How to make a collage for a Facebook cover
- Open your photos. Three to eight read best across a cover. The layout grows to fit them, worked out for the cover's exact proportion.
- Check the covered corner. The shaded circle bottom-left is roughly where the profile photo sits on a computer. Keep faces out of it.
- Check the phone crop. The dashed frame is roughly what a phone shows — the middle of the cover. Put the important photos inside it.
- Save. The file is 1702 × 630. Upload it as your cover; the overlay is not in it.
Why the file is twice the size
A cover is displayed at 851 × 315 pixels on a computer, and Facebook accepts uploads as small as 399 × 150. A cover saved at exactly 851 pixels looks soft on a high-resolution screen, which is most screens now. Saving at twice the size, 1702 × 630, keeps it sharp after Facebook makes its own copy, and the proportion is exactly the same.
The cover is almost three times as wide as it is tall, so the square layouts would turn into slivers. This page uses layouts generated for that strip instead — brick rows, mosaics and a lead with the rest — and the Layout step says they are generated.
| What | Pixels | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Shown on a computer | 851 × 315 | Meta Help Center |
| Smallest upload | 399 × 150 | Meta Help Center |
| Saved here | 1702 × 630 | 2 × display size |
What is approximate
The desktop display size comes from Meta's own help pages. The position of the profile photo over the cover, and how much of the sides a phone crops off, change with the layout of the page and the phone, so those two marks are labelled approximate and dated. Use them as a margin rather than as exact lines.
A good cover collage leaves the bottom-left corner to the ground colour or a quiet part of a photo, and puts faces in the middle third.
Questions people ask about this one
What size is a Facebook cover photo?
It is shown at 851 × 315 pixels on a computer. This page saves it at 1702 × 630, the same shape at twice the size, so it stays sharp.
Why does my cover look cropped on my phone?
Phones show a narrower slice from the middle. The dashed frame on the stage marks roughly what they show.
Can I use a drawn layout instead?
Yes. Every layout can be read in the cover shape, but the generated ones are made for its proportion and usually crop less.
Is the profile circle in the saved file?
No, it is only drawn on the stage.
How many photos suit a cover?
Three to eight. Past that, each photo is a thin strip on a phone; the layouts are generated for whatever number you open, up to thirty.
Are my photos uploaded to make it?
No. The cover is drawn and saved in this tab; you upload the finished file to Facebook yourself.
Where to go next
- Sized for InstagramOpens square, with the tall post and the story one tap away.
- WhatsApp collageFor your DP, inside the circle, or for your status.
- Photo gridExact rows and columns, even cells, no gaps unless you want them.
- Which size for which app1080 × 1080, 1080 × 1350 and 1080 × 1920, and what each one crops.