DIGITAL PHOTO MENTOR

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how to resize photos and images for email and social media

How to Resize Photos for Facebook, Email and Social Media

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This is something that comes up again and again in my workshops and in emails with readers and students. Yes, photo resizing is important! So in this article, I’ll give you some tips on how and why you need to resize your photos for Facebook, or sharing by email and other social media sites.

Why you need to resize your images for email and social media

Why?

There are several reasons, including: 

  • Not filling or clogging up your friends’ (or mine) inboxes with overly large camera files.
  • Making sure the images you share online are neither too large nor too small.
  • So that the images fit the right proportions and don’t get cut-off when displayed on social media sites.
  • Preventing image theft (to some degree only though, it’s not 100% preventable).
  • So they load faster online.
  • It may need to be converted to the proper image format (to JPG if you shoot RAW).

Here’s an example

If you take a JPG directly from your camera and send that to a friend by email that’s a large file. It will take longer for them to receive it and load it and if they are opening and reading emails on their phone it may not come through at all.

Even if it does arrive and they download it, it will fill up the storage on their phone very quickly, especially if you try and send multiple images. So they won’t be very happy with you or will ask you to stop sending them images. 

email too big
This is an example of files that are too big to email.

Has that ever happened to you? Or how about this scenario?

You try emailing some images to a friend and they just aren’t getting through. You try and try but are just not having any luck. The email isn’t in your friend’s inbox, spam folder, or anywhere. 

When that occurs, what is likely happening is that your friend’s email service provider has a cap on maximum file size for email attachments. You’ve likely exceeded that limit, so the email with your images is being stopped at the server level. 

Appropriate file size and specs

So what is an appropriate size to send, and what file format and specs should you use? The answer to that depends on where you’re posting the image or if it’s for email but some of the specs are standard. 

  • File format – use JPG most of the time for your image (only use a PNG if you have a transparent background or GIF if you have created an animated file).
  • Color space – save in sRGB color for ALL online and email sharing.
  • Pixel size – this will vary depending on where you are sharing the images, see below for some common social media sizes. For email use 800 pixels on the long side. 
  • File size (this is the amount of actual storage space taken up by the file) – again this will vary but for email keep it under 100 KB (kilobytes) and for online in general, shoot for less than 500 KB. Camera files, by comparison, can range from 10 MB (megabytes) to over 50 MB.
    • NOTE: 1 MB is equal to 1000 KB. So a camera file that is 10 MB (10,000 KB) is 100x larger than a 100 KB file. 
  • Image resolution – 72 dpi is what you want for most online sharing, but this part isn’t actually very important because it’s only the actual pixel size that is relevant online. DPI (dots per inch) only comes into play when printing your images. 

Have a look at this example. The original camera RAW image is 33.4 MB. A full-sized JPG exported from Lightroom (or Luminar) is about 4.1 MB (see screenshot below showing it on my hard drive)

actual file size full
Full size exported JPG suitable for printing. This is NOT suitable for social media or email sharing!

The Facebook file (resized to 2048px on the long side) is 1.2MB, and the email version resized to 800px wide is only 77 KB. 

actual file size
Facebook size, 2048 pixels on the long side. This is not suitable for printing. 
actual file size
Email size, 800 pixels on the long side, crunched to reduce file size. This is not suitable for printing or sharing on social media, it’s too small.

How to resize your images

Please watch the video below that matches the software you use for editing your photos.

If you do not use either Lightroom Classic or Luminar 4 to edit your photos, just scroll down past the videos to the next section. I’ve provided links to some handy free online tools to help you out with this task. 

Resizing and saving images with Luminar 4

Watch the video below if you use Luminar 4 as your primary photo editor. See how I use the crop tool to change the aspect ratio and the export settings you need to be aware of and adjust accordingly. 

If you haven’t picked up Luminar 4 yet (or you want to upgrade from an older version), now is a great time to do it (#aff).

And YES the special offer works anywhere not just in the USA! Click over to the website and you’ll see prices in your own local currency.

Exporting and sizing images with Lightroom Classic

Watch the video below if you use Lightroom as your main photo editing software. I will demonstrate the export dialog box and which settings you need to change according to where you will be sharing your images. 

Free online resizing tools – single image

As I mentioned above, if you don’t use Lightroom or Luminar or any other photo editing software, there are other tools you can use to resize your images.

Several are available for you to use online for free. I tested out a few for you, here is a list of a few that I found to be pretty good. These all work with one image at a time. 

Free tools – resize bulk or multiple images at one time

If you want to batch resize several images or an entire folder of them at once, the tools above would be tedious. In that case, try one of the following that allows for multiple images or batch resizing. 

  • B.I.R.M.E. – Batch Image Resizing Made Easy.
  • I Love Img – resize, compress, crop, convert, edit, add text or a watermark.
  • Bulk Resize – super simple bulk resize and compress tool.

Optimal sizes for social media

Every social media platform has different sizes and aspect ratios required for images depending on where you put them.

For example, the following have different sizes for your profile photo, a shared image, and a cover or banner image: 

  • Facebook – profile photo is 180 x 180px, cover image 820 x 312px, shared image 1200 x 630px (although I recommend 2048px on the long side to combat Facebook’s heavy-handed compression algorithm).
  • IG – prefers 1:1 square images or 4:5 ratio.
  • Twitter – profile 400 x 400px, header 1500 x 500px, shared image 440×220 a 2:1 aspect ratio or larger at 16:9 ratio)
NOTE: If you’re exporting your images to share with readers this or another website that uses the Disqus comment system, then you need to make sure you save them as JPGs smaller than 2MB. 

What is the aspect ratio?

The numbers you see above like 1:1 and 16:9 refer to the proportions of the image or the ratio of its width to its height. It’s expressed by two numbers separated by a colon. 

For example an x:y ratio means the image is x units wide and y units high. 

DPM aspect ratios
This is a comparison of some of the most common image aspect ratios. See how the shape of each is different? Scroll down to see how to get a high-res version of this overlay for your own reference. 

So, what does that mean for your images?

Most cameras shoot with an aspect ratio of 3:2. As you may notice that doesn’t match most of the numbers above.

So that means that to share your image on social media you may need to crop it. If you want to use a square image on IG, change your Facebook cover image, or upload a new Twitter header image – you will have to crop your original camera image to fit those proportions. 

Here is an example using the same image, cropped and resized to fit the different aspect ratios.

aspect ratio demo all
See how each pf the aspect ratios shown above will make this image look different? So choosing the right image for a Facebook cover is important – choose one that will fit those proportions and not look oddly cropped.
3x2 aspect ratio
This is the 3:2 aspect ratio which is how the image was shot in-camera. So this is uncropped, showing the entire image.
4x3 aspect ratio
This is how it crops to fit 4:3.
16x9 aspect ratio
This is a 16:9 crop.
1x1 aspect ratio
This is a 1:1 or square version. I’ve actually cropped in a little tighter to take out most of the shadow because it looks better as the final square image. Not all images will work square so if you’re posting on Instagram take that into consideration.
5x4 aspect ratio
Finally, this isn’t one I put on the overlay but it’s a common print aspect ratio – 4:5. This is what the image would look like if I wanted to order an 8×10 print. Notice how much of the image is lost? So you need to keep aspect ratio in mind when ordering or making prints as well. 

The following have various different image size requirements as well:

In order to keep all the sizes straight, I found a great resource for you. Just visit this site to see all the current social media sizes you might need. The author also has a handy Google spreadsheet which she keeps updated so if any change you can find them quickly. 

Or you can use one of the free online resizing tools mentioned below. Some of them have the most current social media sizes built-in for your convenience. 

You can also download a 6000-pixel wide, high-res version of the common aspect ratios overlay that I used above. Just click to open in a new browser tab, then right-click and save to your computer.

resize photos for facebook

Ready, set, resize!

I hope that gives you a little bit more insight and understanding of how and why you need to be resizing your images for email and social media. If you have any questions about resizing, please add them to the comment area below and I will answer.

Darlene Hildebrandt photographer DPM

Cheers,