YouTube banner size (2026).2560 × 1440 at 16:9, up to 6 MB.

The safe area: 1235 × 338 and 1546 × 423 are the same box

Two numbers circulate for the banner's safe area, and most guides present them as different things. They are the same rectangle at two scales. YouTube's current help gives 1235 × 338, measured on the 2048 × 1152 minimum. Its former guide, until 2020, gave 1546 × 423, measured on a 2560 × 1440 banner. Scale one to the other and they match, within a couple of pixels.

• Where it sitsCentred, about 60% of the banner's width and 29% of its height.
• What goes in itYour channel name, a tagline, a logo, the upload schedule: everything that has to be read on a phone.
• What goes outside itBackground only. On TVs the whole image shows, so it should still look finished.

How your banner shows on TV, computer and phone

YouTube uses the same image everywhere and crops it differently on each device. TVs show the whole 16:9 image. Computers show a wide strip across the middle, and phones a narrower one, close to the safe area. YouTube no longer publishes the exact sizes; its former guide gave a strip of up to 2560 × 423 on large computer screens, 1855 × 423 on tablets and 1546 × 423 on phones, all measured on a 2560 × 1440 banner.

The previews under the resizer cut your image the same way: the phone strip and the full-width computer strip, from the crop you are editing.

How to change your YouTube banner

On a computer

• 1. Open YouTube StudioThen Customization, and Profile in the left menu. It was called Branding until 2024.
• 2. Click Change next to the banner imagePick the file, adjust the crop in the preview, then click Done.
• 3. Click PublishThe new banner replaces the old one on your channel.

On a phone

In the YouTube app, tap your profile picture, then View channel (Your channel on an iPhone), then Edit, and tap the banner image to take or choose a photo; tap Save. In the YouTube Studio app, tap Edit profile, then the banner image.

File size and format

A banner can be up to 6 MB. YouTube's help doesn't list file types for banners; its API takes JPEG or PNG, which covers every case: JPEG for photos, PNG for flat graphics with sharp text. YouTube also asks for no borders, shadows or frames around the image. The resizer exports a JPEG and keeps it under 6 MB.

Why 1024 × 576 is too small

1024 × 576 comes up in thousands of searches and in many templates. It is exactly half of YouTube's 2048 × 1152 minimum: same 16:9 shape, a quarter of the pixels. Stretched to a large screen it looks soft, and text at that size blurs. Export at 2560 × 1440 instead; if your artwork was made at 1024 × 576, rebuild the text layer at the larger size rather than scaling the file up.

Make a banner that fits every device

• Fill 2560 × 1440 with the backgroundA colour, a texture or a photo that still looks right when only a strip shows.
• Put everything readable in the safe areaName, tagline, logo, schedule, centred in about 1544 × 423.
• Check it on a phoneThe narrowest view is the strictest: if the name reads there, it reads everywhere.

If the banner looks cut off, the text is outside the safe area; if it looks soft, the file is smaller than 2048 × 1152 or was saved at low quality.

A YouTube banner template, in three layers

Any design tool works; what matters is the grid. Start a 2560 × 1440 document and set three guides:

• The whole canvas: 2560 × 1440What a TV shows. Background only: a colour, a texture, a wide photo.
• The computer strip: 2560 × 423, centredRoughly what a wide computer screen shows, from YouTube's former guide. Keep it free of anything that matters at the edges.
• The safe area: 1544 × 423, centredThe part every screen shows. Name, tagline, logo and schedule go here, large enough to read on a phone.

The resizer at the top of this page draws the same three zones on your own image and exports the result at 2560 × 1440 under 6 MB, so you can start from a photo instead of a blank template.

Other YouTube sizes