Crop a Facebook Cover Photo to 851 × 315, Phone Cut Shown
Crop a Facebook cover photo to 851 × 315 px and see the part a phone cuts off before you save. It runs in your browser.
How to crop a Facebook cover photo
- Choose the photo. The cropper opens at Facebook cover photo, about 2.7:1, 851 × 315 px.
- The red bands at the sides are the part a phone cuts off. The dashed box is what a phone shows.
- Move the frame so the subject and any words sit inside the dashed box.
- Press Download crop. The file is 851 × 315 px with no red bands; switch them off with the checkbox to see the plain crop.
The crop size, and where the phone cuts
Four guides I read on 30 October 2026, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer and Metricool, agree on 851 × 315 pixels for a cover photo and on 640 × 360 for how a phone displays it. Meta's own help page returned an error, so I cannot give you its wording. The two shapes differ: 851 × 315 is about 2.7:1 and 640 × 360 is 16:9.
The red bands are my reading of that gap. A phone shows the whole height of the file at 16:9, which is 560 of the 851 pixels, so roughly 146 pixels disappear from each side. It is a calculation, not a measurement taken on a phone.
Page, profile and what the phone shows
| Cover | Recommended | Minimum | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Page | 851 × 315 px | 400 × 150 px | Sprout Social, Hootsuite |
| Personal profile | 851 × 315 px | 720 px wide | Sprout Social, Buffer |
This page covers both: the recommended size is the same, and only the minimum differs. Groups use 1640 × 856 px and events 1920 × 1005 px, according to Buffer and Metricool; I have no preset for them.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| File on a desktop | 851 × 315 px, about 2.7:1 |
| Shown on a phone | 640 × 360 px, 16:9 |
| Visible part of the file | 560 × 315 px, 65.8% of the width |
| Cut from each side | 145.5 px, 17.1% of the width |
Nearly a third of a cover can be gone on a phone. Anything near the left or right edge, such as a name or a logo, is gone with it.
Planning a cover for a phone first
Most people open Facebook on a phone, so I put the part that matters in the middle 560 pixels and treat the rest as background. A wide landscape works well that way: the horizon runs off both sides and the subject stays central. A group photo spread along the full width does not.
Sprout Social and Buffer both add that your profile picture covers the lower left of the cover. The overlay does not draw it, because its size changes with the device, so I keep that corner empty too.
Weight and format
Sprout Social and Hootsuite suggest a cover under 100 KB, as a JPG or a PNG. A photo saves smaller as a JPEG, and text or a logo is cleaner as a PNG. If the file comes out heavier than you like, run it through the Image Compressor. For the picture that sits over the cover, use the Facebook profile picture cropper.
Tips for a Facebook cover photo
- Keep words and faces inside the dashed box, in the middle of the cover.
- Leave the lower left free; the profile picture sits there.
- Start from a wide original. A cover cropped from a small portrait is enlarged and soft.
- Check the red bands against your own phone; the sources give a typical size, not every device.
- Pick JPG for a photo and PNG for a logo or text, and keep the file small.
Privacy
Your image never leaves your device. Opening, cropping and saving all happen in your browser, so nothing is uploaded or stored, and you do not need an account. The saved file does not keep the original EXIF, GPS or XMP data.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Facebook cover photo crop size?
Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer and Metricool all recommend 851 × 315 pixels. The cropper opens at that preset and saves a file of exactly that size, so Facebook has nothing to resize.
What size is a Facebook cover photo on mobile?
The sources say a phone shows it at 640 × 360 pixels, a 16:9 shape. By my arithmetic that leaves 560 of the 851 pixels visible, with about 146 cut from each side.
What ratio is a Facebook cover photo?
Your file is about 2.7:1, 851 × 315 pixels. Desktop shows it close to that shape and a phone shows it at 16:9, which is why the sides of the file can be cut off there.
Is a Page cover different from a profile cover?
Both recommend 851 × 315. A Page allows a minimum of 400 × 150 pixels and a personal profile asks for at least 720 pixels wide. This page works for either.
Does the red overlay change my file?
No. The red bands and the dashed box exist only in the preview. The saved cover is plain 851 × 315 pixels, the same whether the checkbox is on or off.
Related tools and guides
- Image Cropper: Crop images to exact ratios or popular preset sizes.
- Crop a Photo for a Facebook Post, Portrait or Square: Crop a photo to a Facebook post at 1080 × 1350 px, or switch to the 1080 × 1080 px square. It runs in your browser.
- Crop Your Facebook Profile Picture With a Circle Preview: Crop a Facebook profile picture to a square 320 × 320 px file and see the circle it will be shown in. It runs in your browser.
- Image Resizer: Resize images by pixels, percentage or longest side.
- Put your photos together in one image: Join photos side by side, stacked or in a grid, with adjustable gaps and borders.
- Add text to your photo and keep it readable: Put captions on a photo with a gradient, tint or box behind them and a live contrast check.
- Lake Jasna, Slovenia: My Photography and Visitor Guide: A wide view of the lake that suits a cover.
- Metelkova Ljubljana: My Photos and Complete Visitor Guide: Wide street scenes with the subject in the middle.