1200px is NOT the Best Size for Facebook Newsfeed Posts – 1197 Works Better

Internet research led us to believe that the best size to display a true and accurate thumbnail for Facebook news feed posts (url posts) was 1200 pixels by 627 pixels. Our borders kept being cut off so we knew this was close but not exact, as you can see in the test images below.

The correct size for Facebook newsfeed image previews is actually 1197 px by 627 px. Using 1197 instead of 1200 will preserve your side borders.

Facebook News Feed Sizing Test 1

First Test for Proper Facebook Preview Sizing: 2100px by 627px — close but not quite, left border is slightly cropped

Facebook News Feed Sizing Test 2

Note: The smear on this image was so we could tell when FB actually updated the image when we were using the debug tool to test each successive change in size.

Second Test for Eliminating Facebook Preview Cropping: 1198 px by 627 px — closer but still not right if you look at the left border

Facebook News Feed Sizing Test 3

Note: The smear on this image was so we could tell when FB actually updated the image when we were using the debug tool to test each successive change in size.

3rd Test for Eliminating Facebook Preview Cropping: 1197 pixels by 627 pixels — Border on the Left is Preserved

For those that don’t know, using Facebook’s debugger tool is how to put your posts in and test how they will look. Here is the link for that tool: http://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug

We often have to “Debug” and then repeatedly debug again hitting “Fetch New Scrape Information” to get new images to take. We’ve also found that sometime larger images will get the preference over our coded social media image if the social media image is too small. This is why we use 1197 instead of a smaller multiple of this.