OG Image Meta Tag — The Right Dimensions for Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

The OG image is the single most important element in a social share preview — but getting the size wrong means your image is cropped badly, compressed into a blurry thumbnail, or not shown at all. Each major platform has different requirements, and one image won't look identical everywhere.

This guide covers the exact dimensions, file size limits, and format requirements for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Discord — plus a workflow for generating the og:image meta tag once you have your image ready.

Why the OG Image Size Matters for Every Share

When someone shares your link, the platform fetches your og:image URL and displays it in the link preview card. How that image is displayed depends entirely on the platform's rendering rules and the image dimensions you provided.

If the image is too small, platforms may show a tiny thumbnail or skip the image entirely. If the aspect ratio is wrong, the image gets cropped — potentially cutting off your headline text, logo, or key visual. If the file size exceeds the platform's limit, the image fails to load silently.

Including og:image:width and og:image:height meta tags alongside your og:image URL helps platforms render previews faster — they know the dimensions without fetching the image file first. This is especially important for sites that need the preview to load quickly in high-traffic sharing situations (product launches, viral posts).

The good news: 1200x630 pixels covers Facebook, LinkedIn, and most other platforms at once. Twitter/X needs a slightly different ratio for its large image card. You can often create one 1200x630 image and one 1200x600 image and handle both.

Facebook and LinkedIn — OG Image Requirements

Recommended: 1200x630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio)

Minimum: 200x200 pixels for any image to appear. Below 600px wide, Facebook shows a small thumbnail instead of a large inline image.

File size: Maximum 8MB for Facebook, 5MB for LinkedIn. Aim for under 1MB for fast loading.

Format: JPEG or PNG. WebP is supported by Facebook but has inconsistent support elsewhere. JPEG at quality 85 gives excellent results at small file sizes.

Safe zone: Keep important content (text, logo, key visual) within the central 800x420 area. Facebook crops the top and bottom in some display contexts. LinkedIn may show the image at different ratios in different feed positions.

og:image:width and height: For a 1200x630 image, add these tags:

<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />

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Twitter and X — Summary Card vs Large Image Card

Twitter's image requirements differ based on which card type you use:

summary_large_image:

• Recommended: 1200x600 pixels (2:1 ratio)
• Minimum: 300x157 pixels
• Twitter crops to a 2:1 ratio — images that don't match this ratio get cropped at the center
• Max 5MB, JPEG or PNG recommended

summary (small card):

• Displays as a square thumbnail, approximately 120x120 pixels
• Minimum: 144x144 pixels. Use 800x800 for a square image that looks sharp on retina displays.

The 1200x630 image you used for Facebook is close enough to 1200x600 that it usually works on Twitter without obvious cropping — the 30-pixel difference is cropped symmetrically. For maximum quality on both, create two images or use 1200x600 (which also works fine for Facebook).

WhatsApp, Telegram & Discord — OG Image Requirements

WhatsApp:

• Minimum: 300x200 pixels. WhatsApp shows a small thumbnail — exact dimensions matter less here.
• Must use HTTPS. HTTP image URLs do not load in WhatsApp previews.
• WhatsApp shows the image as a small square thumbnail in chat threads. A 1200x630 image works but appears cropped to square. For WhatsApp-specific optimization, consider a square 630x630 crop of your main OG image.

Discord:

• Discord shows images inline at 1200x630 for wide-format images. It reads og:image and renders it at full width in embeds when the image is wider than tall.
• Discord also reads og:image:width and og:image:height — including these tags helps Discord determine whether to show a large embed or a small thumbnail.
• Format: JPEG, PNG, or GIF. Animated GIFs play in Discord embeds.

Telegram: Minimum 200x200 pixels, any common format. HTTPS required. Telegram shows a large preview similar to Facebook for supported article types.

How to Add the og:image Meta Tag to Your Page

Once you have your image hosted at a publicly accessible HTTPS URL, generate the complete og:image meta tag using the Meta Tag Generator. Fill in your og:image URL and the generator outputs:

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

Paste this into your HTML head element. Make sure the image URL is absolute (includes https://), not relative (/og-image.jpg).

After adding the tag, verify your image displays correctly by pasting your page's HTML source into the Open Graph Checker. The Facebook preview card shows how your image will appear when your link is shared. If the image loads in the checker, it will load on Facebook, LinkedIn, and most other platforms.

Also see: OG Image Not Updating? — if you update your og:image URL and the old image keeps appearing on social platforms, this guide covers how to force a cache refresh on each platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best OG image size?

1200x630 pixels at JPEG quality 85. This covers Facebook, LinkedIn, and most other platforms. For Twitter/X specifically, 1200x600 (2:1 ratio) is ideal for summary_large_image cards. In practice, 1200x630 works on Twitter without obvious distortion — the slight ratio mismatch crops symmetrically from top and bottom.

Does og:image need to be HTTPS?

Yes for Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and most modern platforms. HTTP image URLs are blocked by browser mixed-content policies and rejected by social platform scrapers. Always host your OG images on HTTPS. If you see your image not appearing in link previews, this is the first thing to check.

Can I use an animated GIF as an og:image?

It depends on the platform. Discord plays animated GIFs in embeds. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X typically use only the first frame of a GIF. WhatsApp does not play animated GIFs in link previews. For universal compatibility, use a static JPEG or PNG for your og:image.