You spend hours on an ad: elegant Arabic type, a precise gradient, a sharp product shot. You post it — and the colours look dull, the gradient shows bands, and small text is fuzzy around the letters. The design didn’t change; the way it was exported just didn’t suit what the platform does to images after upload.
Every platform recompresses what you upload to save data. You can’t stop that, but you can upload a file that survives compression with minimal loss. This guide complements our social media sizes guide: there you learned the size, here you learn how to export the file.
Rule one: design at the right size from the start
Designing on a random canvas and cropping later causes two problems: elements cut at the edges, and images stretched until they lose sharpness. Start every design on a canvas at the final size and ratio: 1080×1350 for portrait posts, 1080×1920 for Stories and Reels, and so on. Our social media sizes tool lists sizes for ten platforms and lets you download a blank PNG template at the exact size, with safe zones, to drop in as a layer.
PNG, JPG or WebP?
| Format | When to use it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | Designs with text, logos, flat colour, illustration | Lossless and keeps letters crisp; larger files |
| JPG | Photography and realistic product shots | Smaller files; use high quality (80–90%) because the platform will compress again |
| WebP | Website images | Excellent for the web, but not every platform handles it equally well on upload |
The practical rule: if text is a major part of the design, export PNG. If the image is entirely photographic, high-quality JPG is enough. Try both on one design and compare after posting to a test account.
Colour space: why colours go dull
Screens, browsers and apps work in the sRGB colour space by default. If you design in a wider space (Adobe RGB, Display P3) or in CMYK, which is meant for print, and upload without converting, colours may display dull or shifted.
- Set the design file to RGB, not CMYK, for any digital work.
- On export, convert to sRGB and embed the colour profile.
- If your brand has print colours (CMYK or Pantone), define official RGB/HEX equivalents in your brand guide rather than converting automatically each time.
Resolution: should I export bigger?
Instagram, for example, displays posts at 1080 px wide; uploading a 3000 px image doesn’t make it sharper — the platform downsizes it with its own algorithm and may add artefacts. It’s usually better to export at exactly the recommended size, so your design app — which downsizes at higher quality — stays in control.
The exception is website and landing-page images, where you need a double-size (@2x) version for high-density phone screens, compressed well to keep pages fast.
Gradients and banding
Smooth gradients, especially dark ones, suffer most from compression and show visible steps. Practical fixes:
- Add very light noise (1–2%) over the gradient — it breaks up the steps and is invisible to the eye.
- Avoid wide gradients between two very similar colours across large areas.
- Export at higher quality or as PNG for designs whose beauty depends on the gradient.
Arabic text in designs: legibility first
- Type size: what reads well on a desktop screen can be tiny on a phone. Check the design scaled down on your phone before exporting.
- Very thin weights of Arabic typefaces suffer more from compression, especially over busy photos. Use medium or bold weights for headlines.
- Contrast: light text on a light photo disappears. Add a shading layer behind the text or choose a calm area of the image.
- Amount of text: an ad isn’t an article. A short headline and a clear price or offer; details go in the caption. Check the length of the accompanying ad copy with our character counter.
- Numbers and direction: check the order of prices, percentages and mixed Arabic/English numbers — some apps reverse them on export.
Safe zones in Stories, Reels and TikTok aren’t a detail: the top and bottom of the screen are covered by the app interface (account name, reply bar, action buttons, caption). Put the headline, price and logo in the middle, and use the safe-zone template from the sizes tool as a guide layer.
Exporting video for Reels and TikTok
| Setting | Practical choice |
|---|---|
| Size and ratio | 1080×1920 (9:16) |
| Codec | H.264 in an MP4 container (most compatible) |
| Frame rate | Same as the original footage (often 30 fps) |
| Audio | Good-quality AAC |
| Bitrate | High enough to avoid artefacts, without bloating the file needlessly |
Check duration and file-size limits in each platform’s help centre, as they change. And watch for one setting: some apps have an “upload at highest quality” option that’s off by default in settings — switch it on if you find it.
A workflow that saves time
- Ready templates for each format with size, safe zones and brand (colours, type, logo position).
- Saved export presets per platform so you don’t choose settings every time.
- Clear file names:
2026-11_white-friday_story_v2.pngrather thanfinal-final2.png, so files are easy to find and the format is obvious from the name. - Preview on a phone before posting, and a private test account to check real quality.
- Multiple versions of the same ad: 4:5 for feed and 9:16 for Stories and Reels, so the ad system picks the right one per placement.
A pre-export checklist
Before you hit “Export” on any social design, run through these points in under a minute:
- Size and ratio are right for the format (post, Story, cover).
- Key elements sit inside the safe zone: headline, price, logo and call-to-action.
- Text is legible when the design is scaled down to phone size, with enough contrast.
- Spelling and numbers are checked — especially prices, percentages, dates and their direction.
- Colours are RGB and the export uses sRGB.
- The format fits: PNG for text-heavy designs, high-quality JPG for photos.
- The file name is clear and carries the date, format and version.
- Other ratios are ready if the design is for an ad (4:5 and 9:16).
When working with a team or client, attach this checklist to the handover. Many “the quality is poor” comments after posting could be prevented by a single item on the list.
Key takeaways
- Design at the final size from the start and keep key elements out of the unsafe areas.
- PNG for text-heavy designs, high-quality JPG for photos.
- Always RGB and sRGB for digital work.
- Export at exactly the recommended size, not larger.
- Test on a phone and a test account before posting.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Story quality lower than post quality?
Stories are often compressed harder because they’re temporary and viewed quickly. Exporting at the exact size, and as PNG for text-heavy designs, narrows the gap.
Should I upload from desktop or phone?
What matters is that the original file arrives without extra compression. Sending a design to your phone through a chat app compresses it once already; share it as an original file or via cloud storage.
Is Canva good enough for quality exports?
Yes, for most uses — as long as you pick the right size, the right format and high export quality. The same principles apply in any app.
Design quality doesn’t end when you click “Export” — that’s where it starts. Begin with a correctly sized template from our free social media sizes tool — and if you want brand templates for your team or ad designs that hold their quality on every platform, get in touch.
