What Is a 1584x396 LinkedIn Banner?
The LinkedIn profile banner (also called the background photo or cover image) is the wide image displayed behind your profile information at the top of your LinkedIn profile page. At 1584x396 pixels with a 4:1 aspect ratio, it is the widest banner format among major social media platforms. This extreme panoramic shape is designed to serve as a subtle background rather than a primary content area, complementing your profile photo and headline. LinkedIn recommends 1584x396 as the ideal dimension, though the platform accepts images as small as 1128x191. Uploading at the full recommended resolution ensures crisp rendering on high-resolution monitors and prevents the blurring that occurs when LinkedIn upscales smaller images. For professionals and companies that take their LinkedIn presence seriously, the banner is an opportunity to reinforce brand identity, showcase expertise, or create visual context for their profile.
LinkedIn's Unique Layout Considerations
Unlike other social media headers, LinkedIn's banner must coexist with multiple overlapping UI elements. The profile photo (a large circle) overlaps the lower-left area of the banner on desktop. On mobile, the profile photo is centered and overlaps the middle-bottom of the banner. Additionally, the profile card containing your name, headline, and connection count extends over the bottom portion of the banner. This creates a complex safe zone situation. On desktop, the safe area is roughly the right two-thirds of the banner and the top half of the left third. On mobile, the center-bottom area is the most obscured region. Designing content that works across both layouts requires keeping critical elements in the upper-right quadrant of the banner — the only area that remains fully visible on all devices. Developers building LinkedIn profile management tools or personal branding applications should implement device-specific preview modes. A 1584x396 UsefulPix placeholder with the profile photo overlap zone clearly marked gives users an accurate representation of how their banner will actually appear. This preview is especially valuable because LinkedIn does not offer its own banner preview tool — users are expected to upload and review, which is a frustrating trial-and-error process without proper tooling.
Company Page vs. Personal Profile Banners
LinkedIn uses the same 1584x396 dimension for both personal profile banners and company page banners, but the layout context differs. Company page banners have the company logo overlapping in a different position, and the page navigation tabs (About, Posts, Jobs, People) appear below the banner in a way that affects the perceived visual weight of the header. For developers building tools that manage LinkedIn company pages, the banner upload API is accessible through the LinkedIn Marketing API. Testing this integration requires a properly sized test image, and a UsefulPix placeholder at 1584x396 provides a reliable, consistent test asset. The API accepts JPEG and PNG formats, with a maximum file size of 8MB. It is worth noting that LinkedIn company pages also support a separate cover image for the Life tab (the culture and employer branding section), which uses a different dimension. If your tool manages multiple LinkedIn page assets, clearly distinguishing between the main banner and the Life tab cover image prevents confusion. Use differently colored placeholders for each to make the distinction visual during development.
Optimizing LinkedIn Banners for Professional Impact
LinkedIn's professional context means banner images should follow different design conventions than other social platforms. Bold, attention-grabbing designs that work on Instagram or Twitter may feel out of place on LinkedIn. The most effective LinkedIn banners use subtle gradients, professional photography, or clean typography that reinforces the profile owner's industry and expertise. For developers creating banner generation tools, consider offering templates specifically designed for LinkedIn's aspect ratio and professional context. Templates might include industry-specific backgrounds, branded color schemes, or dynamic text overlays that pull from the user's headline or skills. A 1584x396 placeholder serves as the canvas for building these template systems. When testing banner uploads, pay attention to LinkedIn's image compression behavior. LinkedIn applies moderate JPEG compression to uploaded banners, which can affect images with fine text or detailed patterns. Testing with a placeholder that includes small text helps you evaluate how readable text remains after LinkedIn's processing. If readability is a concern, recommend that users keep banner text large and high-contrast, with a minimum font size equivalent to roughly 20 pixels at the banner's native resolution.