Headshot Size and Dimensions: The 2026 Spec Guide

Most "headshot dimensions" guides publish one table of numbers with no sources, and the numbers disagree with each other. So this guide does two things differently: it separates the two questions people are actually asking, and it labels every spec with where it came from — the platform's own documentation, or somebody's blog.

The two questions are:

• What are the pixel and file limits of the place I'm uploading to? A hard technical constraint. Get it wrong and the upload fails or looks soft.
• What shape and crop should a headshot be? A convention, not a rule. 8x10 for actors, square for social, portrait for a company bio page.

They get mixed together constantly, and that's why the advice online contradicts itself.

Platform specs, with sources labeled

A few things worth flagging honestly:

Casting Networks' published floor is much lower than the internet thinks. Guides routinely repeat "1200 x 1500, 4:5" as a Casting Networks requirement. Their own support article only publishes a 360 x 360 pixel minimum and a 30MB ceiling. Shooting to 1200 x 1500 is still good advice — it's a sensible portrait crop with room to spare — but it is advice, not a requirement, and nobody labels it that way.

The LinkedIn figures come from LinkedIn, but we couldn't read them straight off the page. LinkedIn's Help Center is the source those numbers trace back to, and it's the link in the table — but the page is gated and doesn't render for anyone who isn't signed in, so we verified it through LinkedIn's own indexed help content rather than by reading the article directly. Everything else in that table we read on the page it links to. Since LinkedIn is the destination most people are here for, check it yourself while you're signed in.

Actors Access's 500 x 700 is a display spec, not a quality target. It's the size their profile viewer wants. It is not a reason to export a 500-pixel-wide master and throw the original away.

Social platform numbers are the least reliable thing on the internet. Facebook profile dimensions are quoted as both 170 x 170 and 180 x 180 across otherwise reputable guides; Instagram appears as 110 x 110, 300 x 300, and 1080 x 1080. These change without announcement. If a number matters to you, check the platform's own help page on the day.

The crop conventions, by use

Pixel limits tell you what will upload. They don't tell you what looks right.

• Social profile (LinkedIn, and anything circular): 1:1 square. Crop from roughly mid-chest to just above the head, with the eyes about a third of the way down the frame. Because the visible area is a circle inscribed in your square, anything in the corners is decoration — keep your shoulders inside the circle.
• Casting: portrait, 4:5 or 5:7. Tighter than a corporate headshot, and the eyes carry the frame.
• Resume or CV photo: regional. Some countries expect a photo, some strongly advise against one. That decision matters far more than the dimensions — our guide to AI headshots for your resume covers where each norm applies.
• Company team page: whatever the site uses. Usually a square or a 3:4. Ask before you shoot; retrofitting a crop from a tight portrait is how people end up with a cropped forehead.

DPI, explained once so you can stop worrying about it

DPI is a print instruction. It says how many pixels to squeeze into each inch of paper. It changes nothing about an image displayed on a screen.

The only place it matters is print, and there the math is one multiplication:

• 8 x 10 inches at 300 DPI = 2400 x 3000 pixels.
• 5 x 7 inches at 300 DPI = 1500 x 2100 pixels.
• 4 x 6 inches at 300 DPI = 1200 x 1800 pixels.

If your file is smaller than the target, changing the DPI number in an export dialog does nothing useful — you need more actual pixels. That's a resolution problem, not a settings problem, and photo upscaling is the honest fix: it rebuilds detail up to 4x rather than just stretching what's there.

Export once, then export again

The practical workflow is to keep one high-resolution master and cut destination copies from it. Never edit the master down.

1. Master: the largest sharp version you have, portrait orientation, uncropped or loosely cropped. Keep it.
2. Square copy for social: 1:1, at least 800 x 800 so it stays crisp on high-density screens, well inside LinkedIn's 8MB limit.
3. Casting copy: portrait 4:5, sized to the platform you're uploading to.
4. Print copy: the full pixel dimensions from the table above, exported at 300 DPI.

Getting a headshot that survives all four crops

The reason one photo rarely covers every destination is framing: a portrait shot tight enough for casting has nothing left to crop for a square, and a wide corporate shot leaves your face tiny in a circle. Shooting deliberately loose solves it — our guide to professional headshots at home covers the framing and lighting for that.

If you're generating rather than shooting, you control the aspect ratio up front. In 43frames, headshot presets like LinkedIn Headshot and Professional Headshot produce portraits at a chosen size from a few uploaded selfies, so you can generate the square and the portrait separately rather than crop one into the other. Which tool to use for that is its own question — the 2026 generator comparison is the honest version of it.

FAQ

What size for LinkedIn? Between 400 x 400 and 7680 x 4320 pixels, 8MB max, per LinkedIn's Help Center. Export square at 800 x 800 or larger.

Standard actor headshot size? 8 x 10 inches in print at 300 DPI or better; Actors Access wants 500 x 700 pixels for digital uploads.

Square or portrait? Square for social and circular crops, portrait 4:5 or 5:7 for casting and print. Shoot loose enough to do both.

Does DPI matter online? No. It only affects print size. On screen, pixel dimensions are the only thing that counts.