The Best Settings for Exporting JPEGs to Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest)

In this blog, I will outline the settings that I use to post images to Social Media. The settings I use to post images to Social Media.

To begin with, you need to export the File from Lightroom by going to FILE > EXPORT. Once you open the Export Panel, you will see something like the screen below. At the top, make sure to export to the HARD DRIVE.

Under Export Location, I export to my Desktop, but I put photos into a subfolder (click on Subfolder) called Export Folder. I do this so all my photos are organized into 1 photo.

I do not touch the next 2 panels, File Naming and Video. If, for some reason, you want to rename the file to something different than the name in LR, this is where you would do it.

The next panel is File Settings—here I use image format JPEG, Quality = 80 to 100, and use Color Space sRGB. sRGB gives better (more consistent) results and the same, or brighter, colors. I also leave the Limit File size unchecked. See the settings below

The next panel I change is Image Sizing. Here I Resize to Fit Long Edge at 1080 pixels (you can also use 2000 pixels) with a resolution of 240 pixels per inch.

Under Output Sharpening I sharpen for screen since these images are not being printed and the amount is High.

Under Metadata I include Copyright & Contact Info Only. I don’t want people knowing locations.

Finally, there is a lot of controversy over watermarking. I use a Watermark so I click this box.

Those are all the settings you need to produce great images on the web.

Facebook

• General posts:
  → 2048 px on the long edge

• Facebook compresses aggressively, so giving it a slightly larger file helps.

• Resolution

  • 72 PPI or 300 PPI
    Doesn’t matter for the web; platforms ignore it, but I leave it at 72 to keep files clean.

Instagram

• Portrait (best for engagement): 4:5 ratio
  → 1080 x 1350 px

• Landscape:
  → 1080 x 566 px

• Square:
  → 1080 x 1080 px