Album cover size: The dimensions each platform asks for.

Album cover dimensions by platform

Pages checked on 23 October 2026

These are the stores’ own requirements, quoted from their help pages.

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Bandcamp also says: “Without album art, your music won’t appear in search listings, tag listings, or Discover.”

We could not find a published cover art spec for Amazon Music or Tidal. If your distributor delivers there, follow your distributor’s.

What SoundCloud and distributors ask for

If you upload to SoundCloud yourself, SoundCloud’s help page says: “SoundCloud accepts images up to 2MB, and recommends a .jpg or .png file at least 800 x 800 pixels.”

If a distributor delivers your release to the stores, its artwork rules apply as well:

• DistroKid’s help page says: “The minimum size requirement for album art is 1000x1000 pixels. Ideally… perfectly square, and 3000x3000 pixels.” It also says “Album artwork should be in the .jpg file format” and asks for the “RGB color space.”
• TuneCore’s help page asks for a “Perfect square and at least 1600 x 1600 pixels, but no larger than 3000 x 3000 pixels”, a file “Smaller than 10MB” in JPG, PNG or GIF, and “Best-quality RGB Color mode”.
• CD Baby’s DIY Musician article says: “CD Baby requires square, 3000 × 3000-pixel artwork in RGB color mode”, as a JPG or PNG.

We could not open the SoundCloud, DistroKid and TuneCore pages directly, so their wording here comes from the pages’ search listings. Check your distributor’s current page before uploading.

The size to make

Make the cover a square of 3000 × 3000 pixels. That meets every pixel requirement quoted on this page: it clears each minimum, matches the size Apple recommends, DistroKid calls ideal and CD Baby requires, and stays within TuneCore’s 3000 × 3000 maximum and YouTube’s 4098 × 4098 limit. Save it in RGB colour; Spotify asks for sRGB.

Then choose the file type and check the file size for where it is going. Spotify asks for lossless encoding, DistroKid’s page names .jpg, TuneCore asks for a file smaller than 10MB and SoundCloud accepts images up to 2MB, so you may need more than one export.

What to leave off the cover

The Apple Music Style Guide says: “Art must not contain website addresses, logos, QR codes, release dates”. Its artwork section also rules out “references to pricing” and “references to the physical packaging, such as CD or vinyl.”

DistroKid’s help page gives a similar list: “Avoid URLs, QR codes, third-party logos, prices, or nudity.”

If the artist name and title appear on the cover, spell them exactly as they are in your release details. CD Baby’s article says the “artist name and title must match exactly.”

Covers for CD, cassette and vinyl

Printed covers are sized by the printer, and printers’ templates differ: use your pressing plant’s template. As an example, 4over4’s help page gives a CD front insert of about 4.75 inches square, plus 0.125 inch of bleed on every edge, and Wikipedia’s J-card article says a cassette J-card “measures roughly 4 by 4 1/8 inches” unfolded. For a vinyl jacket, get the plant’s template before you lay out the artwork.

Making a cover in the generator

The album cover generator makes square artwork, sets your artist name and title as a separate layer, and downloads the finished cover as a 1920 × 1920 PNG or JPG. That is above the minimums Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, DistroKid and TuneCore state. It is below the 3000 × 3000 that Apple recommends, DistroKid calls ideal and CD Baby requires, so for CD Baby, make or commission artwork at 3000 × 3000 rather than enlarging the download.

Active Unlimited includes up to 8 images per UTC day, when available. Paid image packs require active Unlimited.

To work out what the picture should be, start with album cover ideas: subject, mood, style and readable type.