Twitter header maker
Design a header at 1500 × 500 with safe zones showing what stays visible on desktop and mobile.
No watermark. No account needed.
Need a better profile picture? Try Fotoria
Header Photos (optional)
Profile Photo (optional)
Drop a photo here, or click to browse.
Or paste a photo from your clipboard.
Accepts JPEG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC. Up to 15MB.
X header photo size and dimensions
X (Twitter) headers are 1500 × 500 pixels, a 3:1 ratio. Your profile photo overlaps the desktop view and mobile crops the header further — see the diagram below for both.
| Recommended upload | 1500 × 500 px (3:1) |
|---|---|
| Accepted formats | JPG, PNG, GIF |
| Maximum file size | 5 MB |
| Profile photo overlap (desktop) | Bottom-left corner, roughly 134 × 134 px |
| Mobile safe area | ≈1260 × 420 px, centered |
X's own help pages weren't reachable this session — every figure above is a cross-source aggregate, not a directly-quoted official page. Worth a final check against the live X app before you rely on it for a launch.
What your profile photo covers, and what mobile crops
A 1500 × 500 header reads differently depending on where it's viewed. On desktop your profile photo sits on top of the lower-left corner; on mobile the header itself gets cropped to a smaller centered area, and your profile photo moves elsewhere on the page entirely.
Desktop Your profile photo overlaps the bottom-left corner of the header, roughly 134 pixels across. Anything you put in that corner is hidden behind your own photo.
Mobile The header crops to a smaller centered area, roughly 1260 × 420 out of the full 1500 × 500 — about the middle 84% of both width and height. Your profile photo doesn't overlap the header at all here.
Keep your name and bio text inside the centered safe area shown below — every template in the gallery already does this for you. Toggle Desktop and Mobile above to check each view on its own.
X header templates
Should you put your face on your Twitter header?
A face is the fastest thing anyone processes on a page, quicker and more automatic than reading. So the question of whether to put yours in your header isn't about decoration. It's about what someone feels in the moment before they read your bio.
X has a specific dynamic that changes the answer, though.
Your avatar is already everywhere. It appears beside every post, every reply, every quote, every notification. Your header, by contrast, only appears when someone deliberately visits your profile, which they usually do after they've already seen your avatar dozens of times in the timeline.
By the time anyone sees your header, they know what you look like. So a face in the header rarely introduces you. It has to do something else.
And the header is small. 1500 × 500, with your avatar covering the bottom-left corner. That's not much room, and a portrait crammed into it competes with the avatar of the same person immediately below.
When a header face still works
Speakers and authors. A shot from a stage, or you with the book. It's proof, not a portrait.
People building in public. You at the desk, at the workshop, at the thing you keep posting about. Context your avatar can't carry.
Founders raising or hiring. A team photo including you does more than a solo shot. It shows there's a company, not just an account.
Newsletter writers and journalists. A header pairing your face with the publication name links the person to the masthead.
The pattern: a header face works when it shows you somewhere, doing something. A second studio portrait directly above your first studio portrait adds nothing.
What most people should use the header for instead
On X, header space is usually better spent on information than on a face:
- What you actually do, in a line
- What you're building, with a URL
- A launch, a book, a talk, a job opening
- Proof: a chart, a screenshot, a product shot
The account that converts a profile visit into a follow usually does it by answering "what is this person about" fast. That's often a sentence, not a photograph.
Who benefits most from a face on X at all
Even where the header stays face-free, your avatar is doing the heavy lifting, and it matters most for anyone whose credibility is personal rather than institutional: independent consultants, recruiters, indie founders, freelance developers and designers, researchers, journalists, financial commentators, and anyone job hunting in a field where hiring happens through timelines.
It matters less, or not at all, for anonymous accounts, a genuine and respected part of X's culture, as well as brand accounts, project accounts, and anything where the work is meant to stand apart from the person behind it. Plenty of accounts with serious reach have never shown a face.
What kind of photo
Direct eye contact, relaxed. Approachable. The default if you want people to reply and DM you.
Sharp, well-lit, neutral. Credible. Better if you're posting analysis or selling expertise.
Candid, in motion. Authentic. Fits accounts built on personality and process.
Bold color or an unusual crop. Memorable. A trade: recognizable in a crowded timeline, less formal.
Whichever you choose, your avatar is the one that matters most, because it's the one people see constantly. It renders as a small circle, so a tight crop reads far better than a full upper body that becomes an unrecognizable smudge at timeline size.
Placement, if you use one
Your avatar sits over the bottom-left of the header, so keep any face right of center and clear of that corner. Faces partially hidden behind your own avatar look accidental.
Leave margin at the edges too. X crops the header differently across window widths and on mobile, and a face pushed to the edge loses part of itself somewhere. The safe zone overlay in the editor above shows the region that survives everywhere.
A good photo does instantly what a paragraph of bio takes much longer to say. On X, though, the photo that carries that weight is almost always your avatar rather than your header: it's the one attached to every single thing you post.
If your avatar is a cropped group photo from four years ago, that's the thing worth fixing. Fotoria makes professional headshots from photos you already have.
How it works
- 1.Pick a style — personal brand, creator, tech/startup, minimal, or launch — or start from a plain background.
- 2.Edit your name and bio, or add your own photo as the background.
- 3.Toggle Desktop and Mobile to check your text survives your profile photo and X's mobile crop.
- 4.Download at 1500 × 500 and upload it straight to your X profile.
Use cases
- New account setup — get your header sized correctly on the first try.
- Rebranding an existing profile without hiring a designer.
- Testing whether your name or bio survives X's mobile crop before you publish.
- Matching your header to a launch, event, or seasonal theme.
Frequently asked questions
- What size should a Twitter (X) header be?
- 1500 × 500 pixels, a 3:1 ratio. That's X's recommended upload size for your profile header.
- Does my profile photo cover part of my header?
- Yes, on desktop. Your profile photo overlaps the bottom-left corner of the header, roughly 134 pixels across — keep anything important out of that corner.
- Why does my header look different on mobile?
- X crops the header to a smaller centered area on mobile — roughly 1260 × 420 out of the full 1500 × 500 — and your profile photo no longer overlaps it at all there.
- What's the maximum file size for an X header?
- 5 MB. The download from this editor targets well under that.
- What file formats does X accept for headers?
- JPG, PNG, and GIF.
- Do I need to sign up to use this?
- No. The editor is free and unlimited, and nothing you upload leaves your device.
- Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
- No. If you upload your own background image, it's processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or sent to a server.
- Can I add a photo to my header itself, not just my profile photo?
- Not yet — this editor focuses on background, text, and the profile photo preview. If that's something you need, Fotoria's full editor supports it.