Headshot Size and Dimensions Guide: Every Platform in 2026

You have a great headshot. Now you need to know what size it should be for LinkedIn, your company website, email signature, and the seven other places it needs to go. Each platform has different requirements, and uploading the wrong dimensions means your photo gets cropped awkwardly, compressed into blur, or rejected entirely.

This guide covers the exact dimensions for every major platform and use case. Bookmark it.

LinkedIn

Profile photo: 400x400 pixels minimum, 7680x4320 maximum. Displays as a circle.

What this means in practice:

• Upload a square or near-square image for the cleanest crop
• Center your face. The circular crop cuts corners, so anything important near the edges will be clipped
• LinkedIn compresses images aggressively, so upload at the highest quality available
• Recommended: 800x800 to 1200x1200 pixels. Higher than minimum, not so large that compression artifacts appear

Banner image: 1584x396 pixels. This is the background behind your profile photo. Not your headshot, but worth getting right since it frames your photo.

For LinkedIn-specific headshot advice beyond dimensions, see our LinkedIn headshot tips.

Company Websites

There's no universal standard. It depends on your site's design. But common patterns:

Team/About pages: Most display headshots between 300x300 and 600x600 pixels. Upload at 2x the display size (600x600 to 1200x1200) for sharp rendering on retina displays.

Individual profile pages: Often larger, 400x500 to 800x1000 pixels (portrait orientation). Again, upload at 2x.

General rule: Ask your web developer or check the existing photos on the site. Match the aspect ratio (square vs. portrait) and upload at the highest resolution the CMS accepts.

File format: JPEG for photos (smaller file size, good quality). PNG only if the background needs to be transparent. WebP if your CMS supports it, since it offers the best compression with quality.

Email Signatures

Display size: Typically 80x80 to 150x150 pixels. Small.

Upload size: 160x160 to 300x300 pixels (2x display for retina screens).

Key consideration: Email clients are brutal to images. Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail all handle image rendering differently. Keep it simple:

• Square crop
• Clear face even at thumbnail size (this means your face should fill most of the frame)
• JPEG format, under 100KB file size
• No transparency, because some email clients show transparent areas as white, others as black

A headshot that looks great at 800x800 might be unrecognizable at 80x80 if there's too much background. For email signatures, crop tighter than you would for LinkedIn.

Social Media

Twitter/X

Profile photo: 400x400 pixels. Displays as a circle, like LinkedIn.

Instagram

Profile photo: 320x320 pixels minimum. Displays as a circle. Instagram compresses heavily, so 640x640 is a safer upload size.

Facebook

Profile photo: 170x170 pixels on desktop, 128x128 on mobile. Upload at 720x720 minimum for quality across devices. Displays as a circle.

TikTok

Profile photo: 200x200 pixels minimum. Circle display. Upload at 400x400+.

YouTube

Channel photo: 800x800 pixels recommended. Circle display.

GitHub

Profile photo: 460x460 pixels. Square display, not circular.

Professional Directories and Platforms

Google Business Profile

Photo: Minimum 250x250 pixels. Recommended 720x720. Square crop works best.

Yelp Business

Photo: No strict minimum, but 600x600+ recommended for quality. Various crops depending on where the photo appears.

Zocdoc (Healthcare)

Headshot: 200x200 minimum. Square crop. Faces must be clearly visible. Doctor headshot guide.

Avvo (Legal)

Attorney photo: 180x180 minimum display, upload at 400x400+. Lawyer headshot guide.

Realtor.com / Zillow

Agent photo: Various sizes depending on listing vs. profile. Upload at 800x800+ to cover all display contexts. Real estate headshot guide.

Conference and Speaking Bios

Event organizers typically request:

• High resolution: 300 DPI, at least 1000x1000 pixels
• File format: JPEG or PNG
• Orientation: Square or portrait
• Background: Clean and simple (they'll place it on event materials)

Some conferences request absurdly high resolutions for print materials (2400x3000+ at 300 DPI). Having a high-resolution source image matters. Phone cameras and AI headshot generators typically produce images at sufficient resolution. Webcam screenshots do not.

Print Materials

Business Cards

Headshot area: Typically 1x1 inch to 1.5x2 inches on the card. At 300 DPI (print standard), that's 300x300 to 450x600 pixels minimum.

Brochures and Marketing Materials

Varies widely. Ask your designer for the specific dimensions. General rule: 300 DPI at the final print size. A headshot printed at 3x4 inches needs 900x1200 pixels minimum.

Office Directory Boards

Typically 2x3 inches at 300 DPI = 600x900 pixels minimum.

The Universal Solution: Start with the Biggest

Rather than generating or cropping separate images for every platform, start with the largest version you'll need and crop down:

1. Source image: 2000x2000 pixels minimum (or higher if you need print)
2. Crop to square for most social media and web uses
3. Crop to portrait (4:5 or 2:3) for websites that use portrait orientation
4. Export at platform-specific sizes as needed

Most AI headshot generators produce images at 1024x1024 or higher, which covers every digital use case. For print, check the output resolution of your chosen tool. Narkis.ai generates at resolutions sufficient for both digital and standard print applications.

For tool comparisons, see best AI headshot apps.

File Size Optimization

Large images load slowly and eat bandwidth. For web use:

• LinkedIn/social media: Under 5MB (platforms compress anyway)
• Email signatures: Under 100KB (critical for deliverability)
• Company websites: Under 500KB (affects page load speed and SEO)
• Print: No compression needed. Use the full resolution file

JPEG quality of 80-85% gives excellent visual quality at roughly half the file size of 100% quality. Most viewers can't tell the difference.

Quick Reference

For guidance on what your headshot should actually look like (beyond dimensions), see our guides on posing, wardrobe, backgrounds, and retouching.

For a complete overview of headshot standards by profession, see types of professional headshots.