Spotify Canvas specs: size, length and format

The exact Spotify Canvas requirements: 9:16 vertical, 3 to 8 seconds, MP4 or JPG. Why Spotify's own pixel wording contradicts itself, what size actually uploads, and why Canvas uploads fail.

Spotify publishes its Canvas requirements in one short list, and one line of it is self-contradictory in a way that has confused artists for years. Here is what Spotify says, what it means, and what actually uploads.

Spotify Canvas requirements at a glance

What size should a Spotify Canvas actually be?

1080 by 1920 pixels. That is the answer, and it is worth explaining why the official wording sends people the other way.

Spotify asks for a "9:16 vertical ratio" and for the file to be "between 720px and 1080px tall". Those two statements cannot both be true as written. A 9:16 video that is 1080 pixels tall would be 607 pixels wide, which is not a size anybody exports, and one that is 720 pixels tall would be 405 wide. The pixel figure is describing the short side, not the height.

Spotify's own material settles it. The Canvas templates Spotify hands out are 750 by 1334 pixels, which is 254 pixels taller than the ceiling its guidelines appear to set. Read literally, Spotify's own template would break Spotify's own rule. Read as the short side, everything agrees.

The history points the same way. The older wording was 720 to 1280 tall. Read as height, the requirement would have shrunk over time, which no platform does. Read as the short side, it grew from 720 by 1280 to 1080 by 1920, which are exactly the two sizes the industry ships.

So read it as width: 720 to 1080 pixels wide, which at 9:16 means 1280 to 1920 pixels tall. Export at the top of that range and you get 1080 by 1920, the standard vertical video size and the one that uploads without complaint.

How long can a Spotify Canvas be?

Between 3 and 8 seconds. Not 15, not 30. The loop repeats for as long as the listener stays on the track, so the length is about the loop, not about the song. Eight seconds is the usual choice because it gives motion room to develop before it comes back around.

Where is the Spotify Canvas safe zone?

Spotify does not publish a safe-zone diagram, but its templates show the shape of the problem: the Now Playing controls sit over the top and the bottom of the screen on every phone, and roughly a fifth of the width can be lost to the edges depending on the handset.

• Keep anything that must be read in the middle half of the frame
• Expect the top and the bottom to be covered by the player
• Do not put a logo in a corner, which is the first thing to be cropped

What is not allowed on a Canvas?

Spotify's content policy is stricter than most people realise, and it catches a lot of well-meaning ideas. A Canvas may not send listeners anywhere else: no web addresses, no ticket links, no social handles, no asking for follows or likes, no brands, no contests, and not Spotify's own logo. Explicit content has to be flagged.

Why does my Spotify Canvas upload keep failing?

Almost always one of these, in this order of likelihood:

1. The clip is longer than 8 seconds, or shorter than 3
2. It is not a true 9:16 shape, because it was cropped by eye rather than exported to size
3. It is a horizontal or square video that was never reframed
4. It is a format other than MP4 or JPG
5. The track is not one where you have permission to add a Canvas

The length and the shape cover most failures. Both are decided at export, which is why a tool that exports to the spec removes the problem rather than describing it.

Who is allowed to add a Canvas?

Spotify limits it to the main artist on the track, through Spotify for Artists, with an Admin or Editor role on the profile. A featured artist cannot add one. If the Canvas option is not in your Spotify for Artists account, that is usually why.

Where does a Canvas appear?

In the Now Playing view of the Spotify mobile app only. It does not play on desktop or on the web player, and it is switched off when a listener has Data Saver on. Not seeing your own Canvas on a laptop is normal and does not mean the upload failed.

Common questions

Does a Spotify Canvas have sound?

No. A Canvas is silent. The audio a listener hears is your track, and the visual loops underneath it. Anything you build for Canvas has to work without sound.

Can a Spotify Canvas be 4K?

There is no point. Spotify asks for 720 to 1080 pixels on the short side, and it plays on a phone screen inside its own player. Exporting larger does not improve what a listener sees and makes the upload more likely to be rejected.

Can a Spotify Canvas have text?

Yes, but keep it away from the edges, which get cropped on some phones, and remember the track title and artist name are already on screen in the Now Playing view. Spotify's own guidance is to consider leaving them out.

What file format does Spotify Canvas use?

MP4 or JPG. A JPG gives a still image instead of a loop, which is a valid Canvas but throws away the reason to have one.

Is there a file size limit for a Spotify Canvas?

Spotify does not publish one. Keeping to 8 seconds at 1080 by 1920 produces a small file in any case.

Can I use the same Canvas on every track of an album?

Yes, you upload it per track. Some artists use one loop across a record for consistency, others vary it. Either is allowed.

Related reading

• Spotify Canvas size and specs, the complete cheat sheet
• How long should a Spotify Canvas be?
• How to make a Spotify Canvas, step by step
• Build one in Canvas, our Spotify Canvas studio

Last updated 2026-09-15

LimePulse is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Spotify AB or Apple Inc. Product names are used only to describe what the software makes files for.