DIY: YouTube channel art, part 3

procedural water, Landmark Game

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Adding channel art to your YouTube channel can be a challenge. To address the different sizes of displays that YouTube can be viewed on--cell phone to TV--it's necessary to upload a very large image. Google suggests 2560 X 1440 pixels. At 72 dpi an image that size is about 3.5 Megabyte. The upload window at YouTube says that 2 MB is the maximum file size. What to do?

By using the service available at Image Optimizer I was able to compress my image to a little over 1 MB. The process is easy. Upload your picture, type in the dimensions desired for the result (in this case 2560 width and 1440 height), and click the Optimize Now! button. When the optimizing is done, download the result, now renamed with the term "Optimized-" added to the original filename. You can also download the Image Optimizer. BTW, it's always a good idea to scan downloads for viruses. Remember to donate, if you take advantage of the service. (Note that their site currency is British Pounds (GPB) and at today's rate 5£= $8.54.)

Then upload your optimized image to YouTube.

There is a hitch in that different devices will show different parts of the image. Images that have the main feature oriented horizontally and centered will work best. In my case the image--a screenshot of Moon and water from Landmark Game--is oriented vertically and the Moon is not visible on the YouTube webpage or a cell phone. You can see what I mean by visiting my channel,

To get to the page that permits you to add channel art, browse to the Home page of your channel and click Add channel art near the top of your channel.  For more instructions and the guidelines, try Google's help page.

-- Marge