Podcast Cover Art Checker

Make it 3000 × 3000 pixels. That is the recommended size on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts and Pocket Casts. The hard minimum almost everywhere is 1400 × 1400 pixels — anything smaller gets rejected. Always design at 3000 × 3000 and let each app downscale it; never upscale a small image to reach the size.

Apple Podcasts requires artwork that is square, between 1400 × 1400 and 3000 × 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG format, in the RGB color space, at 72 dpi. Apple sets the de facto industry standard: if your art passes Apple's checklist, it works on virtually every other directory too.

Spotify requires podcast cover art to be at least 640 × 640 pixels and recommends 3000 × 3000, in JPG or PNG format with an sRGB color space. Note that Spotify crops artwork into a circle in some views (like the mini-player), so keep your title and key visuals inside the center 80% of the frame.

YouTube pulls podcast show art from your RSS feed, so the same file rules apply: 1400 × 1400 minimum, 3000 × 3000 recommended, square JPG or PNG in RGB. There is no separate YouTube-specific artwork file for podcasts.

Pocket Casts follows the same standard as Apple: minimum 1400 × 1400 pixels, recommended 3000 × 3000, square JPG or PNG in RGB. One correctly-built 3000 × 3000 file covers Pocket Casts and every other major app.

Exactly 1:1 — a perfect square. A 1500 × 1400 image will be rejected even though both sides are above the 1400 minimum, because it is not square. The checker above flags non-square artwork immediately.

Use JPG at 90% quality or higher for photographic artwork — it keeps file sizes small. Use PNG for designs with flat colors, sharp edges or lots of text, because PNG keeps edges crisp. Both formats are accepted by Apple, Spotify, YouTube and Pocket Casts. Never use GIF, WebP or BMP for your feed artwork.

RGB — always. Apple explicitly requires the RGB color space. CMYK is for print; artwork exported from print-oriented tools in CMYK can be rejected or display with shifted colors. If this checker flags your file as CMYK or grayscale, re-export it as RGB (sRGB) from your editor.

Almost nothing in practice. DPI is print metadata embedded in the file — no podcast app renders your cover based on it; only the pixel dimensions matter on screen. Apple's spec lists 72 dpi, but a file with no DPI metadata or a different value still works everywhere. This tool reports the embedded DPI for completeness but never fails your artwork over it.

Apple does not publish a hard file-size limit, but many podcast hosts and feed validators enforce roughly 500–512 KB. A 3000 × 3000 PNG with lots of detail can easily exceed that — export as JPG at quality 85–92 instead, or drop to 1500 × 1500, to stay under the limit without visible quality loss. The checker warns you when your file crosses 512 KB.

Upload the image in the checker above. It reads the real pixel dimensions, file format, color space and DPI metadata from the file itself — not from the filename — and checks each Apple Podcasts requirement with a pass/fail result and a fix for anything that fails.

Upload your artwork above and use the one-click export: it resamples to exactly 3000 × 3000 in your browser and downloads a JPG or PNG. Important: only downscale. Upscaling a 1400 × 1400 image to 3000 × 3000 does not add detail — it just makes a bigger blurry file. Always export from your original high-resolution design.

Almost always because the source was too small and got upscaled — a 500 × 500 image stretched to 3000 × 3000 cannot invent detail. The other common cause is heavy JPG compression. Fix it by exporting from the original design at 3000 × 3000 with JPG quality 90+ or PNG.

Podcast apps show your cover as a tiny thumbnail — often around 55 × 55 pixels — in search results and lists. The legibility test renders your artwork at exactly 55 × 55 so you can check whether the title is still readable and the main image still recognizable. If it fails at 55px, simplify: fewer words, bigger type, one focal image.

The safe area is the center roughly 80% of your artwork. Keep your title, logo and key visuals inside it, because apps crop the edges: Spotify shows a circular crop in the mini-player, Apple rounds the corners, and some players trim the top and bottom. The safe-area overlay above shows exactly what survives each crop.

Create a custom 3000 × 3000 pixel design in Canva (use px, not inches or cm), then download as JPG at high quality for photos or PNG for text-heavy designs. Check that Canva exported RGB — then upload the download here to verify every spec before submitting your feed.

Show artwork is required — it represents your whole podcast in every directory and must meet the 1400–3000px spec. Episode artwork is optional: you can attach a different square image per episode via the itunes:image tag. If you skip it, apps fall back to your show artwork.

The most common technical reasons: not square, smaller than 1400 × 1400, larger than 3000 × 3000, wrong format (GIF, WebP, BMP), or CMYK color space — the checker above catches all of these. Beyond specs, directories also reject blurry or pixelated art, placeholder images, and artwork containing Apple/Spotify logos or their brand names.