The LinkedIn background photo (often called the LinkedIn banner or cover image) is the wide strip at the top of your profile. It is the largest visual on the page, yet most people leave it as the default blue-grey pattern. Before you design one, it helps to know exactly how LinkedIn sizes, crops and overlaps it, because a banner that looks perfect in an editor can lose half its text once it is uploaded.
The recommended size: 1584 × 396 pixels
LinkedIn recommends a personal profile background image of 1584 pixels wide by 396 pixels tall. That is an exact 4:1 ratio. Uploading an image at this size means LinkedIn does not have to stretch or crop it on desktop, which keeps text sharp.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 1584 × 396 px |
| Aspect ratio | 4 : 1 |
| File types | JPG, PNG or GIF (static) |
| Maximum file size | 8 MB |
Company pages use a different cover size (1128 × 191 px), so do not reuse a personal banner on a company page without resizing it. Platforms change these specifications from time to time, so if an upload looks wrong, check LinkedIn's own help centre for the current values.
Why the 4:1 ratio matters more than the pixel count
If you upload a larger image, for example 3168 × 792, LinkedIn simply scales it down, and it will look fine because the ratio is the same. Problems start when the ratio is different. A standard 16:9 photo (such as 1920 × 1080) is far taller than 4:1, so LinkedIn crops away most of the top and bottom. If your name or job title was in those areas, it disappears. This is the most common reason banners look “cut off”.
The banners you download from our banner maker are always exported at exactly 1584 × 396, so the ratio is correct before you upload.
The safe zone: where your profile photo covers the banner
On desktop, your round profile picture sits on top of the bottom-left part of the banner. Anything you place in that corner, roughly the left third of the lower half, will be hidden. On phones, the banner is shown smaller and the profile picture still overlaps the lower-left area, while the edges can be trimmed slightly.
That leads to three practical rules:
- Put text on the right half. The right side is never covered by the profile photo, which is why our tool aligns your name and title to the bottom-right.
- Keep a margin from every edge. Leave at least 40 pixels between text and the edge of the image so it is not trimmed on smaller screens.
- Use the left side for imagery, not words. A texture, landscape or abstract background works well behind the profile photo.
How big should the text be?
On a phone the full banner is often displayed less than 400 pixels wide, which is about a quarter of its real width. Text that is 20 pixels tall in the original file becomes about 5 pixels on screen, which is unreadable. As a rule of thumb, your main line (usually your name or headline) should be at least 60–80 pixels tall in the 1584 × 396 file, and any secondary line at least 28–32 pixels. Our tool uses roughly 77 px for the name and 30 px for the second line for this reason.
File format: JPG or PNG?
PNG keeps text edges crisp and is the better choice when your banner contains words, which is why we export PNG files. JPG produces smaller files and is fine for photographs with no text. Either way, you will stay well under the 8 MB limit at 1584 × 396.
Checklist before you upload
- The image is exactly 1584 × 396 (or the same 4:1 ratio).
- No text sits in the bottom-left third.
- Text has at least a 40 px margin from every edge.
- The main text is readable when you shrink the image to phone size.
- There is enough contrast between the text and the photo.
- After uploading, you checked the profile on both a laptop and a phone.
Ready to make one? Read our step-by-step tutorial or browse banner ideas for your profession.
Make your banner now: the free Social Banner Maker exports a ready-to-upload 1584 × 396 PNG in under a minute, with no sign-up.