Facebook Cover Photo Size Guide: Personal Profiles and Business Pages

The Facebook cover photo spans the full width of your profile or page, making it the single largest visual real estate available on the platform. Whether you are personalizing a profile, running a brand page, or promoting an event, getting the dimensions right ensures your image looks sharp on every device. This guide provides up-to-date specifications for personal profiles, business pages, groups, and events, along with safe zone guidance and an explanation of why regularly refreshing your cover photo benefits your organic reach.

Facebook Cover Photo Official Dimensions

Page Type	Desktop Display	Mobile Display	Recommended Upload Size
Personal Profile	820 × 312 pixels	640 × 360 pixels (with padding)	820 × 462 pixels
Business / Fan Page	820 × 312 pixels	640 × 360 pixels (with padding)	820 × 462 pixels
Group Cover	1640 × 856 pixels	Scaled proportionally	1640 × 856 pixels
Event Cover	1920 × 1080 pixels	Scaled proportionally	1920 × 1080 pixels
Minimum width	400 pixels
Recommended file size	Under 100 KB for JPG; PNG may be slightly larger
Supported formats	JPG, PNG

Why Upload 820×462px Instead of 820×312px

Facebook displays cover photos at 820×312 pixels on desktop browsers. However, the mobile app shows a different crop: approximately 640×360 pixels centered from the full image. If you upload exactly 820×312 pixels, mobile users will see your image with black bars at the top and bottom — an unprofessional look that is entirely avoidable.

The solution is to upload an image at 820×462 pixels. Here is what happens with this size:

• On desktop, Facebook crops the center 820×312 region, trimming approximately 75 pixels from the top and bottom.
• On mobile, Facebook displays the center 640×360 area without any black bars.

Design your key content — text, logo, faces — within the central 820×312 zone, and use the extra 75 pixels above and below as a buffer that only appears on mobile.

Mobile Display: The 400×150px Reference Explained

You may encounter references to “400×150 pixels” as the mobile cover photo size. This figure dates from an older version of the Facebook app and is no longer accurate for current devices. On modern smartphones, the cover photo renders at approximately 640×360 pixels. The 400×150 reference was the minimum safe display area in legacy app versions. For any new design work, use 820×462 as your master canvas size to ensure compatibility across both desktop and all current mobile devices.

Safe Zone Design Guidelines

Personal Profile Safe Zones

• Bottom-left corner: Your circular profile photo (approximately 168×168 pixels) overlaps the cover photo in the bottom-left. Avoid placing any critical visual element within roughly 200 pixels from the left edge and 100 pixels from the bottom edge of the image.
• Bottom strip: Your name and other profile details appear below the cover photo in a separate white bar — they do not directly overlap the cover image itself.
• Right-side buttons: Action buttons (Add Friend, Message) appear at the bottom right but below the cover area on most viewport sizes.

Business Page Safe Zones

• Page logo overlap: The circular page profile picture (approximately 168×168 pixels) sits in the bottom-left corner of the cover photo, same as personal profiles.
• Page name and CTA button: These appear in a separate bar below the cover image and do not overlap the cover itself.

Format Selection: JPG vs PNG

JPG for Photographs

Use JPG for photo-based covers — natural scenes, team shots, event photography. Export at 80–90% quality and aim to keep the file below 100 KB. Smaller files load faster, which is especially important on mobile connections and positively affects the user experience when someone first lands on your page.

PNG for Graphics and Text

Use PNG for designed covers that include sharp text, logos, or flat graphic elements. PNG’s lossless compression prevents the artifacting that JPG introduces around high-contrast edges, ensuring your text remains crisp and your brand colors are accurate.

SEO Benefits of Updating Your Cover Photo Regularly

Regularly refreshing your cover photo carries measurable advantages beyond aesthetics:

• Activity signal for Facebook’s algorithm: The platform prioritizes pages that show consistent activity. Changing your cover photo counts as a page update, which can modestly lift your organic reach in the days following the change.
• Free news feed distribution: Facebook often notifies a subset of followers when a page updates its cover photo, generating a news feed post that reads “[Page Name] updated their cover photo.” This is organic exposure that costs nothing.
• Seasonal and campaign alignment: Syncing your cover photo with holidays, product launches, or promotional periods signals to visitors that your brand is active and current, which builds trust and encourages return visits.
• Creative testing: Rotating cover photos lets you observe which design styles generate more profile visits and engagement, informing your broader visual marketing strategy.

Cover Photo Design Best Practices

• Use high contrast between your primary subject and the background to ensure readability on both bright and dim screens.
• Keep text at a minimum of 48pt (relative to an 820×312 pixel canvas) so it remains legible when viewed on smaller mobile screens.
• Coordinate the color palette and visual style of your cover photo with your profile or page photo for a cohesive, branded look.
• Avoid placing critical content in the extreme left, right, or bottom edges, as these may be cropped on mobile devices.
• Export in sRGB color space to ensure color accuracy across all screens and operating systems.

Do it in your browser — the file never leaves your device: Image Resize