business professional in office looking at phone and laptop
Uploading a well-designed banner to your YouTube channel can make your page look more professional.
Koh Sze Kiat/Getty Images
  • You can create and upload a YouTube banner as a header to your branded or personal YouTube channel.
  • The recommended YouTube banner size is 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.
  • When uploading a banner, there are guides to help you position it so viewers can read text on it.
  • Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

If you're starting a YouTube channel, adding a banner is an important part of setting it up. After all, it's the first image that people will see when they view your channel. And when done well, it can help you gain subscribers and succeed on the platform.

Here's what you should know about the recommended YouTube banner size, how to best position text on the image, and how to upload an image to your channel.

Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky

YouTube banner size

Your banner needs to be specific pixel dimensions to format correctly on YouTube:

  • Recommended banner size: 2,560 x 1,440 pixels
  • Minimum banner size: 2,048 x 1,152 pixels
  • Maximum banner width: 2,560 x 423 pixels
  • Maximum file size: 6MB

YouTube banner safe area

The dimensions listed above are a measure of the width and height of the image, in pixels. These are meant to give your channel page the best look, whether the viewer is on desktop, mobile, or TV.

You should also know about the text and logo "safe area," which measures 1,546 x 423 pixels. The safe area is what people will see on all devices, so that's where you want to confine your text and logos to on the image. For the best result, that information should be centered on your image, both vertically and horizontally.

Screenshot of Insider YouTube channel banner
The banner is the first thing visitors to your channel will see.
Devon Delfino

How to upload your banner to YouTube

1. Go to the YouTube website and sign in to your account, if needed.

2. Click on your profile thumbnail in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Your channel.

Screenshot of profile icon drop-down menu on YouTube website
Click "Your channel" in the drop-down.
Devon Delfino

3. If you don't have a banner already, select Customize Channel. Or if you have a current banner, click into it and upload a new image, then skip to step six.

Screenshot of Your Channel page on YouTube website
Click "Customize Channel" at the top.
Devon Delfino

4. After the Customize Channel option, select Branding.

Screenshot of Customize Channel page on YouTube website
Click "Branding" at the top of the page.
Devon Delfino

5. Under Banner Image, click Upload.

Screenshot of Upload image button on YouTube channel
Select "Upload" to add an image from your device.
Devon Delfino

6. Select your image from the pop-up and hit Open.

Screenshot of upload image window on YouTube website
Select your image file and click "Open."
Devon Delfino

7. Adjust the image as necessary, using the guides, and when ready click Done.

Screenshot of image adjustment screen on YouTube website
Make sure your image appears properly on each device and click "Done."
Devon Delfino

8. Select Publish.

Screenshot of channel "Publish" button on YouTube website
Hit "Publish" in the top-right corner.
Devon Delfino

YouTube banner templates

You may want to make a YouTube banner from a template, where you can choose a graphic and customize it yourself.

Sites like Canva and Adobe offer a wide range of YouTube banner templates that you can download, re-size, and design to make your own.

YouTube channel art templates (small)YouTube Banner Templates (small)How to create a YouTube channel for personal use or for your brandHow to upload a video to YouTube and customize its settings on desktop and mobileHow to verify your YouTube account, so you can upload videos longer than 15 minutes and customize thumbnailsHow to see a list of your YouTube subscribers on a computer or mobile device

Read the original article on Business Insider