YouTube Banner Size: Safe Area, Profile Picture and Channel Trailer

The YouTube banner size that YouTube's official help asks for is at least 2048 × 1152 pixels, with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and the recommended size, especially for television, is 2560 × 1440 pixels. But what decides whether the banner looks good is the safe area: at the minimum dimensions, text and logos must fit within 1235 × 338 pixels, because the same banner is displayed differently on a computer, a phone and a TV. Here you will also find the sizes for the profile picture and the video watermark, and how to set the channel trailer.

The sizes, in one table

All of them come from YouTube's help page on channel branding (in Spanish):

Element	What YouTube's help says
Banner: minimum dimensions	2048 × 1152 pixels, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Banner: safe area for text and logos	1235 × 338 pixels, when using the minimum dimensions.
Banner: recommended dimensions	2560 × 1440 pixels, especially for television.
Banner: file size	6 MB or less is recommended.
Profile picture: format	JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG; animated GIFs are not supported.
Profile picture: size	It must not exceed 15 MB and should fit a size of 98 × 98 pixels.
Video watermark	A square image of at least 150 × 150 pixels and under 1 MB.

Two caveats. YouTube's creator tips page recommends a banner of at least 2560 × 1440 pixels so that it displays at its best on every device, so if you are designing from scratch, start at that size. And the profile picture is displayed very small: the help recommends uploading a square or round image, and it should be recognisable at that size.

The safe area: making it readable on mobile too

YouTube uses the same banner image on computers, phones and televisions, but it displays it differently depending on the device. The image stretches to fill the whole screen on larger devices and is cropped on certain devices and views. That is why, to make the banner look good on mobile, you do not need a different file: you need to respect the safe area.

• Inside the safe area (1235 × 338 pixels at the minimum dimensions): the channel name, the tagline, the publishing days and any logo. This is what has to be readable everywhere.
• Outside it: background, texture, colour or a photograph that can lose its edges without any harm.
• No edge decorations: the help recommends not including other decorative elements, such as shadows, borders or frames.

The help does not explain exactly where that zone falls within the image, so do not guess: when you upload the banner, YouTube Studio lets you select a preview and adjust the crop before publishing. Use it to check that the text does not get cut off in any view.

How to upload or change the banner

The banner is uploaded from YouTube Studio (if it is your first time there, there is a guide at YouTube Studio):

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left-hand menu, select Customization > Profile.
3. Under the banner image, click Change and select an image.
4. To make changes, select a preview and adjust the crop; then click Done.
5. Click Publish.

If you need to resize the image, any editor on your computer will do: the help gives the Preview app on an Apple computer or Microsoft Photos on Windows as examples. And an idea from YouTube itself: if you follow a regular upload schedule, add your schedule to the banner image so that your audience knows when there is a new video. Only do it if you will really stick to it. If you do not have the channel yet, start with how to create a YouTube channel.

The profile picture

The profile picture is the logo or distinctive image that represents your channel, and it appears in many places, such as the channel page and your comments. It is changed in the same place as the banner, under Customization > Profile, and it may take a few minutes to update across YouTube. To make it work:

• Designed to be seen small. A simple logo or a well-framed face; no long text, which cannot be read at that size.
• Square or round, as YouTube recommends, with the main subject in the centre.
• Consistent with the banner: the same colours and the same style. The help itself gives the example of a channel that uses a consistent colour scheme across its profile and banner images.

The channel trailer and the featured video

The trailer gives people who have not subscribed yet a preview of the channel, so that they get to know it and subscribe. By default no ads are shown on it (unless the video includes content claimed by third parties), and it is not shown again to anyone who has already watched it. To set it:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left-hand menu, select Customization > Home tab.
3. Under “Layout”, click Add section > Channel trailer.
4. Select a video for the trailer and click Publish.

For people who are already subscribed and come back, the Home tab also supports a featured video, yours or from any other channel, and you can adapt its layout with up to 12 custom sections. YouTube's help does not give a length for the trailer. A good starting point: it should say early on what the channel is, who it is for and how often there is a new video, in the same style as the rest of your videos.

How to check it on mobile and on TV

Since the same banner looks different on each device, the check that never fails is to look at it on all of them after publishing:

1. On a computer, open your channel with the browser window wide and then narrow.
2. On a phone, open the YouTube app and go to your channel: that is where you can see whether the text runs outside the safe area.
3. On a television, if you have one with YouTube, look up your channel and check that the image does not look pixelated; that is what the recommended 2560 × 1440 pixels are for.
4. The profile picture, in a comment: look at one of your comments and check whether it is recognisable at that size.

If something goes wrong, do not fix it with crops in YouTube Studio: go back to the file, move the text closer to the centre of the safe area and upload it again.

Where the Estudio de Canales fits in

The Estudio de Canales does not make banners, profile pictures or watermarks, and it has no trailer feature: its job is videos. Each video's package includes the video, three thumbnails, the subtitles, the title, the description and the chapters; you design the banner and upload it yourself in YouTube Studio.

Where it does fit is in consistency. The channel's visual identity is written into its bible, in the audiovisual style: colours, typefaces and image style, among other fields (how to write it, in a YouTube channel bible). Of the three thumbnails the studio composes, one places the text on a band in the first colour on that list (written in hexadecimal, such as #8C1C13), and that colour also serves as the background when the video has no images. If the banner and the profile picture use the same colours, the channel header and its videos' thumbnails share a colour. How to choose those colours is covered in colour palette for a YouTube channel, and how to work on thumbnails in YouTube thumbnails.

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Gestionar el branding de un canal. Google · Ayuda de YouTube.
• Consejos sobre el banner del canal y la imagen de perfil. Google · Ayuda de YouTube.
• Personalizar el diseño de un canal de YouTube. Google · Ayuda de YouTube.