The Perfect Twitter Header Size for 2018 (Plus Do’s and Don’ts)

If you’ve ever struggled with Twitter header dimensions you’re not alone…

Even though Twitter has provided guidelines for their header photo size, it’s still ridiculously difficult to get the sizing just right. That’s because Twitter does this funny thing where they chop off part of your cover photo even if you follow the recommended guidelines.

In addition, you also need to worry about how your header photo scales across different screen resolutions.

The good news is we’ve solved this problem and I’m here to help you do the same.

In this article, we’ll cover in detail what Twitter header size you should be using along with some guidelines to ensure that it displays properly.

Twitter’s guidelines for header photos

Before we dive into some optimization tactics, let’s go over Twitter’s recommended guidelines for header images.

• Header photo recommended dimensions are 1500px by 500px
• Photos can be in any of the following formats: JPG, GIF, or PNG. (Twitter does not support animated GIFs for profile or header images.)

Here’s the problem…

Even if you follow these guidelines, your header image may not look right after you’ve uploaded it. That’s because you need to account for your profile picture and the “invisible area”.

In reality, the recommended Twitter header dimensions actually look like this:

Let’s cover the profile picture area and the invisible area in a bit more detail.

Accounting for your profile picture

Ensuring your profile picture doesn’t interfere with your header photo is actually more complicated than you think. That’s because the position of your profile picture in relation to the cover photo actually changes depending on your screen’s resolution.

For example, here’s a screenshot of a cover photo with my resolution at full width:

When the Twitter header is displayed at full width, the profile picture moves towards the middle of the header photo

However, as I scale down my resolution, look at how the profile picture changes location and moves towards the left side of the header photo.

When the Twitter header is displayed on smaller screens, the profile picture moves to the left of the header photo.

As a result, you need to leave some empty space in the bottom left corner of your header photo or else you run the risk of blocking certain elements in your Twitter header.

Accounting for the “Invisible Area”

Another thing that you need to watch out for is the invisible area. Even though Twitter recommends a 1500px by 500px header photo, the top and bottom of the photo gets cropped off after you upload it.

To illustrate this, here’s a 1500px by 500px sample header photo that I’ve created:

Here’s what my Twitter header looks like after I’ve uploaded this image:

Make sure you account for the invisible areas on the top and bottom of your Twitter header

As expected, the top and bottom of the header photo have been cut off.

The Ideal Twitter Header Size

Here’s what we recommend for your Twitter header dimensions:

• Use the recommended sizing of 1500px by 500px
• Leave empty space at the top and bottom of your header photo
• Leave ample space on the bottom left corner to account for profile pictures and different screen resolutions

How we’re solving this problem with Snappa

We know just how frustrating it can be to get the sizing of your Twitter header just right. That’s why we’ve built these safe zones directly into our Twitter header maker. You can choose from a variety of professional pre-made Twitter header templates that match your needs. Here’s a video we created that shows how you can create a Twitter header photo within less than 2 minutes.

When you create Twitter header images, we cleverly display the profile picture and invisible areas that you need to watch out for. You can even toggle this on and off.

Now you’ll never have to worry about Twitter header sizing ever again!

Conclusion

As you can see, optimizing your Twitter header isn’t as easy as you’d think. We hope this guide helps clear things up and allows you to perfectly size your Twitter headers without running into any issues.