How to resize a photo for your LinkedIn profile picture
Most photos are the wrong shape for LinkedIn: phones shoot 4:3 or 16:9 and LinkedIn wants a square it can turn into a circle. The face is often too small to read once it is 128 px across. This tool fixes the shape and the size, and the round preview shows exactly what will survive the circle.
- Choose your photo. A 1800×1200 landscape sample is already loaded, so you can see the result first.
- Zoom until your face fills about half of the circle, then drag the circle (or use the sliders) to centre it.
- Check the small round previews. If you can't tell it's you at the smallest one (32 px), zoom in more.
- Download the 800×800 JPG, or all three files as a ZIP.
- On LinkedIn, click Me, then View Profile, then the camera icon on your introduction section, upload the file and click Save photo.
LinkedIn profile picture size (October 2026)
| What | What LinkedIn says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel size | “Pixel size is between 400 (w) x 400 (h) pixels and 7680 (w) x 4320 (h) pixels.” | LinkedIn Help, “Photo won't upload to your profile” |
| File size | “Maximum file size is 8MB.” | LinkedIn Help, “Photo won't upload to your profile” |
| File type | “File type must be PNG or JPG.” “We don’t support GIFs.” | LinkedIn Help, “Photo won't upload to your profile” |
| Cropping | “We recommend adding a photo that won't require much cropping. You can adjust the photo after it has been uploaded.” | LinkedIn Help, “Photo won't upload to your profile” |
| What the photo shows | “You can use an illustration, caricature, or other artistic rendering of yourself, but your profile photo must reflect your likeness.” | LinkedIn Help, “Profile photo guidelines and conditions” |
| Company Page logo (not a profile photo) | 268×268 px minimum, 400×400 px recommended, PNG or JPEG, maximum 3MB | LinkedIn Help, “Image specifications for your LinkedIn Pages and Career Pages” |
All pages read on October 24, 2026. LinkedIn shows the profile photo articles as last updated 2 years ago and the Pages article as 2 months ago. Gridloom is not affiliated with LinkedIn.
Two things the help pages don't say, which a lot of size guides do. First, 400×400 is a minimum, not a recommended size: LinkedIn lists it as the bottom of the accepted range. Second, nothing on those pages says the photo is shown as a circle, or how big. We measured that ourselves:
How LinkedIn displays your photo: what we measured
| What we checked | Result |
|---|---|
| Shape | Circle. The photo element has border-radius: 50%, so a square upload is shown round. |
| Size on the public profile page | 128×128 CSS pixels, at both a 1366 px desktop window and a 390 px phone-width window. |
| File LinkedIn actually sends to that page | A 200×200 copy of the photo (profile-displayphoto-shrink_200_200), at 1×, 2× and 3× screen density alike. |
| Where it sits on the banner | Bottom-left, overlapping it (see the banner resizer for exact positions). |
Measured on October 24, 2026 with Playwright and Chrome on a public LinkedIn profile, signed out. The signed-in view, the feed, comments and the apps use other sizes we couldn't measure signed out.
What the circle cuts off
A circle inside a square shows 78.5% of it (π/4). The four corners, 21.5% of the image, are hidden. Along the diagonals the circle edge sits 14.6% of the width in from each corner, which is 117 px on an 800×800 file and 59 px on a 400×400 one. So the things that get clipped are a raised hand, the top of tall hair and shoulders that run to the corners. The face and the middle of the frame never are. That is why the big preview here is round: whatever you can see in it is what people will see on LinkedIn.
A good rule of thumb (ours, not LinkedIn's) is to have your face fill about half the width of the circle. At 128 px on a profile, and smaller wherever else LinkedIn shows it, a head-and-shoulders snapshot from across the room becomes a dot. Use the zoom slider until the 32 px preview still looks like you.
Why upload 800×800 if LinkedIn only shows 200×200?
Because 200×200 is only the copy used on the public profile page. LinkedIn makes its own smaller copies from whatever you upload, and you can still crop and zoom in LinkedIn's editor afterwards (“You can adjust the photo after it has been uploaded”). Every crop and zoom there throws pixels away, so starting at 800×800 leaves room. Uploading exactly 400×400 works, but any extra crop in LinkedIn's editor takes it below the minimum it was designed for. There's no benefit in going huge: a 4000×4000 photo just takes longer to upload and is closer to the 8MB cap.
One measured side effect: on a 2× or 3× screen the public profile circle is 256 or 384 device pixels across, but it is filled from the 200×200 copy. A little softness there is LinkedIn's resizing, not your file.
Why a LinkedIn profile picture won't upload
Checked against LinkedIn's own list, the usual causes are:
- Too small. Under 400 px on either side. A crop from a group photo or a screenshot of a video call often is. This tool enlarges it to 400×400 so it uploads, and tells you it will look softer.
- Too big. Over 8MB, or more than 7680×4320 px. A 48-megapixel photo is about 8000×6000, already over the width limit. The files here are a few hundred KB.
- Wrong format. GIF is explicitly not supported, and HEIC (the iPhone's High Efficiency format) and WEBP aren't on the PNG-or-JPG list. This tool reads GIF, WEBP and most other formats your browser can open and always saves JPG or PNG.
If it still fails, LinkedIn suggests: “try again using a different browser. If that doesn't work, you can try compressing a photo, on your system and then upload it to your profile.”
How to change your LinkedIn profile picture
On a computer: click the Me icon, then View Profile, then the camera icon in your introduction section (or click your current photo and choose Add photo). Choose Upload photo, then crop, adjust or reposition it and click Save photo. In the app: tap your profile photo, then View Profile, tap your photo, then View or edit profile photo, and Add photo. LinkedIn notes that it keeps your original photo until you upload a new one, but “We won’t be able to restore or retrieve your old photo if you delete your old photo or upload a new one.” Steps from LinkedIn Help, “Add, change, edit, or delete your LinkedIn profile photo”, October 24, 2026.
What this tool doesn't do
It doesn't remove or replace backgrounds, retouch faces or generate AI headshots. The “Fit whole image on a colour” mode puts your photo on a solid colour square, which is useful for illustrations and avatars, not a background remover. It doesn't add #OpenToWork or #Hiring frames (LinkedIn adds those itself). It also doesn't check your photo against LinkedIn's guidelines.
Doing the rest of your profile? The LinkedIn banner resizer makes the 1584×396 background photo and shows where this circle covers it. The passport photo resizer does strict ID photo sizes, and the image compressor gets any photo under an exact file size.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a LinkedIn profile picture?
LinkedIn accepts profile photos between 400×400 and 7680×4320 pixels, PNG or JPG, up to 8MB (LinkedIn Help, checked October 24, 2026). It shows them as a circle. On the public profile page we measured it at 128×128 px. A square 800×800 JPG is a safe upload.
Is 400×400 the recommended LinkedIn profile picture size?
No, it's the minimum. LinkedIn's help says the pixel size must be “between 400 (w) x 400 (h) pixels and 7680 (w) x 4320 (h) pixels” and doesn't name a recommended size. At exactly 400×400, any extra crop in LinkedIn's editor goes below that, so 800×800 gives you room.
What ratio should a LinkedIn profile picture be?
Square, 1:1. LinkedIn displays it as a circle, so anything outside the circle in a square is hidden. A rectangle can be uploaded, but you'll have to crop it in LinkedIn's editor, and LinkedIn recommends “a photo that won't require much cropping”.
How big is the LinkedIn profile picture circle?
On the public profile page, 128×128 CSS pixels, in both desktop and phone-width windows (our measurement, October 24, 2026). LinkedIn served a 200×200 copy of the photo for it, even on 2× and 3× screens. Other places, like the feed, weren't measurable signed out.
Should I upload a round (circle) picture to LinkedIn?
No, upload the square. LinkedIn makes it round itself. The round PNG this tool makes is for places that don't crop for you, like an email signature or a slide. LinkedIn's Pages help notes that a transparent logo “will be shown on a white background”, so transparency isn't a way to change how the circle looks.
Why is my LinkedIn profile picture blurry?
Usually the original is small (a crop from a group or video-call photo) and is being enlarged, or you zoomed far in with LinkedIn's editor. Start from the largest original you have and do the zoom here, where the tool tells you if the crop is enlarged. On the public profile page, LinkedIn also fills the 128 px circle from a 200×200 copy, so on 2× and 3× screens it is a little soft whatever you upload.
Why won't my LinkedIn profile picture upload?
Check it against LinkedIn's list: at least 400×400 px, no larger than 7680×4320 px, under 8MB, PNG or JPG (no GIFs). Small crops, very large phone photos and WEBP or HEIC files are the usual suspects. This tool's output meets all four rules.
Can I use a logo or a cartoon as my LinkedIn profile picture?
An illustration or caricature of yourself is fine: LinkedIn says it must “reflect your likeness”. LinkedIn may remove photos that consist only of things like company logos, emojis, landscapes, animals, words or phrases, flags, childhood photos or other people's likenesses. A logo belongs on a company Page, where LinkedIn recommends 400×400 px (268×268 minimum, max 3MB).
What is the coloured ring around some LinkedIn profile pictures?
If it has #OpenToWork or #Hiring text, it's one of LinkedIn's photo frames. You add or remove them on LinkedIn by clicking your profile photo and then Frames. Don't bake a ring into the file: LinkedIn adds frames itself.
What size is a LinkedIn profile picture in inches?
LinkedIn's spec is in pixels only and gives no inch or DPI value. On screen, only the pixel size matters. For print, an 800×800 file is about 2.7 inches at 300 dpi.
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The photo is cropped and saved in your browser with the Canvas API. It never leaves your device.
Is it free?
Yes. All three files and the ZIP are free, with no signup and no watermark. Gridloom Pro adds batch mode, for example a whole team's headshots in one ZIP with the same framing.