Give your album a cover that moves.

Motion art is the short loop Apple Music shows in place of a flat cover. Motion, the Apple Music motion art studio, composes it at Apple's two frame sizes with Apple's measured safe areas shown in the editor, so nothing important ends up under the notch or behind the track list. One project, both shapes.

No software needed. Everything runs in your browser.

For artists and labels delivering to Apple Music, and for anyone who already has a Spotify Canvas.

Three clips and a screenshot from the studio: one design in both of Apple's frames, the safe-area guides as you see them while you work, and a Spotify Canvas brought across. The bars in these scenes move with the loop, not with a song, because motion art plays without sound.

What you get

How to make Apple Music motion art

  1. Start from your cover. Upload the album art, pick it from your library, or describe a cover and have one generated, up to 200 a month on the Creator plan. Build on it with a scene or a looping video backdrop, then add stickers, text, your own GIFs and clips, or stock video from the built-in search. The background remover cuts the subject out of a photo.
  2. Animate it inside Apple's frame. Stack motion, effects, filters and shaders on each layer and set keyframes. Every card has its own timing, so a look can start partway through the loop and play for only a few seconds, and filters take their own fade in and fade out. Turn on the Safe zone, Player UI and Center guides while you work, so nothing important lands under the notch or the track list.
  3. Render the square. New Motion projects open in the square frame. Choose Render loop and our servers make the 3840 x 3840 file at 30 fps, 8 seconds long and with no audio track, then add it to your library for download.
  4. Flip to tall and render again. Switch the frame to 3:4, check the layout against the guides, and render the 2048 x 2732 file. Download both, then send them together to the distributor that delivers your release, because motion art travels with the release.

What is Apple Music motion art (animated album art)?

Apple Music motion art is an album cover that moves: a short, silent video loop that Apple shows in place of the still artwork on some releases. Listeners call it animated album art or an animated cover, and Apple's own term is motion artwork. Here is what it is, what Apple asks for, and how Motion makes it from the cover you already have.

A cover that moves, not a music video

Motion art keeps the album cover as the picture and brings it to life: light drifting across the artwork, a record turning, a title settling into place. It plays on the album page and the Now Playing screen, and it loops, so it works more like a living sleeve than a clip.

Apple's rules keep it that way. The animation has to be a continuous loop, the motion stays on the cover with no cuts to other images, and the first frame must match the still cover, because that still is what a listener sees on a slow connection. It carries no sound either, since the listener is already hearing the track.

Two files and a short list of exact rules

Apple takes motion art as a pair. The tall file, 2048 x 2732, is what phones show on the album page. The square file, 3840 x 3840, goes to Mac, iPad and smart TVs, and it is the larger of the two. Both are required, and both must be the same length: distributors state plainly that a mismatch stops the delivery, and it is an easy one to miss.

The rest is just as exact. Apple accepts 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps and nothing faster, which catches anyone exporting at the higher default rate of most video tools. The length is 8 to 35 seconds, the bitrate falls in a window of 45 to 100 Mbps, the file is H.264 or Apple ProRes 422/4444, in MOV or MP4, the colour is Rec. 709 or sRGB, and there is no audio track at all, not even a silent one.

How motion art reaches Apple Music

You cannot upload motion art yourself. There is no place for it in Apple Music for Artists: it travels with the release through your distributor, and it goes live on the release date, or the pre-order date if there is one. Art supplied after a release is already live usually has to be delivered again as an update.

Not every distributor offers it. When we last checked their help centres, UnitedMasters, Symphonic, Too Lost, Roc Nation Distribution, Identity Music and EmuBands all published a route, while DistroKid and TuneCore published nothing about it. Ask yours before you build, and treat the first delivery as the real one: changing motion art means delivering it again, and some distributors limit how often you can.

Designing for a square and a tall frame at once

The two shapes are covered in different ways. Apple says the whole square frame is safe, because no interface sits over the art there. The tall frame on iPhone is crowded: the notch and page buttons sit across the top, and the album title, the buttons and the track list cover the lower part.

Apple does not publish that tall safe area as text. It exists as a rectangle in Apple's Album Motion Partner Toolkit, so we read it off the artboard, and Motion draws exactly that while you work. It is tighter than you might guess: nearly the full width, but only the band from about a sixth of the way down to a little past the middle. Switch on Player UI as well and a mock of Apple's player controls sits over your design.

How Motion makes it

Motion, the Apple Music motion art studio, is the same editor as Canvas, our studio for Spotify Canvas, set to Apple's frames. You start from your cover and build on it with a scene such as Monolith or a looping video backdrop such as Rain Window, stickers, text and your own clips, then bring it to life with motion, effect, filter and shader cards, from Ken Burns to Lens Flare, and text animations such as Neon Flicker.

Everything the studio animates is worked out from the position in the loop, never from a clock, so the last frame leads straight back into the first and there is no seam to hide. Keyframes wrap the same way, which means a layer you move across the frame is back where it started when the loop repeats.

New projects open in the square. When it looks right, choose Render loop: the file is made on our servers at 30 fps, 8 seconds long, with the bitrate aimed inside Apple's window and no audio track. Then flip the frame to tall: every layer moves to the same relative place, background clips crop rather than stretch, and a second render gives you the matching file. Already have a Spotify Canvas? Open it from Motion and convert a copy instead of starting again.

What to check before you deliver

Motion takes care of what a tool can control: both sizes, the frame rate, one length for both files, the bitrate window and a silent file. It does not certify a delivery. LimePulse does not write colour tags into the file, Apple's curation team can still reject art, and distributors publish rules of their own. Roc Nation's help page, for one, still gives 15 to 35 seconds, which a 8 second loop falls short of, so ask before you build.

Then check the pair against your distributor's page, make sure the first frame matches the still cover you deliver, and send both files together. Renders are unlimited on the Creator plan, so a change after feedback is simply another render.

Built for Apple's frames

Both of Apple's sizes in one project. Apple asks for a square file at 3840 x 3840 and a tall one at 2048 x 2732. The frame is a setting on the project, so switching it moves every layer and keyframe to the same relative place instead of starting over. Background videos crop to fill the new shape rather than stretching, so a face stays a face.

Safe areas measured, not guessed. Apple does not publish its safe area as text, so we read it off the artboard in Apple's Album Motion Partner Toolkit. On the tall frame the studio shades the band the notch and page buttons cover and the band the title, buttons and track list cover. The square has no bands, because Apple says no interface covers it, and the Player UI toggle lays a mock of Apple's player controls over your art.

Built around Apple's delivery rules. Every Motion file renders at 30 fps, because Apple accepts 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps and nothing faster. The file has no audio track, and the bitrate is aimed inside Apple's 45 to 100 Mbps window. Loops are 8 seconds and both files come from one project, so the square and the tall always match in length.

A loop with no seam to hide. Every motion, effect and keyframe is worked out from the position in the loop rather than from a clock, so the last frame leads straight back into the first. Keyframes wrap around too, so a layer you move is back where it started when the art repeats. Nothing the studio animates jumps at the loop point.

Bring your Spotify Canvas over. Open a Canvas project from Motion and the studio offers to convert a copy into Apple's square frame. Every layer's position, width and keyframes are rescaled, and the Spotify original stays exactly as it was, so you keep both. Flip the copy to tall when the square looks right.

The whole Canvas effects library. Motion is the same editor as Canvas, so you get the same motion, effect, filter and shader cards, from Ken Burns to Liquid Flow, and the same text animations, such as Typewriter and Neon Flicker. Build on your cover with a scene such as Orbit or a looping video backdrop such as Black Silk, then add stickers, text and your own clips.

One composition, both frames

The square file at 3840 x 3840, the one Apple shows on Mac, iPad and smart TVs. The cover sits in a circle over a blurred copy of itself while mirrored bars rise and fall with the loop.

The same cover and scene in the tall frame at 2048 x 2732, the file iPhone shows on the album page. Switching a project's frame moves every layer to the same relative place, so the second shape is a second render, not a second build.

The tall frame in the studio with the Safe zone guide on: the striped bands are where the notch and page buttons sit above your art and where the title, buttons and track list sit below it. The dashed box between them is the safe area, measured off Apple's own partner toolkit.

A Spotify Canvas project converted into Apple's square frame with one click. Convert makes a copy, so the original 9:16 loop stays exactly as it was and you keep both.

Works with

Canvas: The Spotify version of the same loop, built in the same editor.

Music Visualizer: The full-length video for the same release.

Frequently asked questions

What size is Apple Music motion art?

Two sizes, and Apple wants both: 2048 x 2732 for the tall 3:4 file that phones show on the album page, and 3840 x 3840 for the square 1:1 file on Mac, iPad and smart TVs. The square is the larger of the two. Motion renders each one at exactly that size from the same project.

How long should Apple Music motion art be?

Apple's current guidelines accept 8 to 35 seconds. Motion loops are 8 seconds, inside that window, and because both files come from one project they always match. Some older advice, including Roc Nation's help page, still gives a 15 second minimum, so check with the distributor delivering your release before you build.

What frame rate does Apple Music motion art need?

Apple lists 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps and nothing faster, so a file at the higher rate most video tools export by default is turned away, however good it looks. Motion renders every Apple file at 30 fps for exactly that reason, and there is no frame rate setting to get wrong.

Why does Apple ask for two files?

Because the art appears in two shapes: the tall file on the album page on phones and the square one on larger screens. Apple treats them as a pair, and distributors such as UnitedMasters say plainly that both must be delivered together and be the same length. One file on its own is an incomplete delivery.

Can I make an animated album cover from a still image?

Yes, that is what Motion is for. Start from your flat cover and add movement to it: effects and shaders on the artwork itself, stickers or text moving around it, or a looping video behind it. You need no footage and no video software, because the editor works in your browser and our servers do the rendering.

Does Apple Music motion art have sound?

No. Apple asks for no audio track at all, and every Motion export is video only. The listener hears the track through their player, so the art does not react to the song either: the bars in some scenes are animated on the loop, which is why they repeat exactly.

How do I submit motion art to Apple Music?

Through your distributor, as part of the release. Apple Music for Artists has no upload for it, and not every distributor offers it: when we last checked, UnitedMasters, Symphonic, Too Lost and Roc Nation Distribution published a route, while DistroKid and TuneCore published nothing. Our distributor guide lists what each one says.

Can I turn my Spotify Canvas into Apple Music motion art?

Yes. Open the Canvas project from Motion and choose Convert a copy to Apple. The copy opens in Apple's square frame with every layer and keyframe rescaled, the original stays as it was, and switching the frame gives you the tall version.

Where do the safe-area guides come from?

From Apple's own Album Motion Partner Toolkit. Apple does not publish the safe area as text, so it was read off the toolkit's artboard: nearly the full width of the tall frame, with a band across the top for the notch and page buttons and a larger one below for the title, buttons and track list. Apple says the whole square frame is safe, so the studio marks the square as all safe instead of drawing bands.

Is the file ready to send to Apple?

It is built to the rules a tool can control: both sizes, 30 fps, one length for both files, a bitrate aimed inside Apple's window and no audio track. It is not a certified delivery. LimePulse does not write colour tags into the file, Apple's curation team can still reject art, and distributors add rules of their own, so check the files against your distributor's requirements before you submit.

Is Motion included in my plan?

Yes. The Creator plan covers Motion and every other LimePulse studio, at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with unlimited renders and no watermark on any export.

Apple and Apple Music are trademarks of Apple Inc. LimePulse is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple.

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