Pinterest recommends 1000 x 1500 px at a 2:3 ratio. The thing people get wrong is going taller than 2:3, because Pinterest says pins with a greater ratio might get cut off in the feed.
Where it shows
- The Pinterest home feed
- Search results grid
- Related pins under a closeup
- The board grid on a profile
- The pin closeup view
The safe zone
The feed shows a pin inside a fixed width column, and anything past 2:3 can be trimmed from the bottom, so the headline belongs in the top two thirds and the last line of type should never sit against the bottom edge. The save button and the three dot menu sit over the upper right corner on hover and in the closeup view, so keep a face or a logo out of that corner. Pinterest also lays a faint tint over pins with pure white or pure black backgrounds, which softens the apparent edge of a full bleed design.
Quirks worth knowing
- Pinterest states that pins with an aspect ratio greater than 2:3 might get cut off in people's feeds, so a 1000 x 2100 px infographic loses its ending.
- The file size cap depends on where you upload from, 20 MB on desktop and 32 MB in the app, so a file that fails on a laptop can still go up from a phone.
- Every upload is converted to a standard 8 bit RGB JPEG, which means a transparent PNG background arrives as flat white.
- Pinterest lays a black tint at 4 percent opacity over white backgrounds in light mode, and a white tint at 10 percent opacity over black backgrounds in dark mode, so a pure white card never renders as pure white.
- The 2:3 recommendation covers organic pins and standard image ads alike, so one 1000 x 1500 px export serves both.
- Carousel creatives are the only place Pinterest recommends 1:1, which is why square advice keeps circulating for a platform built on tall images.
Common mistakes
- Building a 1000 x 3000 px infographic and expecting the whole thing to survive the feed.
- Exporting a PNG with a transparent background, which turns white after the JPEG conversion and breaks a design that counted on the feed color behind it.
- Placing the call to action in the last strip of a taller than 2:3 pin, the exact part Pinterest trims.
- Reusing a 1080 x 1080 px Instagram square, which claims noticeably less height in the feed column than the 2:3 pins beside it.
What we recommend
- Export at 1000 x 1500 px and stop there, since larger files are converted on the way in anyway.
- When the content needs more room, split it across a 2:3 carousel instead of stretching one pin taller.
- Give a white background pin a light gray border so it still reads as a card once the 4 percent tint lands on it.
- Set the headline in the top third, clear of both the feed crop and the save button.
Common questions
Why does my Pinterest pin look cut off?
Pinterest says pins taller than a 2:3 ratio might get cut off in people's feeds. A 1000 x 2000 px pin is a 1:2 ratio, so the bottom quarter can disappear in the grid. Resize to 1000 x 1500 px, or split the content across a 2:3 carousel.
What is the maximum file size for a Pinterest pin?
20 MB uploading from desktop and 32 MB uploading in the app. That gap catches people who export a large PNG on a laptop and get a failure with no clear reason. A JPEG at 1000 x 1500 px sits well under both numbers.
Can I upload a transparent PNG to Pinterest?
You can upload it, but Pinterest converts all images to standard 8 bit RGB JPEGs, and JPEG carries no alpha channel. The transparent area lands as white. Composite the background you actually want before exporting.
Is 1080 x 1080 px good enough for Pinterest?
It uploads and it displays, but a square fills less vertical space in the feed column than the recommended 2:3. Pinterest recommends 1000 x 1500 px for standard pins and only suggests 1:1 for carousel creatives. Height is the main thing a pin competes on, so a square gives some away.
More answers on thumbnail, carousel and cover questions are on the FAQ.