What size is a YouTube banner?

Upload 2560 x 1440 px. YouTube's minimum is 2048 x 1152 at 16:9 and its file cap is 6MB. Keep text and logos inside the safe area - 1235 x 338 at the minimum size, which scales to 1544 x 423 on a 2560 px wide banner.

What is the YouTube banner safe area?

1235 x 338 px, centred, measured at YouTube's 2048 x 1152 minimum. It is the only part of the banner that survives on every device from a phone to a TV.

What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?

3840 x 2160 px at 16:9 for a video, and 2160 x 3840 at 9:16 for a Short. YouTube raised this from the 1280 x 720 most guides still quote; 640 px wide is still the accepted minimum.

How long can a YouTube Short be?

Up to 3 minutes. Any video uploaded square or vertical at 3 minutes or under is filed as a Short automatically, at up to 1080p.

youtube6 dimensionslast verified 2026-08-25

YouTube image and video sizes

YouTube is the only platform that hands you its banner safe area outright - 1235 x 338 inside a 2048 x 1152 frame - and it quietly raised its thumbnail recommendation to 4K.

Every frame below is drawn to scale against the others in its section, and every number carries the YouTube page we read it on. Click a size to copy it.

Channel banner and profile

One upload, redrawn at a different shape on a phone, a desktop and a TV. The safe area is the part they all have in common, and YouTube is the only platform here that gives you its pixels.

Channel banner

Profile picture

Drawn to scale against each other

Safe area for text and logos

YouTube publishes the safe area as 1235 x 338 at its 2048 x 1152 minimum. Scaled to the recommended 2560 x 1440 frame - the same 1.25x YouTube applies to the frame itself - that is 1544 x 423, centred. Everything outside it is cropped on some device.

support.google.comread 2026-08-25

Channel banner2560x1440: Upload at the recommended 2560 x 1440 so a TV gets a sharp image. The safe area scales with it: 1235 x 338 at YouTube's 2048 x 1152 minimum is 1544 x 423 once the frame is 2560 wide.; 16:92048x1152 minsupport.google.comread 2026-08-25
Profile picture800x800: YouTube documents only the render size - 98 x 98 - and a 15MB cap, so upload a larger square and let YouTube scale it down. 800 x 800 is our own choice of upload size, not YouTube's.; 1:1support.google.comread 2026-08-25no official figure

Thumbnails

The number here moved. YouTube now asks for 4K, not the 1280 x 720 that has been copied around for a decade.

Video thumbnail

Shorts thumbnail

Drawn to scale against each other

Video thumbnail3840x2160: YouTube's current recommendation. The minimum width is still 640 px, which is why the old 1280 x 720 keeps working.; 16:9min width 640support.google.comread 2026-08-25
Shorts thumbnail2160x3840: The same frame stood on its end - a Short gets its own thumbnail recommendation.; 9:16support.google.comread 2026-08-25

Video and Shorts

16:9 for the main channel, square or vertical for Shorts.

Video, 1080p

Short

Drawn to scale against each other

Video, 1080p1920x1080: 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x 2160 are the next two rungs YouTube names. Anything not 16:9 is padded, never stretched.; 16:9support.google.comread 2026-08-25
Short1080x1920: Square counts as a Short too. Length is what decides it: 3 minutes or under, square or vertical, and YouTube files it as a Short.; 9:16up to 3 minsupport.google.comread 2026-08-25; length: support.google.comread 2026-08-25

Questions

What size is a YouTube banner?: Upload 2560 x 1440 px. YouTube's minimum is 2048 x 1152 at 16:9 and its file cap is 6MB. Keep text and logos inside the safe area - 1235 x 338 at the minimum size, which scales to 1544 x 423 on a 2560 px wide banner.
What is the YouTube banner safe area?: 1235 x 338 px, centred, measured at YouTube's 2048 x 1152 minimum. It is the only part of the banner that survives on every device from a phone to a TV.
What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?: 3840 x 2160 px at 16:9 for a video, and 2160 x 3840 at 9:16 for a Short. YouTube raised this from the 1280 x 720 most guides still quote; 640 px wide is still the accepted minimum.
How long can a YouTube Short be?: Up to 3 minutes. Any video uploaded square or vertical at 3 minutes or under is filed as a Short automatically, at up to 1080p.

Sources, verified 2026-08-25

Pixels are the half of the rules the platforms publish and our engine does not enforce. The other half - file formats, size caps, how many images fit in one post, what our API path will accept - is generated from the engine's own table at YouTube specs. Neither page restates what the other one owns.

[support.google.com]Banner image: minimum 2048 x 1152 px with a 16:9 aspect ratio; at that minimum the safe area for text and logos is 1235 x 338 px; 2560 x 1440 recommended; 6MB or smaller. Profile picture: an image that renders at 98 x 98 px, under 15MB, JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG with no animated GIFs. Video watermark: minimum 150 x 150 px, square, under 1MB.support.google.comverified 2026-08-25
[support.google.com]YouTube publishes the rendered size (98 x 98) and the 15MB file cap, but no recommended upload size. 800 x 800 is our own pick - a square comfortably above every place YouTube draws the picture.support.google.comverified 2026-08-25no official doc confirms this number
[support.google.com]A custom thumbnail should have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 px for videos and 2160 x 3840 for Shorts, with a minimum width of 640 px for videos; 16:9 for videos and 9:16 for Shorts; JPG or PNG; 2MB on mobile and 50MB on desktop.support.google.comverified 2026-08-25
[support.google.com]The standard aspect ratio for YouTube on a computer is 16:9. Recommended encoding resolutions include 1920 x 1080 for 1080p, 2560 x 1440 for 1440p and 3840 x 2160 for 4K. Video at another ratio is padded rather than stretched.support.google.comverified 2026-08-25
[support.google.com]A Short is up to 3 minutes long with a square or vertical aspect ratio, uploaded at a maximum resolution of 1080p. Videos uploaded on or after 15 October 2024 that are square or vertical and 3 minutes or shorter are categorised as Shorts.support.google.comverified 2026-08-25