Track cover art: dimensions, formats, and requirements

Do not confuse a streaming platform’s specifications with your distributor’s upload requirements. creator accepts an exactly 3000×3000 px export. Spotify’s own specification permits square cover art from 640 to 10000 px, while Apple Music lists a minimum of 4000×4000 px for direct partner delivery. Keep your original at the highest quality and export the version required by each delivery dashboard.

Also check the following before uploading:

• A true square, without margins or borders.
• An RGB color profile, not CMYK. CMYK is intended for print and is not handled correctly by streaming services.
• No pixelation, blur, or signs of enlarging a small image beyond its usable resolution.
• One cover art design for each release. Do not reuse the same cover for different singles or albums.

Platform restrictions overlap considerably. VK Music, a major Russian streaming service, spells them out in particular detail, making its rules a useful reference for common checks elsewhere.

• Other people’s faces and characters without permission. VK Music specifically prohibits unauthorized use of other people’s likenesses and characters from films, animation, or games. If your cover shows a real person other than you, obtain any required consent from them and permission from the photographer.
• Other people’s artwork and publicly accessible online photos. Famous paintings, illustrations, and photographs used without a license can raise the same issue. Use your own work or an image with an explicit license permitting commercial use.
• Calls to action. VK Music explicitly prohibits wording such as “listen to my album” or “play this now.” Cover art represents the release; it is not an advertising banner with a button.
• Streaming-service logos and trademarks. Community guidance consistently advises against Spotify, Apple Music, and other service logos on cover art. We did not find this specific detail directly on Yandex Music’s official pages, so distinguish that guidance from an explicitly published Yandex rule.
• Text that does not match the metadata. If the cover art includes a track title or artist name, it must match the release fields exactly. Otherwise, reviewers may flag the mismatch.
• Illegal content. VK Music also states a general prohibition on illegal content. It applies to the entire visual, not just its most obvious elements.

Meeting the technical rules is only half the job. Your cover also needs to be recognizable and invite people to listen.

• Test it as a thumbnail. Most people see cover art as a small image in a player or recommendation feed. Fine text and intricate details disappear at that size. A strong central image or bold typography is easier to read.
• Give your catalog a consistent visual style. A shared approach across your releases helps people recognize your artist profile and presents your work professionally.
• Use contrast and keep it simple. One clear visual focus often reads better than a crowded collage.

Yandex Music has a separate, stricter specification for the artist profile photo, not the square release cover: a vertical image showing a real person, at least 1000×1345 pixels, in JPEG or PNG, without cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, sexual content, violence, brand advertising, text, or watermarks. A profile video cover has its own limits: the same 1000×1345 dimensions, up to 5 MB, showing only the artist or band members, with no other people. These rules are stricter than those for release cover art, so check before reusing one image for both purposes.

There are three practical approaches, and you can combine them.

Design tools with templates. Canva and similar services offer square music-cover templates. Add your own image and text.

Your own photograph. A portrait with good natural light and minimal editing can be more convincing than a complicated digital collage, particularly when simplicity suits the music.

AI image tools. The creation method does not remove rights or content requirements. Avoid recognizable faces, characters, and trademarks that you do not have permission to use. creator’s dashboard includes an Ideogram-based image generator and an image remix tool. creator does not guarantee an exclusive result or license elements you add through a prompt or reference. Before commercial use, check Ideogram’s current terms and the image itself.

1. For creator: exactly 3000×3000 px, JPG or PNG, RGB, with the original cover art file saved separately.
2. A true square, without borders or visible stretching.
3. No unauthorized faces, characters, or other people’s work.
4. No links, streaming-service logos, prices, or “listen now” messages.
5. Any text matches the track title and artist name in the metadata.
6. Cover art is specific to this release and remains clear as a thumbnail.

Run through this checklist before each upload to avoid most common cover art rejections. Create and check your cover while uploading a release at creatormusic.ru. For audio, metadata, and release-date requirements, see the pre-release checklist.

To work on music, cover art, and video within one project, read our creator AI Studio overview for workflows, prompt examples, and ways to check the results. See the studio page for current availability. Generation and release distribution are purchased separately.