WordPress Featured Image Size: How to Change it & Best Practices

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When writing a WordPress blog, many things matter. You should pick the right words, choose the best keywords, and ensure your post is easy to read and share. But there’s one thing that many bloggers forget – the WordPress featured image size.

A featured image is the main picture that represents your blog post. It appears at the top of your post, in search results, and when someone shares your content on social media. Even though it’s just an image, it plays a huge role in making your blog look professional and engaging.

Therefore, using the right-sized, high-quality featured image can help your blog in many ways. It makes your post more attractive, improves brand recognition, and increases the probability of people clicking and reading your content. If your image looks great, people may share it on social media, attracting more readers.

This tutorial explains a featured image, the best size to use, how to add one in WordPress, and the best ways to optimize it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The best WordPress featured image size for most themes is 1200 x 628 pixels to ensure proper display on blogs and social media.
• Different themes may have specific image size requirements, so check your theme settings.
• You can change default image sizes in WordPress Media settings and adjust them to fit your needs. However, if your theme has a custom featured image size, you can modify it by updating the functions.php file.
• After changing image sizes, run the Force Regenerate Thumbnails plugin to ensure older images are resized correctly.
• Page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg allow you to resize featured images within their settings for better flexibility.
• Always use high-quality images and keep sizes small using compression tools like TinyPNG to improve website speed and SEO.
• Use consistent image sizes and styles to make your WordPress website look more professional and improve brand identity.
• Add alt text to featured images to boost SEO and make your website more accessible.
• Choose the right featured image size and follow best practices to ensure a better user experience and website engagement.

What is a WordPress Featured Image?

A WordPress Featured Image is the image that automatically becomes the post’s thumbnail when your blog appears on your website or in search results. This image also shows up when someone shares your post on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

A featured image also helps visually represent your content. It gives readers a quick idea of your blog content, making your post more attractive and clickable. When users see an eye-catching image, they can click, read, and share your content.

Some WordPress themes automatically display the featured image at the top of the blog post, while others do not. If your theme doesn’t show this image at the top, you can manually insert it anywhere inside the post to make it more visually engaging.

Remember, don’t let WordPress automatically select an image as the thumbnail because, by default, WordPress often picks the first image in your post, which may not always be the best choice. Instead, manually set a custom featured image for every blog post. This ensures the image matches the content and looks great when shared online.

You’ll get the best results if you place your featured image at the top of your post or within the first three paragraphs. This placement helps grab the reader’s attention immediately and improves the overall reading experience.

Default WordPress Featured Image Size

When you add a featured image in WordPress, it automatically follows a default size. Usually, this size is 1200 x 628 pixels, which works well for blog posts and social media sharing. Here’s a sample post using a featured image that is 1200 x 628 pixels in size in the Twenty Sixteen theme:

However, some themes use a smaller thumbnail size, often 150 x 150 pixels, for post previews and archive pages. To ensure your WordPress featured image size suits your theme, you can check and customize the image size settings in WordPress. Here’s how to check WordPress featured image dimensions:

Go to WordPress Dashboard → Settings → Media. Here, you can view and update the required image sizes.

IMPORTANT:

If you have already uploaded images before you change the settings, WordPress may not resize those images. If this is the case, use a plugin to apply the new sizes to old images (we discuss this later in this tutorial). 

Reasons to Change Featured Image Size in WordPress

There are a few reasons why you may want to change the default featured image size in WordPress:

• Design Consistency: If your images are of different sizes, your blog design may look messy. Setting a standard featured image size keeps everything neat and uniform. 
• Faster Loading Times: Large images slow your WordPress website down. Resizing them to the correct dimensions helps pages load faster, improving user experience and SEO. 
• Better Responsiveness: On mobile devices, images resize automatically. If yours are too large, they may not display properly on smaller screens. 

Now you know what a featured image is, why to change it, and what the best size for featured image WordPress supports, let’s learn how to revise the featured image size.

How to Change WordPress Featured Image Size

If your featured image size doesn’t look right, you can change it by adjusting the Media settings in WordPress (we’ve already discussed this while exploring the default WordPress featured image size above). This ensures your images look sharp, professional, and optimized for your website. Also, you can change the featured image size using the following methods:

Use a Plugin

Using a plugin to change a WordPress featured image size is one of the easiest approaches. For this tutorial, we’ll use the Force Regenerate Thumbnails plugin, which also resizes old featured images to match your new settings, so you don’t have to re-upload them manually. Here’s how to use it:

First, install and activate the Force Regenerate Thumbnails plugin. Then, go to Settings → Media in the WordPress dashboard. Update the thumbnail, medium, and large image sizes as required. Then, click Save Changes.

Now go to Tools → Force Regenerate Thumbnails and click Regenerate All Thumbnails. Wait for the process to finish (it may take a few minutes if you have many images). This will delete all old thumbnails and generate new ones based on the updated image sizes.

Now, open a blog post or page with a featured image. Refresh the page to see if the new size is applied. If the image still looks incorrect, clear your browser cache or use a plugin like WP Rocket to clear your WordPress site’s cache. 

Edit the functions.php File

If you want full control over your WordPress featured image sizes, you can manually set a custom size in your theme’s functions.php file. This method is useful if:

• Your theme doesn’t display images properly (too big, too small, or cropped).
• You want different featured image sizes for various parts of your WordPress website (e.g., blog posts, homepage, widgets).
• You don’t want WordPress to resize images automatically in a way that affects quality.

With this method, you can also ensure every featured image looks perfect in your theme. Here’s how to access and edit the functions.php file:

Log in to the WordPress Admin area to Appearance → Theme File Editor. Click on the functions.php file to open it. Then, add this code at the end of the file and click Update File:

function custom_featured_image_size() {
add_image_size('custom-featured', 1200, 628, true); // 1200x628 pixels, hard crop
}
add_action('after_setup_theme', 'custom_featured_image_size');

This code creates a new WordPress featured image size (1200 x 628 pixels), commonly used for blog posts. The true parameter enables hard cropping, meaning WordPress cuts the image to fit exactly within these dimensions.

After adding a new image size, instruct WordPress to use it in your theme. Do this by modifying the theme template files where you want the featured image to appear. For example, we want to change WordPress featured image size of all posts. Here’s how to do it in the Twenty Sixteen theme:

Go to Appearance → Theme File Editor. Expand the template-parts dropdown and click content-single.php file. Then, locate the following line of code:

<?php twentysixteen_post_thumbnail(); ?>

and replace it with the following:

<?php the_post_thumbnail('custom-featured'); ?>

Lastly, click Update File to save changes.

Now, open your blog post to see if the featured image has been successfully resized.

IMPORTANT:

You can also access and edit the functions.php file using an FTP client. However, if you are signed up for our WordPress Hosting service, you can directly update them using the Hosted® File Manager. Whenever you edit your theme files directly, ensure you create a website backup.

Adjust Featured Image Size in Page Builders

This method is ideal when you need different featured image sizes for specific posts without changing global settings. Instead of modifying theme files or media settings, customize image dimensions on a per-post basis. Here’s how:

Change WordPress Featured Image Size in Elementor

To use this method, first install and activate the Elementor page builder. Then, go to Posts → All Posts. Hover over your desired post and click Edit with Elementor. This will open your post in the Elementor editor.

Click on your featured image block and look for Image Resolution in the left panel. Here, you can select a preset size or choose Custom to adjust the width and height as required. Don’t forget to click Apply after specifying WordPress featured image dimensions. Lastly, click Publish to make it live.

Change Featured Image Size in Gutenberg

Go to Posts → All Posts. Hover over your WordPress post and choose Edit to open it in Gutenberg (Block Editor).

Click on the featured image.

In the pop-up window, click Edit Image.

Click Scale. Mention new dimensions and click Scale again to resize the featured image in WordPress.

IMPORTANT:

You can do the same in Classic Editor (click on the featured image and update dimensions).

Best Practices for WordPress Featured Images

Using the correct featured images can make your blog posts more attractive, shareable, and SEO-friendly. But to get the best results, you need to follow a few simple best practices that we have listed below:

Use Right Dimensions

Using the correct image size ensures that your featured images display properly without getting stretched or cropped. The ideal size depends on how and where you use the image.

However, 1200 x 628 pixels is the best size for most blog posts since it works well on WordPress themes and social media platforms. If you run an online store with WooCommerce, square images of 800 x 800 pixels are ideal for product listings. Websites using full-width featured images may require 1920 x 1080 pixels for better visual balance. So, ensure you choose the correct WordPress featured image size.

Choose High-Quality Images

A poor-quality or blurry featured image can make a blog post look unprofessional. For a visually appealing WordPress website, always use high-resolution, clear images relevant to your content.

Avoid pixelated or overly compressed images that reduce clarity. If you need free images, websites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay offer high-quality options. For a more customized approach, tools like Canva allow you to create unique and professional images for your content.

Optimize Image Files Size

A large image file can slow down your website, so it loads slowly and impacts the user experience negatively. Search engines also prioritize fast-loading websites, so optimizing image file size is essential for SEO.

Reduce the file size without compromising quality using compression tools like TinyPNG or Smush. Also ensure you use the right image format. JPEG format is best for photos, while PNG is better for images that require transparency.

Maintain Consistency

Consistency in featured images gives your blog a professional and cohesive look. When all images follow the same style, size, and color scheme, they help strengthen your brand identity.

Use the same dimensions for all featured images across your WordPress site. If you frequently publish content, using a template for featured images can help create a recognizable style.

Whether you prefer bold colors, minimalist designs, or text overlays, maintain consistency so your website looks more visually organized.

Use Alt Text

Alt text (short for alternative text) is a short description that’s added to an image to help search engines understand the image’s content. Including descriptive alt text improves SEO by making your images more searchable and helps screen readers provide a better browsing experience.

It also ensures that when an image does not load, visitors can still understand what it represents. When writing alt text, avoid generic filenames like image123.jpg and instead use meaningful descriptions such as Laptop displaying a WordPress Dashboard with a featured image. This small but effective step can enhance accessibility and search engine visibility.

If you follow these best practices, you can ensure your featured images are well-sized, fast-loading, consistent, SEO-friendly, and visually stunning. This helps your blog stand out, load faster, and attract more visitors.

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