Tumblr has been through an interesting journey over the past several years. Once the only haven for many LGBT and other disenfranchised youth, the once billion-dollar platform has fallen through several corporate overlords and into the hands of WordPress for a paltry three million dollars. However, despite its many scandals and owners, Tumblr remains an incredibly popular website and a great choice for hosting images.
Whether you post pictures of product or post pictures as your product, you need to know how to format Tumblr images. Here are seven things you need to know to get the best pictures on your Tumblr.
1. Don’t Oversize Your Profile Pics
No matter what social media platform you use, one constant remains. Your profile picture or avatar is one of the smallest pictures you can use on the website. As such, you don’t want to make it too big.
Some websites may re-scale your images, including profile pics, to the proper size. However, the basic profile picture dimensions on Tumblr are 128×128 pixels. If you scale your image according to these numbers, you can ensure that it won’t get stretched, squashed, or otherwise altered in the upload process.
2. No One Wants a Badly Sized Banner
Speaking of images that may get stretched, squashed, or cropped, make sure you watch the size of your banner. Your banner is the ‘hero image’, or the main attention grabber when people visit your blog. You don’t want it to look strange or detract from your posts.
Whether you use a PNG or JPG file, you should size your Tumblr header images at 3000×1055 pixels for ideal desktop resolution. If you’d rather optimize for mobile, opt for 640×360 pixels instead.
3. 540 Is the Magic Number
If you want beautiful Tumblr images to decorate your feed or show properly in your theme, 540 is your magic number. 540 pixels is the maximum width that a Tumblr post will display on any device. Anything larger than that, and you can count on it being resized, squashed, stretched, or cropped.
So, if you want to get the best image quality for your Tumblr blog, either max your image width at 540 pixels or scale it up in multiples of 540.
4. Mind Your File Size
With so many full HD, 4K, and high-end monitors entering the field, it’s understandable to want the highest possible image resolution for what you post. However, you must be careful of your file size. Each type of Tumblr image you can upload has a different maximum file size you can use. For example:
- A picture going on your feed maxes out at twenty megabytes
- If you opt for an animated GIF, your feed maxes out at three megabytes
- For a profile picture, your file size maxes at twenty megabytes
- The twenty-megabyte limit applies to banner/header images as well
If you try to upload above the maximum file size, you’ll get an error message. So, be sure you’ve compressed your files enough to show them on Tumblr. You can always offer a link to the uncompressed version later if you feel it’s affected the quality too much.
5. Check File Type Compatibility
Not only should you watch what size your Tumblr images reach, but you should make sure they’re compatible with the website, to begin with. Vector images, or scalable vector graphics (SVGs), might look clean and professional at any size, but they are not supported by Tumblr. If you use them, you’ll need to convert them to another file type.
The list of image file types supported by Tumblr includes:
- JPG or JPEG, once the most common picture file type
- PNG, the most commonly used and arguably highest quality file type
- GIF, as in the ubiquitous reaction GIFs you’ll find everywhere on the site
Some sources state that BMP, or bitmap, files are supported as well, but sources that corroborate this are limited.
6. What’s Your Maximum High Definition?
Again, with many computer monitors stepping into 4K, you might think it’s better to upscale your image into 4K yourself. As of now, you can upload images up to 2048×3072 pixels, which falls into the range of 2K resolution. However, the website recommends maxing your high-definition image’s size at 1280×1920 for the most beautiful Tumblr images.
No matter what, your high-definition image will appear on someone’s dash at 540 pixels across until they click on it to expand it to its full size.
7. Recall Your Ratios
Whatever size you want your image to be, you should always recall your ideal ratios, and keep those in mind when uploading them to the web. Common image ratios include:
1:1 Aspect Ratio
One-to-one aspect ratio most often gets called the profile picture resolution. The reason for this is that the width and height of the picture in question are the same, like in a profile picture. Remember, to get this resolution on your feed, you’ll want to scale your image to 540×540.
2:3 Aspect Ratio
The 2:3 aspect ratio gets referred to as the portrait resolution. This name likely comes due to an image’s resemblance to a standard portrait hanging on a wall. If you want to get optimal portrait resolution on your dash, you’ll want to use 540×810 pixel images.
16:9 Aspect Ratio
The most common aspect ratio you’ll see for film and computer images today is 16:9, or the ‘landscape’ aspect ratio. If you want this ratio in your feed, you’ll need to scale your images to 540×304 pixels for the best results.
Let’s Review
Formatting Tumblr images can be a difficult task. However, if you scale most of your images to 540 pixels in width, keep your ratios and file sizes in mind, and use appropriate file types, you can turn any Tumblr blog into a gallery of gorgeous images. That will let you stand out amidst the host of gorgeous imagery on this beleaguered, beloved website.
If you’ve got images or documents that you want to post to your Tumblr, but your files aren’t supported, there’s no need to fret. Visit our website today, and you can convert your files for free!