When you prepare an image for an X post, choose dimensions for the way people will see it: as an image attached to the post or as a preview of a webpage link. A link card is the image-and-text preview X builds from a page’s metadata, such as its title and image. A post uses its attached image, while a link card uses the page’s metadata. X can crop the two images differently.
For a straightforward landscape post image, start with 1200 × 675 pixels. For a link card, use a landscape image around 1200 × 630 pixels and keep important content near the center. These are practical recommendations from social media publishing guides, not guaranteed X requirements. PressQueue helps WordPress publishers create and share wide social images through Buffer, while also setting an image for link previews.
Recommended sizes for X post images
For a landscape image attached directly to a post, start with 1200 × 675 pixels (16:9). It gives you enough resolution for a clear image while keeping a familiar wide shape. HeyOrca recommends this size, while other publishing guides suggest nearby landscape dimensions.
Recommendations vary by publisher and format. Buffer lists 1080 × 1080 pixels for square images and 1080 × 1350 pixels for vertical images. For landscape images, it lists 1600 × 900 pixels. Use those figures as export options. X has not confirmed them as exact requirements.
| Post image shape | Practical starting size |
|---|---|
| Landscape | 1200 × 675 px |
| Square | 1080 × 1080 px |
| Portrait | 1080 × 1350 px |
The shape matters as much as the pixel count. X display behavior can vary by layout, and sources disagree about which images appear in full or get cropped. A Sked Social guide reports that single images between 2:1 and 3:4 display in full in the timeline, while taller images can be cropped. Keep faces, labels, and other essential details away from the outer edges, and preview the post before publishing.
Several publishing guides cite 5 MB as a practical file-size ceiling for photos. Limits can vary by upload method and media type, so check X’s composer if it rejects a file. Dimensions give an image’s width and height, while file size measures its storage use. Reducing file size leaves the dimensions unchanged.
Link cards need a webpage image
A link card takes its image from the page being shared, rather than from an image attached separately to the post. The page’s metadata tells X which image and title to display. Open Graph is a set of webpage tags that describes this content for social sharing; X can also read Twitter Card tags, which specify how its card should appear.
For a large image card, prepare a landscape image close to 1.91:1, such as 1200 × 630 pixels. Guides differ slightly: recommendations include 1200 × 628, 1200 × 630, and 1200 × 631 pixels. Those differences are small, and the available evidence does not establish one official pixel size. Buffer recommends 1200 × 630, while Hootsuite lists 1200 × 631.
X may crop a large card image to a wide rectangle, so place important text and subjects toward the center. A square image suits the smaller summary-card layout, which places a thumbnail beside the link title. The large-image and summary layouts depend on the card metadata and image; attaching an image to the post does not set the webpage’s card image.
Make sure the image URL is publicly reachable over HTTPS and does not require a login. X’s crawler, software that visits webpages to collect their content, needs access to the page and image to fetch the preview. If a changed image does not appear, X may still be showing a cached version of the card, a saved copy from an earlier visit. A card-preview reference reports caching for about seven days per URL; changing the shared URL can prompt a fresh fetch, but that also creates a different URL.
Set up post and link images with PressQueue
PressQueue is a free, open source WordPress plugin that shares your posts through Buffer. Buffer sends them to your connected channels, including X. You need a WordPress site that can upload plugins and a Buffer account with social accounts added.
Download pressqueue.zip from the PressQueue download page, then choose Plugins > Add Plugin > Upload Plugin in WordPress. After installation, copy a personal Buffer API key, the credential PressQueue uses to connect to Buffer, from your Buffer settings and paste it into PressQueue. PressQueue stores the key in encrypted form, which encodes it instead of storing it as plain text. It shows your Buffer channels with switches, and new channels start off.
PressQueue’s social image feature creates a wide image for each post from the post title and site name. Choose the style under Settings > Social images. You can select a background, font, text color, alignment, and site name, then check the live preview. PressQueue creates the image when a post first needs one, redraws it when the title or style changes, and keeps it out of the WordPress Media Library. The feature needs PHP GD with FreeType, image-generation software for PHP that supports text. If the host does not provide it, PressQueue shares the post with text and a link.
You can also use that social image as the post’s og:image and twitter:image, the metadata tags X reads for its link card. PressQueue supports Yoast SEO, Rank Math, The SEO Framework, and Jetpack. If you do not use an SEO plugin, PressQueue prints the tags itself. An image set for an individual post in the SEO plugin takes precedence. Choose whether PressQueue sets images for every post. You can limit it to posts without their own image, or choose no posts.
Before sharing publicly, leave PressQueue in Test mode. It records what it would share without sending anything. Create a rule for the posts and channels you want. Test it against recent posts, then switch it on when the preview looks right. You can choose the featured image, an image selected in each post, or the social image as the post image. PressQueue also lets you write different messages for each social network and choose whether Buffer queues the post, publishes it right away, or saves it as a draft.