Free tool

Podcast Cover Art Checker

You designed it at 3000 pixels. Listeners see it at 55, in a row, under somebody else’s show. Add your artwork once and look at all of it.

Looked after by Stamp, a rubber stamp.

Your image is read by your own browser and never sent anywhere. No account, no upload, no limit. Add it once and every view below uses it.

Loading the Business in the United States chart from Apple.
In a list

Your cover between two shows genuinely charting, at 55 pixels. Where a first impression happens.

On the wall

The same chart as browse tiles. Every genre has a house style; this is where you see it.

On its own

Five real display sizes, from the library row to the show page, none scaled to fit.

Requirements

Square, 1400 to 3000 pixels, JPEG or PNG, light enough to load. The easy half, checked.

Podcast cover art requirements

Shape
Square, exactly 1:1
Anything else is cropped or refused.
Size
1400 to 3000 pixels
3000 is safe. Platforms scale down well and up badly.
Format
JPEG or PNG, RGB
Accepted everywhere that reads your feed.

Apple Podcasts sets these, and Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube Music all read the same image out of your RSS feed. Meet Apple’s requirements once and you have met all of them.

How it works

  1. 1Add your artworkDrop in the square file you publish. Nothing is uploaded.
  2. 2Pick a chartYour genre and country, live from Apple.
  3. 3Look at 55 pixelsYour cover in a real list row, between charting shows.
  4. 4Check the basicsShape, size and format, flagged if anything is off.

Questions

What size should podcast cover art be?
Square, between 1400x1400 and 3000x3000 pixels. Apple Podcasts sets that range and every other directory reads the same image from your RSS feed, so meeting it once covers Spotify, Amazon and YouTube Music too. 3000x3000 is the safe choice because platforms scale down well and up badly.
Why does my cover art look blurry or unreadable?
Almost always because it was designed at full size and never checked small. Cover art is most often seen at around 55 pixels in a library list. Type that reads perfectly at 3000 pixels becomes a grey smudge at 55. Add your artwork above and look at the smallest preview, which is the size most listeners actually meet it at.
Which shows is my cover compared against?
Real ones. The list and the wall are Apple Podcasts chart entries for the genre and country you pick, fetched live by your own browser and refreshed daily by Apple. Your cover goes into that list at whatever position you choose, at the size a library row is drawn, so you are looking at the same picture a listener gets.
Does podcast artwork have to be square?
Yes. A non-square image is rejected or cropped, and a crop will usually take the edges off your title. This checker flags anything that is not exactly 1:1.
What file format and size should I use?
JPEG or PNG, in RGB colour. Keep the file itself reasonable, since your artwork is downloaded every time somebody loads your show. A 3000x3000 JPEG at high quality is usually a few hundred kilobytes; if yours is several megabytes, export it again at a lower quality setting and you will not see the difference.
Is anything uploaded when I use this?
No. The image is read and drawn by your own browser and never leaves your device. There is no account, no limit and no server involved. The chart of real covers comes straight from Apple to your browser as well, with nothing of ours in the middle.
How do I know if my title is readable enough?
Look at the 55 pixel row with real shows above and below it and ask whether you could tell yours apart at a glance. If you cannot read the words, listeners cannot either. The usual fixes are fewer words, a heavier weight, and more contrast between the type and whatever is behind it.
Browse the charts on their own

Each genre has a page of its own: the full top hundred, what its covers have in common, what happens to them at 55 pixels, and this same tool pointed at that chart. Ten countries each.

BusinessTrue CrimeNewsComedySociety & CultureHealth & FitnessTechnologyEducationArtsSportsScienceMusicTV & FilmKids & FamilyReligion & SpiritualityFictionLeisureGovernment
Business in the United StatesBusiness in the United KingdomBusiness in NigeriaBusiness in CanadaBusiness in AustraliaBusiness in IndiaBusiness in IrelandBusiness in South AfricaBusiness in GermanyBusiness in New Zealand
The whole wall, all eighteen genres

This tool is looked after by Stamp.Official and fair. Approves what deserves it, firmly.

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