Guide · Brandon Warrell

Album cover size and file specs for streaming, CD and vinyl

Make your album cover a perfect square, 3000 × 3000 pixels, saved as a JPG at the highest quality setting in sRGB color. That one file meets the minimum size at every service in this guide, and it is also the largest size TuneCore and CD Baby accept. DistroKid only takes JPG. If your distributor accepts PNG, a PNG keeps full quality. For print, a CD booklet cover trims to about 4.75 inches square and a 12-inch vinyl jacket to about 12.375 inches square, each with 1/8 inch of bleed on every edge.

What size should an album cover be for Spotify?

Spotify's artist help page asks for a 1:1 square between 640 and 10,000 pixels on each side: a JPG, PNG or TIFF using lossless encoding, at the highest resolution you have, converted to sRGB with no embedded color profile. But that page sits in the artist-profile section, and Spotify tells artists to work with a distributor. Your cover has to pass DistroKid's, TuneCore's, CD Baby's or a similar service's rules first. That's why 3000 × 3000 is a safer target than Spotify's own range.

What are the album art dimensions for each platform?

These come from each service's own help pages, checked in October 2026. "Not stated" means the page doesn't say.

Make it a perfect square for all of them. Other details:

• TuneCore wants at least 72 dpi, CD Baby 72 to 300 dpi, and SoundCloud distribution 300 dpi. Pixels are what count on screen. A 3000 px square is 10 × 10 inches at 300 dpi, so exporting at 300 dpi covers all three.
• Apple and Spotify both say not to enlarge a small image to meet the minimum. Apple rejects art that is too blurry or pixelated.
• DistroKid adjusts art that isn't square or is under 3000 × 3000 (down to its 1000 × 1000 minimum), but warns the result may not look as intended.
• Bandcamp says a release without album art won't show up in its search listings, tag listings or Discover.
• If your 3000 px JPG is over 2 MB, save a lighter copy for SoundCloud's track upload.
• Amazon Music gives no cover art size. Its artist FAQ says music arrives through a record label or distributor, so their rules apply.

What gets album art rejected?

Distributors enforce the stores' rules. Their help pages list these reasons, and the lists overlap:

• Text that doesn't match your release info. The artist name and title on the cover must match what you enter, spelling included. A single's cover can't show the title of the album it will later appear on. Featured artists and other contributors named on the art must be credited in the metadata too.
• Web addresses, QR codes and contact info. That includes social media handles and logos, email addresses and phone numbers.
• Store names and logos. No "iTunes," no Spotify logo, and no claims of store exclusivity without the store's permission.
• Prices, ads, and format or timing words. Leave off prices, barcodes, ads for other products, words like "CD," "vinyl" or "Digital Exclusive," release dates, and phrases like "new" or "out now."
• Poor quality. Blurry, pixelated, stretched or rotated images, cut-off text, uneven borders, and art squeezed into one corner with white space around it.
• Generic or reused art. Plain single-color squares, the same cover on more than one release, and stock images already used on other artists' releases.
• Images you don't have the rights to. DistroKid's list names unlicensed and stock photography. SoundCloud may ask for proof that you made the art, such as your layered design files.
• Explicit images. Pornography and nudity get rejected, and CD Baby and SoundCloud also turn down graphic or excessive violence. If the music or the art is explicit, mark the release explicit. TuneCore notes that the artwork counts, and an unmarked explicit release may be hidden from sale on iTunes. SoundCloud only allows a "Parental Advisory" sticker on art for releases marked explicit.

How do you make album art readable as a thumbnail?

In search results, playlists and share previews, your cover often shows up as a small square. Design for that size first.

• Give it one focal point. One strong shape reads better small than a busy scene.
• Use strong contrast between subject, type and background. SoundCloud's own tip is that high-contrast, simple designs tend to stand out best in a crowded feed.
• Set the title big and bold, or leave it off. TuneCore accepts image-only art. If you skip text, make the image distinctive: CD Baby warns that a plain single-color square may not be accepted.
• Keep type and key details away from the edges, so nothing looks cut off.
• Check it small. View the cover at about postage-stamp size on your phone. If you can't read the title, make it bigger.

Echoes of Tomorrow was SCF coursework: a type-led cover for streaming, built to read at thumbnail size. The master is 4000 × 4000 px, so a release through TuneCore or CD Baby would need a 3000 px export. The album cover design page shows how it was made.

What size is a CD booklet cover?

A jewel case front cover trims to about 4.75 × 4.75 inches (roughly 120 mm square). Exact sizes vary slightly by maker. CD makers commonly ask for 1/8 inch (about 3 mm) of bleed on every edge and a 1/8 inch safe margin inside the trim. So a single front panel is a 5 × 5 inch file with bleed, or 1500 × 1500 pixels at 300 pixels per inch.

• Print files are CMYK at 300 ppi, not the RGB file you send to streaming services.
• Build on your manufacturer's template, with its guide lines on their own layer. Ask whether they want those lines on or off in the final file.

What size is a 12-inch vinyl jacket?

A standard 12-inch jacket trims to about 12.375 × 12.375 inches, a little bigger than the record inside. Exact sizes vary slightly by plant; one UK plant's template is 315 mm tall, about 12.4 inches. Plants commonly ask for 1/8 inch (3 mm) of bleed, a 1/8 inch type-safe margin and CMYK at 300 ppi.

• On its own, the front cover with bleed is 12.625 inches square, about 3790 pixels at 300 ppi. A 3000 px streaming file is too small for that, so plan the print version from a larger master.
• The jacket prints as one flat sheet with front, spine and back together. Spine width depends on the jacket style, so get the template from your pressing plant first.
• SoundCloud's vinyl program needs only a square front cover (2000 × 2000 px minimum, 3000 × 3000 recommended) and builds the back, spine and record sticker for you.

Making a gig poster for the release? The poster sizes guide covers common sizes, and more how-tos are on the guides page.

Need a hand?

I design album and single covers from $100, with a fixed quote before any work starts. The first draft takes 2–4 business days (rush is possible), and 3 rounds of revisions are included. You get the streaming file sized for your distributor. If you're pressing CDs or vinyl, ask for print files on your manufacturer's template when you request a quote, and the fixed quote will include them. The FAQ covers pricing, revisions and file types. I'm based in Palmetto, Florida, and work with musicians anywhere. Start a project or book a 15-minute call.