Design a 1584 x 396 px LinkedIn cover image in your browser. Choose a theme, type your headline, and download a high-res PNG in seconds. No signup, no watermarks, no data sent to a server.
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Exports a full-resolution 1584 x 396 px PNG. Profile photo guide is excluded from the download.
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The correct LinkedIn banner (cover image) size is 1584 x 396 pixels. That is a 4:1 aspect ratio. LinkedIn recommends saving the file as a JPG or PNG under 8 MB, but PNG gives sharper edges on text. The minimum accepted size is 1192 x 220 pixels, but uploading at full 1584 x 396 px ensures the image looks crisp on retina displays and large monitors.
The most important safe zone is the bottom-left corner. LinkedIn overlaps your profile photo circle onto the banner. On desktop the profile photo sits at the bottom-left and extends roughly 110 pixels into the banner from the left edge and about 110 pixels up from the bottom. Anything you place inside that circle will be hidden behind the photo on desktop. The tool above draws a faint guide circle in the preview so you can see exactly where to keep clear.
Mobile cropping is another common gotcha. On LinkedIn's mobile app, the banner is cropped to approximately a 4:1 strip but the visible area shifts slightly depending on screen size. Keep critical text horizontally centered or shifted slightly right to survive both the profile photo overlap on the left and mobile cropping on the edges.
Your LinkedIn banner is one of the first things a profile visitor sees before they read a single word of your bio. Most professionals leave it as the default blue gradient, which is a missed opportunity. A well-designed banner acts as a billboard that immediately communicates who you help, how you help them, and why they should keep reading.
The highest-converting banners follow a simple formula: a short value proposition headline (under 10 words), one supporting line that names the specific audience or outcome, and a light call to action such as a website URL or social handle. Logos and product screenshots can work but add visual noise on mobile. Clear text on a solid or gradient background almost always outperforms a busy photographic background in legibility tests.
Consistency between your banner and the rest of your profile matters. If your headline says 'B2B SaaS growth', your banner should reinforce that niche visually. A mismatch between banner style and bio content creates cognitive dissonance and increases bounce rate from your profile.
The most common mistake is placing important text too close to the left edge, where the profile photo will cover it on desktop. Even if it looks fine when you upload the image, visitors will never see it. Always leave at least 260 px of clear space from the left margin before starting text.
Second most common: using a font size that looks fine at full resolution but becomes unreadable at the compressed size LinkedIn renders in search results. Test your banner by shrinking it to 300 px wide to simulate how it looks in LinkedIn search and 'People You May Know' cards. This tool exports at full 1584 x 396 px, which LinkedIn will compress to display size, so bold fonts and high-contrast color combinations hold up best.
Other mistakes include using gradients that look great on a calibrated monitor but wash out on phone screens, adding too many elements that compete for attention, and forgetting to update the banner when you change jobs or pivot your focus. Treat the banner as a living asset, not a one-time task.
These are the exact technical specs LinkedIn uses as of 2025. Design to these numbers and your banner will look sharp on every device and in every surface LinkedIn renders it.
| Spec | Value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended dimensions | 1584 x 396 px | The native resolution LinkedIn expects. Uploading at this size avoids any upscaling artifacts or blurriness on retina screens. |
| Aspect ratio | 4:1 (width to height) | LinkedIn crops any image not matching this ratio. Upload a square or portrait image and the platform will center-crop it, which almost always cuts off your headline. |
| Minimum accepted dimensions | 1192 x 220 px | Images below this are rejected outright. But at minimum size, text is often unreadable on large monitors. Always use 1584 x 396 px. |
| Maximum file size | 8 MB | PNG files for text banners typically land under 300 KB. JPG photo backgrounds can hit 1 to 3 MB. Either is well under the 8 MB cap. |
| Accepted file formats | PNG, JPG, GIF (static) | PNG is lossless and keeps text edges crisp. JPG introduces compression artifacts around high-contrast text. Use PNG unless the file size matters more than sharpness. |
| Profile photo overlap zone (desktop) | ~120 px radius from bottom-left corner | LinkedIn places the circular profile photo over the bottom-left of the banner. Anything inside this circle is invisible to visitors. Keep text at least 260 px from the left edge. |
| Profile photo overlap zone (mobile) | Photo moves to center-bottom on some mobile layouts | On certain LinkedIn mobile views the profile photo shifts toward center. A safe practice is to keep the bottom 80 px of the banner free of critical text entirely. |
| Mobile edge crop | Roughly 40 to 80 px cropped on each horizontal edge | LinkedIn's mobile app scales and crops the banner to fit narrow screens. Text or logos placed in the outermost 80 px on left and right may not be visible to mobile visitors. |
| Safe text zone (horizontal) | 260 px from left to ~1500 px from left | Anything left of 260 px risks being hidden by the profile photo on desktop. Anything right of 1500 px risks mobile crop. Keep all text within this horizontal range. |
| Safe text zone (vertical) | Top 60% of the banner (0 to ~240 px from top) | The bottom portion is partially obscured by the profile photo and LinkedIn's overlay UI elements. Place critical text in the upper two-thirds of the banner. |
| Color space | sRGB | LinkedIn converts all uploaded images to sRGB. If you design in a wide-gamut color space (Adobe RGB, Display P3), colors will shift at upload. Design in sRGB to get predictable results. |
These are the practical rules that separate banners visitors remember from banners that blend into the default blue gradient everyone ignores.
Lead with a value statement
State exactly who you help and what outcome they get. 'Helping SaaS founders close more enterprise deals' is instantly scannable.
Use high-contrast text on background
White text on dark blue or dark text on light backgrounds. Mid-gray text on light gray fails legibility at banner render sizes.
Keep it to three text lines maximum
Headline, one supporting line, and your URL or handle. More than three lines creates a cluttered banner that reads as noise.
Design for the 260 px safe zone on the left
Start all text at least 260 px from the left edge so the profile photo never hides a word. The tool above handles this automatically.
Update the banner when your focus changes
If you pivot from developer to founder, or from job seeker to consultant, update your banner immediately. Outdated banners undermine profile credibility.
Match banner colors to your brand palette
Visitors who click through to your website should feel visual continuity. Mismatched colors suggest an inconsistent personal brand.
Don't put critical text in the bottom-left 120 px radius
Your profile photo covers this area. No matter how good it looks in your design tool, visitors will never see it on a live profile.
Don't use a busy photographic background
Full-bleed landscape photos look beautiful on a portfolio site. On a 1584 x 396 px strip they create visual noise that buries any text overlay.
Don't use more than two fonts
A headline font and a secondary font is the maximum. Three or more font families on a banner-sized image signal amateur design immediately.
Don't include your email address
Email addresses on banners get scraped by spambots within days. Use your website URL or LinkedIn handle instead.
Don't cram in your full resume
Certifications, skills, companies, and achievements listed as bullet points make the banner unreadable at any render size. Pick the single most important thing.
Don't use thin or light-weight fonts
LinkedIn compresses images at render time. Thin strokes disappear after compression. Use bold or black font weights for any text you want to read reliably.
From a blank canvas to a live profile banner in under 10 minutes. Follow these steps in order and you will avoid every common upload mistake before it happens.
Decide your one core message before touching any design tool
Write your headline copy in a plain text file first. The headline should answer: what do I do and for whom? Examples: 'Fractional CFO for Series A startups' or 'Helping e-commerce brands cut return rates by 30%'. If you cannot write the headline in plain text in under 30 seconds, you are not ready to design yet.
Choose a background color or gradient that fits your brand
For most professionals, a solid dark background (navy, dark blue, charcoal) with white text is the safest choice. It survives LinkedIn's image compression, looks sharp on both dark and light mode displays, and never clashes with the profile photo. Avoid backgrounds that are similar in lightness to your text color.
Place your headline, sub-text, and URL using the tool above
Use the live preview to check that your headline fits in one or two lines at Medium font size. If it wraps to three lines at Medium, shorten the copy or reduce to Large only if all three lines remain readable. Enable the profile photo guide circle to confirm no text falls in the overlap zone.
Toggle the alignment between left and center based on your headline length
Left-aligned text reads as authoritative and professional. Center-aligned text works better for short, punchy headlines under six words. If your headline is eight or more words, left alignment gives each word more breathing room and reduces the chance of an awkward single-word orphan on the last line.
Download the PNG at full 1584 x 396 px resolution
Click 'Download PNG' in the tool above. The download exports at the full native resolution with the profile photo guide circle removed. Do not resize the file before uploading. LinkedIn handles scaling on its end and uploading at full resolution always produces the sharpest result.
Upload to LinkedIn via the pencil icon on your profile cover area
Go to your LinkedIn profile page. Hover over the banner area at the top. A pencil edit icon appears in the upper-right corner of the banner. Click it, select 'Upload photo', and choose the PNG file you just downloaded. LinkedIn will show a positioning and crop preview.
Check the result on both desktop and your phone before considering it done
Open your profile on a desktop browser and on your phone. On mobile, zoom in to check whether the left edge is being cropped and whether the profile photo is covering any text. If text is being cut off, go back to the tool, shift the content further right or reduce text length, and re-download.
What your banner should say depends entirely on what you want visitors to do next. Use this table to find the messaging pattern that matches your current goal on LinkedIn.
| Persona / Goal | Headline approach | Sub-text approach | Call to action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job seeker | Open to [Role] opportunities in [Industry] | Years of experience, top skill, and one quantified win (e.g. 'grew ARR 3x at two Series B startups') | Link to portfolio or LinkedIn 'Open to Work' badge |
| Founder / CEO | Building [specific outcome] for [specific audience] | Company name + one-line mission (not 'we're disrupting X'). Keep it outcome-focused. | Company website URL |
| Freelancer / consultant | I help [audience] achieve [specific result] | Primary service name + niche (e.g. 'LinkedIn ghostwriting for B2B SaaS founders') | Booking page URL or 'DM me to work together' |
| Sales professional | Helping [ICP] solve [pain point] without [common drawback] | Company + role + territory if relevant (avoids looking like a generic rep) | Company site or case study URL if public |
| Coach / trainer | I help [persona] go from [before state] to [after state] | Credentials, years of coaching, notable client types or results | Free discovery call link or lead magnet URL |
| Recruiter | Connecting top [function] talent with [company type or stage] | Specialization: industries, levels, geographies you recruit for | Link to open roles or candidate intake form |
| Content creator / thought leader | Writing about [topic] for [audience size or type] | Newsletter name or podcast name if applicable, plus posting cadence ('3x per week on LinkedIn') | Newsletter subscribe link |
These are templates. The most effective banners use your own specific numbers and named outcomes, not generic placeholders.
This is the single most common LinkedIn banner mistake. Understand it once and you will never waste a design again.
When someone views your LinkedIn profile on desktop, your circular profile photo is rendered on top of your banner image in the bottom-left corner. The photo circle has a radius of approximately 110 to 120 pixels at full banner resolution (1584 x 396 px). The center of the circle sits at approximately x=110, y=396 in banner coordinates, meaning the circle extends from x=0 to x=220 px horizontally and from y=276 to y=396 px vertically at its widest points.
In practice, the safe horizontal margin is 260 pixels from the left edge, not 220. The extra 40 px accounts for the visual breathing room your eye needs between the photo edge and the nearest letter. Text that starts right at the mathematical circle edge feels cramped and is difficult to read.
On mobile, the layout shifts. LinkedIn's mobile app uses a different banner rendering that can move or scale the profile photo. On some iOS and Android versions, the photo appears more centered on the banner rather than anchored to the bottom-left. This means a banner that looks perfect on desktop can have text partially hidden on mobile. The safest design choice is to keep the bottom 80 px of the banner entirely free of critical text, regardless of desktop safe zones.
The banner maker tool above draws a faint dashed guide circle in the live preview that marks exactly where the profile photo will sit. Enable it with the 'Show guide' toggle. The guide is removed automatically when you download the PNG.
Each of these mistakes either hurts readability, signals low effort to profile visitors, or causes LinkedIn's rendering to hide your content entirely.
Text hidden under the profile photo
The most frequent technical mistake. Placing a name, job title, or logo in the bottom-left 260 px means it is invisible to every desktop visitor. Even if it looks fine in a design tool preview, it will not survive the live profile render.
Using the default blue gradient and nothing else
The LinkedIn default banner communicates exactly one thing: you have not thought about your profile. It costs nothing to change and sends an immediate signal about attention to detail to every recruiter, prospect, or collaborator who lands on your profile.
Writing a generic tagline nobody remembers
'Passionate about innovation' and 'Results-driven professional' are LinkedIn banner cliches. Specific value propositions stick. '3x pipeline for B2B SaaS sales teams' is impossible to forget after a two-second glance.
Uploading an image smaller than the recommended dimensions
A 800 x 200 px image uploaded to a 1584 x 396 px canvas will be stretched and pixelated, especially on retina displays. Always design and export at 1584 x 396 px. The tool above exports at this exact resolution.
Choosing a banner that looks great on calibrated monitors only
A gradient that looks vivid on a wide-gamut design monitor can appear washed out or overly saturated on a standard laptop display or phone screen. Design in sRGB, and check your banner on at least two different devices before considering it final.
Not updating the banner after a role or focus change
A banner advertising 'VP of Marketing at Acme Corp' three months after you left Acme creates cognitive dissonance for visitors who have read your bio and seen the mismatch. Treat the banner as a live asset that needs updating whenever your positioning changes.
Including too many competing elements
A headshot, a company logo, five certifications, a QR code, and a website URL all fight for attention on a 1584 x 396 px canvas. The result is a banner that communicates nothing clearly. One message, one supporting line, one URL. That is the ceiling for effective banner content.
Ignoring the banner on mobile
Many professionals design their banner on a desktop tool, check it on desktop, and never look at it on mobile. But over 60% of LinkedIn usage is on mobile devices. A banner that reads perfectly on desktop can have its text cropped or obscured by mobile rendering. Always check the live banner on a phone after uploading.
Answers to the most common questions about LinkedIn banner size, safe zones, and design best practices.
The correct LinkedIn banner (cover image or background image) size is 1584 x 396 pixels, which is a 4:1 aspect ratio. This tool exports exactly at 1584 x 396 px. LinkedIn also accepts smaller images down to 1192 x 220 px, but uploading at full resolution ensures the sharpest result on high-DPI screens.
On desktop, LinkedIn places your circular profile photo at the bottom-left corner of your banner. The photo circle extends roughly 110 pixels from the left edge and about 110 pixels up from the bottom of the banner. Anything you place in that zone will be partially hidden. The preview above shows a faint dashed guide circle so you can see the overlap area before downloading.
PNG is the best choice for banners with text, solid colors, or gradients because it is lossless and keeps text edges sharp. JPG is acceptable for photographic banners where file size matters. LinkedIn's maximum upload size is 8 MB, but a typical text-on-solid-color PNG is under 300 KB. This tool downloads a PNG file.
No. The banner maker runs entirely in your browser using HTML Canvas. Your headline, sub-text, handle text, and the final PNG are never sent to a server, stored in a database, or tracked in any way. Everything exists only in your browser's memory while the tab is open.
Go to your LinkedIn profile and hover over your cover image area at the top of the page. Click the pencil (edit) icon that appears, then choose 'Upload photo' and select the PNG file you downloaded from this tool. LinkedIn will show a cropping preview. Make sure the image fills the frame correctly, then click Apply.
LinkedIn crops and scales the banner differently on mobile screens. On mobile, the banner is often displayed at a narrower width, which can clip the far left and far right edges by 40-80 px depending on device. The profile photo also shifts position slightly on mobile. To be safe, keep critical text in the horizontal center or slightly right of center, and at least 260 px away from the left edge to avoid both the photo overlap and mobile crop.