Channel Banner Safe-Area Checker

Knowledge Base

Why Channel Art Cropping Is So Confusing

YouTube asks you to upload one 2560×1440px image, but no single device shows all of it: TV shows the full canvas, desktop shows a wide letterboxed strip, tablet shows a narrower strip, and mobile shows the narrowest strip of all. Any text or logo placed outside the mobile safe area risks being cropped off for a huge share of your viewers.

How to Use This Tool

Upload your banner and toggle each device region on and off, anything essential (channel name, face, logo) should sit inside the mobile safe area box, since that's the region guaranteed visible on every device. Use the wider TV and desktop regions for background art and atmosphere that can safely extend further out.

What the Regions Actually Are

This tool overlays the widely-used channel art crop regions: the full 2560×1440 canvas (TV), a 2560×423 centred strip (desktop), a 1855×423 centred strip (tablet), and a 1546×423 centred strip (mobile), all centred on the same canvas, which is why the safe area shrinks toward the middle as the regions get narrower.

FAQ

Q: My banner isn't exactly 2560×1440, will this still work?
A: Yes, the crop regions scale proportionally to whatever size you upload, but for pixel-perfect accuracy (and to match YouTube's own recommended minimum quality), upload at the exact recommended 2560×1440px if you can.

Q: What if my image isn't 16:9-ish?
A: You'll see a warning. A very different aspect ratio means YouTube will crop or letterbox your upload in ways this tool's regions won't accurately represent, so matching the standard canvas proportions first is worth doing.

Channel art across every device

Channel banner art is one image displayed at several different shapes. A television shows the widest crop, a desktop browser shows less, a tablet less again, and a phone shows a narrow central strip. The full image is never seen by most visitors, and the central strip is seen by nearly all of them.

Design from the centre outward. Anything essential, meaning the channel name, what the channel is about and any schedule, belongs in the region surviving the tightest crop. Everything outside that is decoration that some viewers get and others do not, which is fine as long as nothing depends on it.

Avoid placing text near any edge. The widest crop is the least common view, and text positioned for it disappears entirely on a phone. This catches people out because the upload preview usually shows the full image, which is the one shape almost nobody sees.

Watch contrast at small sizes. A banner viewed on a phone occupies a strip a couple of centimetres tall, and thin type or low contrast becomes unreadable long before it becomes small. The same reasoning applies here as to thumbnails, since both are judged at a size the designer rarely previews.

Check the interface sits on top of your art. Profile pictures, subscribe buttons and platform navigation overlay the banner at positions that differ between devices. Placing something important where a profile image lands means it is obscured for every visitor rather than merely cropped for some.

Vocabulary

Safe area. The central region of an image surviving every crop a platform applies. The only part guaranteed visible to all visitors, and therefore where essential information belongs.

Crop. Cutting part of an image away to fit a different shape. Platforms crop banner art automatically and differently per device, without asking which part matters.

Responsive display. Showing different amounts of an image depending on screen size, rather than scaling the whole thing down. Why a single banner appears as several different compositions across devices, and why the preview you approve on upload is the one view almost nobody gets.

Overlay. Interface elements a platform draws on top of your image, such as a profile picture or a button. Occupy fixed positions, so anything placed beneath one is hidden rather than resized.