# How to resize a banner for every platform without stretching it > Turn one banner into square, story and leaderboard sizes without stretching or bad crops. Covers aspect ratios, safe zones, three workflows and a checklist. By The BannerTranslate team. Published 2026-11-13. Web page: https://bannertranslate.com/resources/how-to-resize-a-banner To resize a banner for another platform, compare aspect ratios first (width divided by height). If the new size has the same ratio as the original, scale it. If the ratio is different, the banner has to be recomposed, which means moving and re-fitting the headline, picture, logo and button for the new shape. This guide explains the three methods, the safe zones on vertical formats, three ways to do the work (including when all you have is a flat image) and a checklist to run before you publish. ## Scaling, cropping and recomposing are three different jobs People say "resize" for all of these, which is where most ugly banners come from. They are different operations that go wrong in different ways. | Method | What it does | Works when | Fails when | |---|---|---|---| | Scale | Multiplies width and height by the same factor. Nothing moves relative to anything else. | The target has the same aspect ratio, for example 1080×1080 to 1200×1200. | The ratio differs. You end up stretching or leaving empty bars. | | Stretch | Scales width and height by different factors. | Almost never. | Circles turn into ovals, and logos and faces look squashed. | | Crop | Cuts away part of the canvas and leaves the rest untouched. | The ratios are close and the edges hold only background. | Text, a logo or a face sits near the edge, or the two shapes are far apart. | | Recompose | Rearranges and re-fits the elements for the new shape, extending or trimming the background as needed. | Any change of shape, including extreme ones. | You have no layers and no tool that can redraw the layout, or nobody checks the result. | Two examples make the difference concrete. Cropping a 1080×1350 portrait post to a 1080×1080 square removes 270 pixels of height, which is 20% of the image. That is often survivable. Cropping a 1080×1080 square to a 728×90 leaderboard keeps a strip about 12% as tall as the original, and that almost never works. Scaling up has its own limit, because enlarging invents no detail. A 300×250 banner blown up to 1080 pixels wide is being enlarged 3.6 times, and its text will look soft. Always start from the largest version you have. ## Why aspect ratio matters more than pixel count A 1080×1920 story and a 1440×2560 story are the same job, because both are 9:16. A 1080×1080 square and a 1200×628 link image are different jobs, even though the files are a similar size. Platforms think this way too. Meta's ads guide for Stories image ads asks for a 9:16 ratio, recommends 1440×2560 pixels, accepts a minimum width of 500 pixels and allows a 1% tolerance on the ratio. For Facebook Feed image ads it recommends 4:5 at 1440×1800 pixels. The ratio is the rule, and the pixel count is a quality recommendation. Display networks are stricter. Google Ads lists fixed pixel sizes for uploaded display ads, such as 300×250, 728×90 and 160×600, and its editorial policy does not allow images that "don't take up the entire space of the chosen image size". A square floating in a leaderboard with bars either side is not an option. Sorting common sizes by ratio shows which ones belong together. | Size in pixels | Aspect ratio | Shape | |---|---|---| | 728×90 | about 8.1:1 | Very wide strip | | 970×250 | about 3.9:1 | Wide panel | | 320×100 | 3.2:1 | Small wide strip | | 1500×500 | 3:1 | Wide header | | 1200×628 | about 1.91:1 | Landscape | | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | Landscape | | 300×250 | 1.2:1 | Nearly square | | 1080×1080 | 1:1 | Square | | 1080×1350 | 4:5 | Portrait | | 1000×1500 | 2:3 | Tall portrait | | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | Full vertical | | 160×600 | 1:3.75 | Very tall strip | The practical rule is to group your target sizes into ratio families, design one master per family and scale within it. A square and a 300×250 rectangle can share a layout with small adjustments, and so can 1200×628 and 1920×1080. The strips need a layout of their own. ## Pick the sizes you actually need Google's specification for uploaded display ads lists 20 image sizes, plus three used only in Poland. You do not need 20 banners. Write down the placements the campaign will actually use and make only those. The guides to [Google Display ad sizes](https://bannertranslate.com/resources/google-display-ad-sizes) and [social media image sizes](https://bannertranslate.com/resources/social-media-image-sizes) list the current dimensions for each network. There is also a shortcut on Google. For responsive display ads you upload a landscape image (1.91:1, with 1200×628 recommended) and a square one (1:1, with 1200×1200 recommended), and Google Ads adjusts the size, appearance and format to fit the available space. Google points advertisers who want more control to uploaded fixed-size image ads, so if control is not critical, two shapes may be enough there. ## Safe zones: the part of a vertical banner the platform covers A 9:16 canvas is not all yours. The app draws its own interface over the picture, such as the profile icon at the top and the call-to-action button at the bottom. Meta's ads guide for image ads in Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels and Facebook Stories suggests leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and other key elements. On a 1080×1920 canvas that is about 269 pixels at the top, 672 pixels at the bottom and 65 pixels on each side. What remains is roughly 950×979 pixels, which is nearly a square. A story is therefore not a tall poster to fill from top to bottom. It is a near-square message with spare background above and below. Other platforms publish their own guidance and revise it, so check before you build. Pinterest, for example, recommends 2:3 at 1000×1500 pixels and warns that taller Pins may be cut off in feeds. ## Route 1: resize from the design file The best results come from a layered source file, because every element can be moved on its own. In Figma, two features do most of the work. Constraints tell layers how to respond when their frame is resized: stay pinned to the left, right or centre, or scale with it. Auto layout re-flows a frame when its content changes. 1. Duplicate the master frame once per ratio family, not once per size. 2. Set constraints before you resize. Pin the logo to its corner, pin the button to the bottom or right edge, and set the background image to scale. In Figma's own example, a 70 px layer in a 100 px frame becomes 140 px when the frame grows to 200 px. 3. Resize the frame to the target dimensions. 4. Fix by hand what constraints cannot decide: line breaks, type size and which part of the photo shows. 5. Scale within each family for the remaining sizes and export every file at its exact pixel size. Photoshop users do the same with one artboard per size. Marpipe's own article calls that approach manual and time-consuming, which is fair, but it is also the route with the most control. ## Route 2: use a template or resize tool Several ad-production tools automate the first pass. The descriptions below come from each company's own pages, not from testing. - **Bannersnack.** Its Smart Resize guide says the feature turns one design into a full set of sizes, using each element's bounding box to decide how it scales and where it lands. It advises anchoring elements to layout edges and grouping related ones first. - **Bannerwise.** Its help centre describes an adaptive algorithm that copies all slides, elements and animations to a new size and tries to resize and reposition them, then opens the editor for adjustments. - **Marpipe.** Its blog describes Placement Variants, in which the artboard readjusts when you pick a new size and your edits are saved per size. The pattern is the same in all three. You start from an editable design built inside the tool, and each company's own page expects some tidying after the automatic pass. 1. Build the master in the tool with tidy groups and sensible anchors. 2. Add the target sizes and generate them. 3. Open every size and fix overlaps, line breaks and image crops. 4. Export, and keep the project so that new sizes can be added later. This route suits teams that produce sets regularly, and it is the one to choose for animated banners. ## Route 3: recompose a flat image with AI Often there is no design file. The agency kept it, the designer left, or the banner arrived as a JPG in an email. With no layers to move, the choice is between cropping (fine between close ratios), rebuilding by hand, or asking an AI image model to redraw the composition for the new shape. BannerTranslate takes the third route. This is how it works. 1. Find the largest, cleanest copy of the banner you have. PNG, JPG and WebP files up to 12 MB are accepted. 2. Sign in with Google or an email address and upload the image to [resize a banner](https://bannertranslate.com/app). 3. Choose Resize. Translating is a separate run. 4. Pick up to five sizes. The presets are 1080×1080, 1080×1350, 1080×1920, 1920×1080, 1200×628, 1500×500, 1000×1500, 300×250, 728×90, 970×250 and 320×100, or you can enter a custom size. 5. Wait about a minute per version. A countdown shows when the set will be ready, and each version appears as it finishes. 6. Check every version against the checklist below, then download one file or all of them as a zip, in JPG, PNG or WebP. The banner is recomposed for the new shape rather than stretched, and it keeps its own words. The limits are worth knowing in advance. The result is a flat image, not editable layers, and animated banners, HTML5 banners and video are not handled. It is drawn by an AI image model, so someone has to read every version before it goes live. Custom sizes run from 64 to 4096 pixels per side, up to 12 times wider than tall and no taller than 9:16. That covers a 728×90 strip but rules out tall skyscrapers such as 160×600. ## Extreme shapes: what to do with a 728×90 leaderboard A leaderboard is about eight times wider than it is tall. Nothing from a square layout survives the trip, so it has to be rebuilt as a single row. - **Order.** Put the logo on the left, the headline in the middle and the button on the right. - **One message.** Keep the headline and the call to action. The sub-headline, bullet points and legal line belong in the larger sizes. - **Type.** You have 90 pixels of height. Two lines of 24 px text with normal line spacing already use about 60 of them, so one line is safer. - **Picture.** Crop tightly to the product or use the photo as a background. A whole photo shrunk to 90 pixels tall is a postage stamp. The 320×100 large mobile banner follows the same logic with less room, and the 970×250 billboard has space for a picture on one side. Tall strips such as 160×600 are the mirror image: stack the logo, picture, headline and button from top to bottom. A design does not become a leaderboard because you pushed harder. Cats believe every box is the right size. Banners are not cats. ## The after-resize checklist Run through this for every size before it leaves your hands. 1. **Exact dimensions.** Check the pixel size of the exported file, not of the canvas. 2. **Nothing stretched.** Compare the logo's width-to-height ratio with the original. Circles should still be circles. 3. **Every word present.** Read the headline, small print, price and URL against the original, above all in AI-generated versions. 4. **Logo untouched.** Same colours, same lettering, same clear space. 5. **Legible at real size.** View the file at 100% on a phone, not zoomed in on a desktop monitor. 6. **Safe zones respected.** On 9:16 versions, nothing important in the top 14%, the bottom 35% or the outer 6% on either side. 7. **Clean edges.** Look for leftover bars, and for smeared or repeated background where the canvas was extended. 8. **Hierarchy intact.** The eye should still land on the headline first and the button second. 9. **Format and weight.** Google Ads accepts GIF, JPG and PNG up to 150 KB for uploaded image ads. The guide to [banner file formats](https://bannertranslate.com/resources/banner-file-formats) explains how to stay under that. 10. **One campaign.** Lay all the sizes side by side. They should look like siblings, not distant cousins. ## FAQ ### Can I resize a banner without losing quality? Yes, if you scale down or keep the same size and start from the original file. Scaling up always costs sharpness, because enlarging cannot add detail. Changing the shape need not cost quality, as long as the banner is recomposed and not stretched. ### How do I resize a banner if I only have a JPG or PNG? Between similar ratios, crop it. For a real change of shape, rebuild the banner in a design tool with the flat image as a reference, or use an AI recomposition tool such as BannerTranslate, which redraws the layout for each size you pick. Either way, check the words, the logo and the edges afterwards. ### Which banner sizes should I make first? Make the sizes for placements you have actually booked. If you are unsure, a reasonable starting set is one square, one 9:16 vertical and one landscape image for social, plus 300×250 and 728×90 for display. Add the rest when a placement asks for them. ### Why does my resized banner look blurry? The usual causes are enlarging a small file, resizing an image that had already been compressed, and saving as a heavily compressed JPG. Go back to the largest original, export at the exact target size and choose the format with care. ### Should I resize before or after translating a banner? Translate and approve the master banner first, then build each size from the approved wording, because translated text often runs longer and breaks differently in each shape. The article on [text expansion in translation](https://bannertranslate.com/resources/text-expansion-in-translation) explains why. In tools where translating and resizing are separate runs, as they are in BannerTranslate, plan two passes and check the result of each. More guides are in the [resources hub](https://bannertranslate.com/resources). ## Sources - [Google Ads Help: Uploaded display ads specifications](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722096?hl=en) for the fixed image ad sizes, accepted formats and the 150 KB limit. - [Google Ads Help: About responsive display ads](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6363750?hl=en) for how responsive display ads adapt to ad spaces and when to use uploaded image ads. - [Google Ads Help: Create a responsive display ad](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7005917?hl=en) for the landscape and square image ratios and recommended sizes. - [Google Advertising Policies Help: Editorial](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6021546?hl=en) for the image quality rule about filling the chosen image size. - [Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Stories image ads](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/instagram-story) for the 9:16 ratio, recommended resolution, tolerance and safe zone percentages. - [Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Reels image ads](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/instagram-reels) for the same safe zone guidance on Reels. - [Meta Ads Guide: Facebook Stories image ads](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/facebook-story) for the same safe zone guidance on Facebook Stories. - [Meta Ads Guide: Facebook Feed image ads](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/facebook-feed) for the 4:5 recommendation at 1440×1800 pixels. - [Pinterest Business help: Review ad specs](https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-product-specs) for the 2:3 ratio and 1000×1500 recommendation. - [Figma Help Center: Apply constraints to define how layers resize](https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039957734-Apply-constraints-to-define-how-layers-resize) for how constraints behave when a frame is resized. - [Figma Help Center: Guide to auto layout](https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040451373-Guide-to-auto-layout) for how auto layout re-flows a frame when its content changes. - [Bannersnack blog: Smart Resize guide](https://www.bannersnack.com/blog/smart-resize-guide) for Bannersnack's own description of Smart Resize. - [Bannerwise Help Center: generating new sizes from an existing size](https://help.bannerwise.io/en/articles/3742288-how-to-generate-new-ad-sizes-from-an-already-existing-size) for Bannerwise's own description of its adaptive algorithm. - [Marpipe blog: The three fastest ways to make ads in all sizes](https://www.marpipe.com/blog/the-three-fastest-ways-to-make-ads-in-all-sizes) for Marpipe's description of the Photoshop route and Placement Variants.