Have you ever nailed your Facebook cover design on desktop, only to find it brutally cropped on mobile?
You’re not alone — and the fix is knowing exactly which dimensions Facebook actually uses in 2026 (they’ve changed, and Facebook’s own help pages don’t fully agree with each other — more on that below).
Quick answer (2026): upload your Facebook Page cover at 851 × 315 px — Meta’s official recommendation — as an sRGB JPG under 100 KB (PNG if it contains text or a logo). It displays at 820 × 312 on desktop and 640 × 360 on mobile, so keep everything important inside the central 640 × 312 safe zone.
Every number on this page was verified against Meta’s live documentation in August 2026.
Your cover photo is the part of your Facebook presence you control completely. If you’re also running paid creative, we measured what ad copy length actually correlates with ads that keep running across live Facebook ads.
In this guide:
Why Your Facebook Cover Photo Still Matters in 2026
Your cover photo is usually the first thing a potential customer sees when they check out your business on Facebook — and people do still check. Facebook remains the most-used social platform on earth, with more than 3 billion monthly active users, and roughly 98% of them open it on a phone.
That mobile number is the whole game. A cover designed only for desktop loses its edges — and often its message — for almost every real visitor. Getting the size and safe zone right isn’t pixel-pedantry; it’s making sure your brand actually survives the crop.
The Best Facebook Cover Photo Size in 2026
Meta’s official guidance: your Page cover “loads fastest as an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes”, with a minimum of 400 × 150 px. If your cover contains a logo or text, Meta itself says a PNG will give you a better result.
On screens, it displays at 820 × 312 px on desktop and 640 × 360 px on mobile — the display sizes Meta has published on its Business Help specs page for years.
Worth knowing: Meta’s two live help pages currently contradict each other — the newer Help Center article describes the crop only in aspect ratios (and maps them opposite to the long-published pixel sizes), while the Business Help page still lists 820 × 312 / 640 × 360. Every major design tool and every real-world render still follows the pixel numbers, so that’s what we — and every guide worth reading — design to.
PRO TIP: for retina-sharp results, design at 2× the recommended ratio — 1702 × 630 px — and let Facebook scale it down.
Desktop vs. Mobile: The Safe Zone
Facebook trims the top and bottom of your cover on desktop, and the left and right sides on mobile. The practical way to win both: design your artwork at 820 × 360 px and keep every logo, face and word inside the central 640 × 312 px safe zone — the only area that survives every crop.
On a computer, you lose 24 px from the top and 24 px from the bottom — anything in those strips (taglines, URLs, logo edges) disappears for desktop visitors.
On phones — where nearly all your visitors are — you lose roughly 90 px from each side. One more official quirk to design around: Meta confirms your profile picture overlaps the cover’s bottom-left by about 40 px on mobile, so keep that corner clear too.
Group, Event and Profile Picture Sizes (2026)
Running a group or an event page too? The sizes are different — here’s the full 2026 reference:
- Group cover: 1640 × 856 px (1.91:1) — Meta’s official recommendation. Group covers crop at the sides on mobile, so keep essentials central.
- Event cover: 1920 × 1005 px (1.91:1) — the industry standard; Meta publishes no official size for events, and covers can’t be resized after they’re added, so get it right the first time.
- Profile picture: 320 × 320 px minimum — displays at 176 px on desktop and 196 px on mobile, cropped to a circle.
- Personal profile cover: Meta’s only published rule is a 720 px minimum width — the 851 × 315 Page spec works perfectly here too.
What About Facebook Cover Videos?
Short version: they’re gone. Facebook removed cover videos for business Pages back in 2021 and the feature never returned in the new Pages experience — existing cover videos were quietly turned into static thumbnails. If a guide is still telling you to upload an 820 × 462 cover video in 2026, it hasn’t been updated in years. Put the effort into a sharp static cover instead.
Facebook Cover Photo Tips for 2026
- JPG for photos, PNG for text. Meta’s own guidance: sRGB JPG under 100 KB loads fastest, but covers with logos or type look crisper as PNG.
- Design at 2× (1702 × 630) so retina screens get a sharp render.
- Respect the bottom-left. The profile photo overlaps the cover by ~40 px on mobile — official.
- Check it on a phone before you call it done. ~98% of your audience will only ever see the mobile crop.
- Treat the cover as free ad space. It’s the one placement Facebook gives your brand at zero cost — current offer, season, or proof point, inside the safe zone. And if you want to see what your competitors are paying to run right alongside it, decode any brand’s live Facebook ads free.
FREE DOWNLOAD
The 2026 Facebook Cover Template Pack
Four ready-to-use design canvases with the safe zones pre-marked (Page · retina · Group · Event) plus a one-page PDF cheat sheet of every 2026 Facebook size — all verified against Meta’s official docs.
Facebook Cover Photo Size FAQ
What size should a Facebook cover photo be in 2026?
Upload at 851 × 315 pixels — Meta’s official recommendation — as an sRGB JPG under 100 KB (PNG if it contains text or a logo). It displays at 820 × 312 on desktop and 640 × 360 on mobile. Minimum size is 400 × 150.
What is the Facebook cover photo safe zone?
The central 640 × 312 pixel area of your design. Desktop trims about 24 px from the top and bottom; mobile trims about 90 px from each side. Anything inside 640 × 312 survives every crop — and keep the bottom-left clear, because the profile photo overlaps it by roughly 40 px on mobile.
What size is a Facebook group cover photo?
1640 × 856 pixels (a 1.91:1 ratio) — Meta’s official recommendation. Group covers crop at the sides on mobile, so keep the essentials central.
What size is a Facebook event cover photo?
1920 × 1005 pixels (1.91:1) is the industry standard — Meta publishes no official event size. Note that an event cover can’t be resized after it’s been added.
Can you still use a video as your Facebook cover?
No. Facebook removed cover videos for business Pages in 2021 and the feature never returned — existing cover videos became static thumbnails. Use a well-designed static image instead.
Final Thoughts
Your cover photo is permanent, free brand real estate in the most-visited social platform on earth — and now you have the verified 2026 numbers, the safe zone, and the templates to get it right in one pass.
If you’d rather have the experts handle your social presence and branding end to end, contact us for a free consultation with our team today.
