Spotify is a rented channel and the brand is not live on it yet. These guidelines exist so launch day starts on-brand instead of from scratch. It is stricter than most: profile imagery has content rules the platform enforces, not only sizes. The studio team owns it.
Regulations
Spotify sets these per format and changes them without notice. Nothing here is ours to negotiate, and on this channel that includes what the imagery is allowed to say.
| Format | Size / ratio | Safe area | File format | Max weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profile avatar | 750×750 minimum · 1:1 | may display circular, centre the mark | JPG/PNG/GIF | 20 MB | no promo text, ads or busy backgrounds, per platform content rules |
| Header image | 2660×1140 minimum · roughly 2.33:1 | keep key content centred, because edges crop across breakpoints | JPG/PNG/GIF | 20 MB | same content rules as the avatar |
| Cover art | 3000×3000 · 1:1, accepted 640 to 10000 square | full bleed, and it has to read at list size | TIFF/PNG/JPG, sRGB 24-bit | not published | never upscale a smaller source; embedded colour profiles are ignored |
Spotify publishes no file-size cap for cover art. The rules that matter here are the ones that reject silently: sRGB only, no upscaling, square. Verified 2026-07-05.
Standards
- Logo: the avatar variant carries the profile image, which Spotify may display circular. Variants and clear space: 4.1 Logo
- Colour: header and cover art are brand-palette compositions: 4.2 Colour
- Type: any type on cover art uses the brand roles and reads at list size: 4.3 Typography
- One cover, two channels. The 3000×3000 export from the Podcast cover serves here unchanged. Producing a second one is how the two drift apart.
- Convert to sRGB before export, never in metadata. Spotify ignores embedded profiles, so a wide-gamut file shifts the palette on every screen with nothing to warn you.
- Keep the profile free of campaign copy. Tour dates, releases and calls to action belong in the content, not the avatar or header, and the platform enforces this rather than merely preferring it.
Formats
Design commissions the avatar, header and cover-art blanks when the channel activates. Each frame below holds its format at the exact ratio until the template lands.
Profile avatar, 750×750 (1:1)
Header image, 2660×1140 (2.33:1)
Cover art, 3000×3000 (1:1)
Tools
- Image Placeholder, blanks at the avatar, header and cover sizes, for laying out drafts before the artwork exists
No Spotify-specific tool exists yet. A pre-flight check for the three silent rejections, sRGB, square and no upscale, is the obvious first one, because all three pass a visual review and fail on the platform. Request it when the channel activates.
Don't
Don't put promo in profile imagery
Tour dates, releases, and calls to action in the avatar or header break Spotify's content rules. The platform removes them, and the profile sits broken.
Don't upscale cover art
A 640px source stretched to 3000px passes the size check and fails the eye: soft edges on every player. Export from the vector source at full size.
Don't trust an embedded colour profile
Spotify ignores them. A wide-gamut file shifts the palette on every screen. Convert to sRGB before export, not in metadata.