The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Post Specs for Maximum Impact

Looking for the exact LinkedIn post specs, and fast? For a standard shared link, you'll want an image that's 1200 x 627 pixels. If you're going for a square image post, 1200 x 1200 pixels is your best bet. To really capture attention on mobile, a vertical image at 1080 x 1350 pixels is the way to go.

Your Quick-Reference Cheatsheet for LinkedIn Specs

For marketers, social media managers, and anyone creating content, having the right LinkedIn specs handy is non-negotiable. Getting the dimensions wrong can lead to some pretty awful results—think awkward cropping that cuts off your message, blurry images that look unprofessional, or a post that just doesn't land.

This cheatsheet is built for those moments when you just need the numbers, fast. I've pulled together all the essential technical details for every major LinkedIn post format right here, so you don't have to go digging for them.

Core LinkedIn Post Formats

The infographic below breaks down the three visual formats that are the bread and butter of most LinkedIn strategies: single images, videos, and carousels.

Each of these formats has a unique job to do. A single, powerful image can stop the scroll in its tracks, while a multi-slide carousel lets you tell a more complex story or share a step-by-step guide.

LinkedIn Post Specs At-a-Glance

For a quick overview of the most common specs, I've organized them into this easy-to-scan table. You'll find the recommended dimensions, file size limits, and character counts for everything from a simple image to a full-blown video.

Use this table as your go-to reference, but remember to check out the detailed sections for each format. That's where we dive into the strategy behind the specs and share tips for getting the best performance out of every post you create.

Mastering LinkedIn Character Limits and Text Strategy

While your visuals are what stop the scroll, it’s the text that does the heavy lifting on LinkedIn. Getting a handle on character limits is the first step, but the real secret to driving engagement is mastering your copy. Every single post needs to be written with both the algorithm and your human audience in mind.

LinkedIn gives you a pretty generous 3,000-character limit for the main body of your post, which is plenty of room for deep storytelling, detailed breakdowns, or valuable insights. But just because you can use all that space doesn't mean you always should.

The Power of the First Few Lines

The most important part of your entire post is what people see before the "...see more" link. This cutoff usually happens around the 210-character mark, which is about 3-4 lines of text. Your opening hook has to be compelling enough to make someone pause their scroll and click to read what you have to say.

Treat those first few lines like a headline. A solid hook could:

• Ask a provocative question that gets your audience thinking.
• Share a surprising statistic or make a bold claim.
• Create a curiosity gap by hinting at a story or a solution to a common problem.

Nailing this is essential for boosting "dwell time," a metric the LinkedIn algorithm pays close attention to. Posts that keep people engaged, especially within the first hour, get rewarded with more visibility.

Using Hashtags and Mentions Effectively

Hashtags and mentions are your best friends for getting your post seen outside of your immediate network, but you have to use them strategically.

Pro-Tip: Don't just stuff your post with dozens of hashtags. It looks spammy and muddies your message. The sweet spot is 3-5 highly relevant hashtags. This gives LinkedIn enough information to categorize your content without overwhelming your reader.

Similarly, mentioning (@-tagging) relevant people or company pages can kickstart a conversation and bring your post to their attention, making them more likely to engage. Just make sure you're only tagging accounts that are genuinely connected to what you're talking about. For more on this, check out our guide on formatting LinkedIn posts for readability.

To help keep everything in check, a dedicated tool like a LinkedIn Post Generator can be a huge help. These tools let you draft, tweak, and preview your post, making sure every character is pulling its weight. Remember, great text turns a simple post into a valuable piece of content.

Optimizing Image Posts for a Professional Feed

A single, powerful image can be the difference between a post that gets scrolled past and one that actually stops people in their tracks. To make sure your visuals always look sharp and professional, you have to nail the correct LinkedIn post specs. Nothing undermines a great message faster than an awkwardly cropped or blurry image.

When you're working with a single image post, you have two main choices for dimensions. Each one has its own strategic advantage, and knowing when to use them helps you make the most of your visual real estate.

Choosing Your Image Dimensions

The format you pick should really depend on your content and, most importantly, how you expect people to be viewing it. Each aspect ratio is designed for a different experience.

Here are the two dimensions I recommend sticking with:

• Square Images (1:1 Ratio): For a classic, clean look that works great on both desktop and mobile, go with 1200 x 1200 pixels. It's a reliable, all-around safe bet for most types of content.
• Vertical Images (4:5 Ratio): To really dominate the screen on mobile, use 1080 x 1350 pixels. This format is fantastic for grabbing attention because it fills more of the user's feed as they scroll.

While you can post landscape images, they tend to get squeezed down and appear smaller in the feed, especially on mobile devices—which is where most people are on LinkedIn these days. For maximum impact, sticking with square or vertical is your best move.

A key takeaway here is that LinkedIn, like most platforms, is built for the mobile experience. A 4:5 vertical image simply commands more screen space, making your post more visually dominant and a lot harder to just scroll past.

Technical File Requirements

Getting the dimensions right is only half the battle. You also need to pay attention to the technical file specs to avoid upload errors or seeing your beautiful image turn into a pixelated mess.

File Type: LinkedIn is pretty flexible here and supports the usual suspects.

• JPG: Perfect for photographs and any complex images with a lot of color. You get good quality with a reasonably small file size.
• PNG: The go-to for graphics that include text, logos, or need a transparent background. It keeps lines and edges super sharp.

File Size: Whichever file type you choose, keep an eye on the size. The maximum for a single image upload is 5MB. If your file is bigger than that, you'll need to compress it before uploading. There are plenty of free online tools that can shrink your file size without a noticeable drop in quality, so your visuals stay crisp. Getting these LinkedIn post specs right guarantees your content looks polished every single time.

A Complete Guide to Carousel and Document Post Specs

Want to really grab your audience's attention? LinkedIn carousels and document posts are your secret weapon. They're perfect for walking people through a complex idea, telling a powerful story, or even showing off a portfolio. Because users have to actively swipe through, they spend more time with your content—a huge signal to the LinkedIn algorithm that you're providing value.

From a technical perspective, carousels and documents are essentially the same thing. You upload a single multi-page file, and LinkedIn presents it as a swipeable post. This makes them incredibly versatile for everything from in-depth guides to event recaps.

Ideal Dimensions and Aspect Ratios

To make sure your content looks professional and avoids any weird cropping, you'll want to stick to one of two main sizes for your slides. These are optimized to look great whether someone is scrolling on their phone or their desktop.

• Square (1:1): The go-to standard is 1080 x 1080 pixels. It's clean, balanced, and works beautifully on every device. You can't go wrong with it.
• Vertical (4:5): If you want to make a bigger impact on mobile, use 1080 x 1350 pixels. This taller format takes up more of the screen on a phone, making your post much harder to scroll past.

Here's the most important rule: be consistent. Every single page in your document needs to have the exact same dimensions. This ensures the swiping experience is smooth and seamless, not jarring.

Pro Tip: Your first slide is your hook. Think of it as the cover of a book. It has one job: to make someone stop scrolling and start swiping. Use a bold headline, ask a thought-provoking question, or feature a striking image to promise value and pique curiosity.

File Requirements and Limitations

Getting the dimensions right is half the battle; the other half is making sure your file itself meets LinkedIn’s upload rules. If your file is the wrong type or too big, you'll just get an error message.

Supported File Types: You've got a few choices here, so you can use whatever software you're comfortable with.

• PDF (Recommended): This is by far the most reliable and common format for carousels.
• PPT/PPTX: You can upload Microsoft PowerPoint files directly.
• DOC/DOCX: Microsoft Word documents also work.

Size and Length Restrictions: LinkedIn has some hard limits in place to keep the platform running smoothly.

• Maximum File Size: The entire file can't be more than 100MB.
• Maximum Page Count: You can have up to 300 pages in one document.

Just because you can upload a 300-page behemoth doesn't mean you should. The sweet spot for engagement is usually somewhere between 5 and 15 slides. That's long enough to deliver real value but short enough to keep someone's attention. Always remember to compress your PDF before uploading—a smaller file means faster loading, which is key to a good user experience.

Technical Specifications for High-Performing LinkedIn Videos

Video has become a genuine powerhouse for engagement on LinkedIn, but its success isn't just about the content—it's about technical precision. If you get the specs wrong, you risk ugly compression artifacts, annoying playback issues, or awkward cropping that can sabotage your message before anyone even sees it. Nailing the correct LinkedIn post specs for video is non-negotiable for a professional look.

While the platform is pretty flexible with the video files it accepts, sticking to the optimal settings is the only way to guarantee your content looks crisp and loads fast for everyone. It all starts with the basic file requirements.

Core Video File Requirements

Before you start worrying about aspect ratios and resolutions, your video has to meet LinkedIn's fundamental criteria. These are the gatekeeper rules covering everything from file size and length to the format itself.

Here are the technical specs you absolutely must follow:

• Supported Formats: You can upload a few different types, but MP4 with AAC audio is your safest bet. It’s the gold standard for compatibility and quality on the platform.
• File Size: Your file needs to be between 75KB and 5GB. Anything smaller or larger will be rejected.
• Video Duration: The minimum length is 3 seconds, and for a standard native video post, the maximum is 10 minutes.

It’s worth the effort. Recent data shows that native video posts on LinkedIn now pull in an average engagement rate of 5.60%—a huge leap from 4.00% the previous year. On top of that, video gets five times more engagement than plain text posts, making it essential for anyone serious about visibility. You can see more social media benchmarks on Socialinsider.io.

Optimal Resolution and Aspect Ratios

The dimensions of your video have a massive impact on how it appears in the feed, especially on mobile, where the majority of users are scrolling. Picking the right aspect ratio can make your post visually dominant and much harder to scroll past.

Here are your best options for maximum impact:

1. Landscape (16:9): The classic widescreen format. It works, but it takes up the least amount of vertical real estate in the mobile feed, making it easier to miss.
2. Square (1:1): A fantastic choice that looks balanced and clean on both desktop and mobile. A common resolution here is 1920 x 1920 pixels.
3. Vertical (9:16): This is the one you want for a full-screen mobile experience. It grabs the most attention and keeps users focused. Aim for a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels.

While your resolution can technically be as low as 256x144 pixels or as high as 4096x2304 pixels, you should always export at 1080p or higher. This gives LinkedIn's compression algorithm more data to work with, resulting in a much clearer final video. For an exhaustive breakdown of all the technicals, check out this guide on LinkedIn video specifications.

Advanced Technical Settings and Captions

If you really want to make your video look polished, you need to dig into the finer details during export. These settings control the smoothness of the playback and the clarity of your audio.

Technical Export Settings

• Frame Rate: You can use anything from 10 to 60 frames per second (fps). For most content, a standard 24-30 fps looks professional and smooth.
• Bitrate: For a 1080p video, exporting with a bitrate between 5 and 30 Mbps strikes the perfect balance between high quality and manageable file size.

Finally, and this is crucial: never upload a video without captions. So many people watch videos on LinkedIn with the sound off, making captions essential for accessibility and just getting your message across. LinkedIn requires captions to be in the SubRip Subtitle (SRT) format. You can easily add this file when you upload your video. Knowing how to post a video to LinkedIn with all the right elements, especially SRT files, is a game-changer for your reach.

Getting Your Link Preview Image Just Right

When you drop a link into a LinkedIn post, the platform automatically creates a clickable preview card. This little snippet is your first—and often only—chance to grab someone's attention. A sharp, relevant image can make all the difference in getting that click, while a broken or badly cropped one just looks unprofessional.

This preview isn't magic; LinkedIn is simply pulling the image, title, and description from your website's metadata. To be specific, it's looking for what are called Open Graph (OG) tags in the <head> section of your page's code. Think of these tags as a set of instructions you give to social media sites on how to display your content.

A Quick Look at Open Graph Tags

If you want to control how your links look when shared, you need to get familiar with three key OG tags. Getting these right gives you complete say over that crucial first impression.

• og:title: This sets the headline for the preview card. Keep it snappy and interesting enough to make people want to learn more.
• og:image: This is the big one for visual appeal. It points directly to the URL of the image you want to show up.
• og:description: This tag provides that short bit of summary text under the title, giving your audience a little more context.

So, if you wanted to specify a particular image for your preview, the code you'd add to your webpage's header would look like this: <meta property="og:image" content="https://yourwebsite.com/images/linkedin-preview-image.jpg" />. If you leave these tags out, LinkedIn takes its best guess, and the results can be pretty messy.

Link Preview Image Specs

To make sure your image looks crisp and professional every time, you need to stick to LinkedIn's preferred specs. The platform favors a horizontal, landscape-style image that displays well on both desktop and mobile.

Recommended Dimensions: The sweet spot for a LinkedIn link preview image is 1200 x 627 pixels.

This gives you a perfect 1.91:1 aspect ratio, which is the best way to prevent any weird or unfortunate cropping. The maximum file size is a generous 5MB, but it’s always smart to compress your image so it loads fast for everyone.

One crucial thing to remember: you can't edit the preview image on LinkedIn once the link has been pasted. If you need to update it, you have to go back to the source webpage and change the og:image tag first. After that, run the URL through LinkedIn's Post Inspector tool. This forces LinkedIn to fetch the new information, so when you create a new post with that link, it will show the updated, correct preview.

Essential Dimensions for Your Profile and Company Page

While the content you post in the feed is what keeps your audience engaged day-to-day, your personal profile and company page are the foundational hubs of your brand. Getting these core visual elements right from the start is absolutely critical for building credibility.

Think of it this way: your profile is your digital storefront. Using the correct image specs ensures every visitor is greeted by a polished, professional, and trustworthy presence, preventing any awkward stretching, pixelation, or cropping that can instantly undermine your authority.

Personal Profile Image Specs

Your personal profile is often someone's first direct interaction with you. Let’s make sure it’s a good one. The images you select should be crisp, professional, and clearly you.

• Profile Photo: Your headshot is your most important branding asset on the platform. The recommended size is 400 x 400 pixels. Remember, LinkedIn crops this into a circle, so center your face to avoid having key features cut off.
• Background Banner: This space is prime real estate to show off your professional brand, your company's mission, or your unique value proposition. The ideal dimension is 1584 x 396 pixels. Keep in mind that it will look different on desktop versus mobile.

Crucial Tip: Always keep the most important text and logos within a central "safe zone" on your background banner. This simple step ensures your profile photo doesn't obscure critical information and that nothing gets cut off on smaller mobile screens.

Company Page Image Specs

For a corporate brand, visual consistency is non-negotiable. Getting these specs right is a fundamental step for anyone learning how to make a LinkedIn business page that projects authority and polish.

• Company Logo: This is the small square icon that sits next to all your company’s posts and appears in search results. Aim for a 300 x 300 pixels image, though I often find that uploading at 400 x 400 pixels gives a slightly sharper result.
• Company Cover Image: As the first thing visitors see when they land on your page, this banner needs to make an impact. The recommended size is 1128 x 191 pixels. It's a much wider and shorter format, perfect for a tagline or brand imagery. Just like with personal banners, always check how it looks on both mobile and desktop.

LinkedIn Profile & Page Image Dimensions

To make things easy, here’s a quick-reference table summarizing the key dimensions you'll need for both personal profiles and company pages. Getting these branding elements right is the first step toward a professional presence.

Stick to these guidelines, and you’ll avoid the common pitfalls of blurry logos or poorly cropped banners, ensuring your brand always puts its best foot forward.

Got Questions? We've Got Answers

Even when you follow the specs to the letter, things can still go sideways. It happens. This section covers the most common snags and questions that pop up when you're creating content for LinkedIn. Think of it as your go-to troubleshooting guide for those "why isn't this working?!" moments.

Why Is My LinkedIn Image Blurry or Pixelated?

Blurry images on LinkedIn almost always come down to two culprits: uploading a file that's too small, or too much compression.

Let's say you upload an 800x800 pixel image for a square post, where LinkedIn really wants a 1200x1200 file. The platform has no choice but to stretch your smaller image to fit the space, and that stretching is what causes the fuzziness and pixelation.

On top of that, LinkedIn automatically compresses every image you upload to keep the platform running fast for everyone. If you start with a low-quality or already heavily compressed file, LinkedIn’s own process just degrades it even more. The fix? Always, always start with a high-resolution source image and export it using the recommended specs. That’s how you get a crisp, professional-looking result.

Can I Edit a Link Preview Image After Posting?

The short answer is no. Once a post is live, you can't directly edit the link preview's image, title, or description on LinkedIn. The platform generates that preview from your website’s Open Graph (OG) tags the very first time the link is shared, and it caches that information.

To fix a wrong preview, you first have to go back to the source webpage and update the og:image and other relevant OG tags. After you've done that, head over to LinkedIn's Post Inspector tool. When you paste your URL into the inspector, you're telling LinkedIn to "re-scrape" the page and grab the new, updated information. From that point on, any new post using that link will display the correct preview.

What Is the Best Video Format for LinkedIn?

For the most reliable, headache-free experience, stick with MP4 with an AAC audio codec and an H.264 video codec.

This combination is the industry standard for a reason—it strikes the perfect balance between great visual quality and a reasonable file size. It also guarantees your video will play smoothly for just about everyone, no matter what device, browser, or internet speed they're using. While LinkedIn technically accepts other formats, MP4 (H.264/AAC) is your safest bet to avoid compatibility nightmares.

Does LinkedIn Compress Uploaded Videos and Images?

Yes, absolutely. LinkedIn runs its own compression on all media you upload, whether it's an image, a PDF, or a video. This is standard procedure for social platforms; it helps make sure content loads quickly for all users.

This is precisely why sticking to the official linkedin post specs is non-negotiable. When you upload a high-quality file that already meets the recommended dimensions and file size limits, you’re giving LinkedIn's compression algorithm a much better starting point. A better source file will always look better on the other side of their optimization process.

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