In an ideal world, you would be able to create one banner for your business and use it across all of your marketing channels. That one YouTube banner size would fit easily on your website and all of your social media channels, and it would remain effective year after year. You won’t need to look up the best YouTube banner dimensions size to use in 2022.
YouTube banner size template, Unfortunately, things are a little more complicated in the real world. You can use the same brand colors, fonts, and even many of the same graphics across all of your marketing channels, but every social media network has a different ideal 2048×1152 pixels YouTube banner size.
In many ways, your social media imagery is like the cover of your book. In this article, we lay out all the 2048×1152 pixels YouTube banners and dimension information you need to create a YouTube banner that gets people excited about your channel! Perhaps that initial visual interest led you to open up the YouTube banner size dimension to see what was inside.
No matter which book caught your fancy, chances are good that strong visuals played a role in sparking your curiosity and wanting to know more. A great YouTube cover photo size banner size template is a lot like a great book cover photo size. It grabs your interest and makes you want to look inside. It’s an important part of the way audiences will perceive a YouTube banner size template channel.
And these days, few businesses can afford to ignore their YouTube channel. According to recent statistics from the social network, people watch more than a billion hours of video per day on YouTube.
The minimum image size for a YouTube cover photo is 2048 pixels wide and 1152 pixels tall. You will receive an error if you attempt to upload a smaller image.
According to YouTube banner dimensions, the best YouTube banner size is 2560 pixels wide and 1440 pixels tall. However, it’s important to remember that YouTube channel art is displayed differently on desktop than it is on mobile. When you share the channel on other social media channels, how the YouTube banner dimensions are displayed will vary based on the social media channel you’re sharing it with.
This means that you want to keep your logo and any text you use within the YouTube banner size template’s minimum safety area, which is 1560 pixels wide and 423 pixels tall. If your text or logo falls outside those areas, it will be cut off partially or entirely when viewers see the image on mobile devices or other social media networks.
Using the best YouTube banner size is only the beginning. If you want to draw people into your channel with your banner, you also need to follow some best practices:
1. Consider the size
There’s a reason why we started this article with the best YouTube banner size. If your image is too big, parts of it will be cut off. If the image is too small, you might not even be able to upload it to YouTube at all. And if your text or logo falls outside the minimum safety area recommended by YouTube, important parts of the images will be lost when your channel is viewed on mobile.
Some graphic design tools, like Snappa, have built-in features that make it easy for you to perfect the placement of your logo and any text in your image.
2. Minimize your text
The main reason for minimizing your text is so that it fits within the safety zone, but YouTube banner size is also a visual platform. Users don’t want to see a lot of text. Many successful YouTube channels only include their channel name in the banner, like the channel of blind YouTuber Molly Burke.
3. Focus on your brand’s colors
Emphasizing the brand colors laid out in your brand style guide will help viewers identify the channel as belonging to your company. There are a few ways you can do this:
- Use one of your brand colors to create a solid color background for your banner
- Choose a background image that includes one or more of your brand colors.
- Add text in one or more of your brand colors.
- Use a color version of your logo
You can also use these techniques when you create your thumbnails to create a more cohesive aesthetic for your channel.
4. Communicate the tone of the videos on your channel
Are your videos animated? Live-action? Do they focus entirely on you, or are there other people on camera? Choose an image that gives viewers an idea of what your videos will actually look like. For example, if you run a channel with animated videos, you might want to use something like the banner for Overly Sarcastic Productions:
sarcastic production
On the other hand, if most of your videos feature you doing deep-dives into various topics related to your business, you might want to include a photo in your youtube banner size, such as in this example from Kevin David:
Kevin David YouTube Banner
5. Consider a call-to-action
Every interaction someone has with your brand should encourage them to have another interaction with your brand, whether that’s to watch another video, subscribe to your channel, or buy one of your products. You can do this with powerful imagery that shows what your channel is all about, or you can include a direct call to action.
If you don’t already have a preferred graphic design program, consider using one of the options below:
1. Snappa
Snappa is a graphic design tool specifically created with web graphics in mind. They have pre-set image sizes to help you optimize your images for various social media channels. If you select the “youtube banner size” option, their template will show you exactly where the minimum safety area is so you can plan your image accordingly:
Snappa also offers an extensive library of stock photography and pre-designed templates for every kind of social media image imaginable. Their free plan allows limited access to these libraries and five downloads per month. If you want to do more frequent graphic design work, consider one of their premium plans.
2. Canva
Canva Home
Canva is the primary tool we use for social media graphic design here at Revive. Social. They offer templates for almost every type of graphic imaginable, including infographics, book covers, and even resumes. Their “youtube banner size” template is the correct size, but doesn’t show you where the safety area is:
Canva YouTube Channel Art Template
However, Canva offers free users access to a far greater selection of free stock photography and other design elements. The free plan also includes unlimited downloads.
3. Visme
visme
Visme is a browser-based graphic design tool with a myriad of free templates for social media images. They also offer an enormous library of free clip art and other visual elements you can use to create excellent graphics.
blank template
4. PicMonkey
PicMonkey Home
PicMonkey is another browser-based graphic design tool intended for business owners who want to make their own graphics. What separates PicMonkey from the rest is that it also serves as a photo editor, with options to adjust the colors, lines, curves, and more. There are also tools to do small touch-ups and use visual effects. And all of these features are included in the free version!
PicMonkey Photo Editor
However, like Canva, PicMonkey won’t show you exactly where the safety zone is for important elements of your youtube cover photo size. Their template only ensures that you use the best YouTube banner size.
Conclusion
Go ahead and give your YouTube channel the facelift it deserves now that you know what size to make your YouTube banner, as well as the 2048×1152 pixel YouTube banner size, our top suggestions for producing outstanding channel art, and a variety of great resources to get started! If you’re interested in learning more about how to grow your YouTube cover photo size channel, we recommend reading this blog on how to make a YouTube video. If you have any questions or want to continue the conversation, join the InVideo community and learn from over 25K other marketers and video creators just like you.