LinkedIn profile picture size and specs (current as of 2026)
If you're here, you want the numbers, not a 2,000-word introduction.
The numbers
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Display size (desktop) | 400 × 400 px (rendered as a circle) |
| Display size (mobile) | 300 × 300 px (rendered as a circle) |
| Minimum upload | 400 × 400 px |
| Maximum upload | 7,680 × 4,320 px |
| Recommended upload | 800 × 800 px to 1,600 × 1,600 px |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1 (square) |
| File size limit | 8 MB |
| Accepted formats | JPG, PNG, GIF (animated GIFs do not animate on profile photos) |
LinkedIn re-encodes everything to JPEG and crops to a circle. Anything outside the central inscribed circle of your square is invisible.
What the circular crop actually clips
Imagine your 400×400 square photo. LinkedIn shows the disc that fits inside it. That means:
- The four corners (about 21% of the area) are cut off.
- Hair above and shoulders below are usually clipped.
- Anything you wanted "in the corner" is gone.
Practical implication: crop your headshot so the entire face plus some breathing room sits comfortably inside an imagined circle, not just inside the square.
The actual best-practice crop
- Top of head: 5–10% of the frame from the top edge.
- Eyes: roughly on the upper third line of the frame.
- Chin to bottom edge: a comfortable gap — don't pin the chin to the bottom.
- Sides: shoulders just barely visible inside the circle.
If you're using a phone, the iOS Photos crop tool with a 1:1 ratio plus the Apple "auto" suggestion gets close enough; just nudge to put eyes on the upper third.
Color profile and background
LinkedIn aggressively recompresses photos. Two tips for keeping yours crisp:
- Stick to sRGB. Photos uploaded as Adobe RGB or DCI-P3 can shift color on the LinkedIn re-encode.
- Avoid pure white backgrounds for a desktop default. They blend into LinkedIn's chrome and the "circle on white" loses its anchor. A subtle off-white, gray, or muted color reads better on both light and dark mode.
If you need a strict white background for a separate ID photo, generate a second crop just for that — don't reuse it on LinkedIn.
Background photo (banner) — for reference
People conflate the profile photo with the banner. They're separate:
| Banner spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Display size | 1,584 × 396 px |
| Aspect ratio | 4:1 |
The banner is not a headshot. Don't put your face there.
Putting it into practice
If you already have a square headshot at 1,000×1,000 or larger, you're done — just upload. If you only have a phone selfie, you can generate a 1:1 LinkedIn-spec headshot in minutes with PitchPhoto, which applies the right crop automatically through its "LinkedIn" ID-photo preset.