
- 1200 by 630 pixels, a 1.91:1 ratio, under 5 MB, as JPG or PNG. It displays well on every major platform.
- Why is my link preview not updating?
- Platforms cache previews. Use the LinkedIn Post Inspector or the Facebook Sharing Debugger to force a refresh after changing the image.
- Should the OG image have text on it?
- A short title in large type works well, kept inside the centre safe area. Long text becomes unreadable at the small sizes many platforms show.
