When posting images on LinkedIn, it’s important to optimize them for both visual appeal and fast loading times. The maximum image size LinkedIn recommends is 5MB. Anything larger risks slowing down the loading speed of your post. However, with compression tools you can often reduce image sizes below 5MB without sacrificing too much visual quality.
What is the maximum image size for LinkedIn?
LinkedIn recommends keeping images under 5MB in size. This ensures images load quickly and don’t negatively impact the user experience. Images over 5MB may cause LinkedIn pages to load slowly or fail to load entirely, frustrating viewers.
The 5MB limit applies to any images uploaded natively to LinkedIn, including profile photos, cover photos, content images, and images used in advertisements. It’s best practice to compress all images to under 5MB before uploading.
Why does LinkedIn have an image size limit?
There are a few key reasons LinkedIn enforces a maximum image size:
- Load times – Large, high-resolution images can dramatically slow down page load speeds. Keeping images under 5MB ensures pages load quickly.
- Mobile optimization – With much of LinkedIn’s traffic coming from mobile users, image size has a big impact on mobile data usage and load times. Smaller image sizes enhance the mobile experience.
- Storage costs – Storing hundreds of millions of high-resolution images would be extremely expensive for LinkedIn.
By recommending a reasonable image size limit, LinkedIn is able to balance visual quality with performance and cost factors.
What happens if you exceed the 5MB limit?
If you attempt to upload an image over 5MB to LinkedIn, one of two things will happen:
- The image will be automatically compressed by LinkedIn to under 5MB before being uploaded.
- The image will fail to upload and you will see an error message advising the file is too large.
To avoid potential upload issues, it’s strongly recommended to manually optimize and compress images to under 5MB yourself before uploading.
Does the 5MB limit apply to .GIF files?
Yes, the 5MB limit applies equally to .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, and other image formats. All image files uploaded to LinkedIn should be kept under 5MB in size.
GIFs often have much larger file sizes due to their animated nature. To upload a GIF to LinkedIn while respecting the 5MB limit, you’ll need to carefully optimize and compress the GIF using tools like GIFOptimizer.
What image dimensions work best?
In addition to file size, image dimensions also have an impact on appearance and performance on LinkedIn. Some recommended dimensions include:
- Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels
- Cover photo: 1584 x 396 pixels
- Shared images: 1200 x 627 pixels
- Sponsored content: 1200 x 628 pixels
Aim for image dimensions in this general range for a balanced appearance across desktop and mobile. Square profile/cover photos look best and will avoid unwanted cropping issues.
Tips for resizing and compressing images
Here are some tips for resizing and optimizing images to meet LinkedIn’s 5MB limit:
- Use image editing software like Photoshop, GIMP, or Canva to resize and compress.
- Save images as JPG format at 60-80% quality to reduce size.
- Try online compression tools like TinyPNG or Optimizilla.
- When resizing, reduce both pixel dimensions and DPI to 200 or lower.
- For GIFs, use GIF optimizer tools and reduce frame rates to 10-15 fps.
- Crop images tightly around the key focal point to reduce wasted space.
Finding the optimal balance between size and quality may take some trial and error. The goal is the smallest file size that still looks great.
Should you use the highest resolution possible?
Using the highest resolution image possible is not recommended for LinkedIn, even if it’s under 5MB.
Higher resolution does not always mean higher visual quality. But it does mean larger file sizes. Most viewers will not notice a difference beyond a certain point of image resolution.
For example, an image intended for online use should rarely need to be higher than 72 DPI resolution. Higher resolutions like 300 or 600 DPI will drastically increase file size without any real gain in visible quality.
Aim for great visual clarity while also optimizing for the web and respecting the 5MB limit.
Pros of reducing image sizes
Keeping images under 5MB provides the following benefits:
- Faster load times – Smaller image sizes directly speed up how fast web pages load.
- Better mobile experience – Optimized images use less data and load faster on mobile.
- Lower storage costs – For LinkedIn’s servers, smaller images require less storage capacity.
- Less compression artifacts – Allowing LinkedIn to compress images introduces more artifacts than compressing yourself.
- Less chance of failed uploads – Optimizing before uploading avoids hitting the 5MB error limit.
Cons of reducing image sizes
The potential downsides of compressing images include:
- Lower visual quality/clarity if compressed too aggressively.
- More work required to manually optimize images beforehand.
- Potential loss of fine details in the image.
- Less ability to zoom and crop images after uploading.
However, with proper optimization techniques, you can often minimize visual quality loss. Overall, the faster loading and mobile benefits outweigh the cons for web images.
Should you upload smaller images then expand?
One workaround strategy is to upload smaller compressed versions of your images to LinkedIn, then using HTML or CSS to scale them up to a larger display size as needed.
For example, you could upload a 1500 x 750 pixel image at under 5MB, then use width and height attributes to display it at twice the pixel size:
<img src="image.jpg" width="3000" height="1500">
This allows you to work around LinkedIn’s limits and effectively display a larger image. However, expanding small images excessively can cause noticeable pixelation and loss of quality.
A better solution is to optimize the full-size image to the target display dimensions before uploading. Use the right dimensions and compression to maximize both quality and performance.
Should you use vector images instead?
Vector images can be a good alternative to compressed raster images in some cases. Vector images use geometric points and formulas to render shapes and colors. This allows them to scale to any size without losing clarity or pixelating.
Vector graphics like logos and illustrations can make very lightweight files compared to high-resolution photos or complex raster images.
However, vector images have some downsides:
- Difficult to create realistic photographic images as vectors.
- Complex vector graphics can still produce large file sizes.
- May not be supported by all browsers and platforms.
In many cases, the best solution is properly optimized raster images. But vectors can be beneficial for simple graphic elements like logos and shapes.
Should you use PNG or JPG image formats?
For most web images, JPG is the best format option to reduce file size while maintaining quality. Some guidelines:
- Use JPG for photographic images at 60-80% quality.
- Use PNG for simple logos, illustrations, and graphics.
- PNG is lossless, but file sizes are usually larger than an equivalent JPG.
- For photographs, the JPG algorithm greatly reduces file size with minimal loss of detail.
- Try both formats and compare the visual results at different settings.
For the best results, you may want to save 2 versions of each image – one PNG and one optimized JPG. Use the format that provides the smallest size while meeting your visual requirements.
Should you convert images to WebP format?
WebP is an emerging image format that can offer better compression and quality than JPG and PNG. However, wider browser support is still limited.
Benefits of WebP include:
- Up to 30% better compression than JPG and PNG.
- Lossy and lossless options available.
- Higher quality at smaller file sizes.
- Supported natively in Chrome, Opera, and Android.
Downsides of WebP:
- No native support in Safari, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.
- Requires user browser plugins for wider support.
- Not fully supported by all platforms and CDNs.
- No ability to control quality levels like JPG.
For maximum compatibility, JPG or PNG will be better choices today. But WebP shows promise for being a potential next-generation web image standard when support improves.
Should you lazy load images below the fold?
“Lazy loading” refers to only loading images into the browser viewport when needed as a user scrolls down a long page. Images below the fold load later.
Benefits of lazy loading:
- Faster initial page load times.
- Reduced server load and bandwidth usage.
- Better mobile performance and data usage.
- Users may not need to see every image on a page.
Downsides of lazy loading:
- Additional coding and complexity to implement.
- May result in a sudden shift in page layout as off-screen images load.
- Users with slower devices or connections may still see loading delays.
Overall, lazy loading can improve performance if implemented properly. But it may not be required for short pages or small numbers of images. Prioritize above-fold images first before trying lazy loading.
Should you embed images or link to files?
On LinkedIn, you have a choice of directly embedding images in your posts and content, or linking externally to image files on another server.
Here is a comparison of each approach:
Embedded Images | External Linked Images | |
---|---|---|
Ease of use | Simple upload and embed. | Need to host files on another server. |
Loading speed | Loads directly with post. | Requires additional download of external files. |
File size limits | Constrained by LinkedIn’s 5MB limit. | No inherent limits, but large files still load slower. |
Long term reliability | Files live as long as your LinkedIn account. | Dependent on external host; links may break. |
In most cases, directly embedding appropriately sized images leads to a better user experience. But external linking allows you to work around the 5MB limit in specific cases if needed.
Conclusion
To summarize key points on LinkedIn’s image size limits:
- Aim to keep images under the 5MB size recommendation when possible.
- Use image editing tools to resize and optimize JPGs before uploading.
- Reduce pixel dimensions, DPI, and compression levels to hit size targets.
- Always focus on quality and appearance, not just smaller file sizes.
- Review the pros and cons of different file formats and loading methods.
- Test different compression levels to find the ideal balance point.
With the right optimization methods, you can make any image look great within LinkedIn’s limits. Just take the time to properly prepare your images before uploading them.