itch.io Cover Image and Screenshot Sizes (2026)

I read itch.io's creator docs on 31 October 2026, including its getting started guide, its page design docs, its HTML5 docs and its quality guidelines.

This post covers the cover image, screenshots, the banner, backgrounds for browser games and the rules your images need to follow.

itch.io keeps its rules for creators in its own docs, and they're short. I checked four pages for this guide.

1. 1The getting started guide, for the cover ratio, the sizes and the number of screenshots.
2. 2Page design docs, for the banner, the background and where screenshots appear.
3. 3HTML5 docs, for browser game embeds and the image behind the Play button.
4. 4Quality guidelines from itch.io, for what the cover and screenshots should do and what to avoid.

itch.io sets far fewer hard limits than the app stores do. Where its docs don't give a number, this guide says so. It doesn't guess.

The getting started guide says cover images should respect a 315:250 aspect ratio. 315x250 is the minimum. It's best to include a larger image with the same ratio, like 630x500.

As a decimal, 315:250 is 1.26:1. So the cover is a little wider than it is tall. Reduced, the ratio is 63:50.

630x500 is exactly twice the minimum. If you'd like a sharper image on high resolution screens, the next steps in the same ratio are 945x750 and 1260x1000.

None of the docs I read give a maximum size or a file size limit for the cover. Keep the file light anyway. It shows in lists next to many other covers.

The getting started guide says the title, short description and cover image are used in game listings all over the site.

The quality guidelines put it more plainly. The cover is typically the first thing someone sees when they find your game on itch.io's browse pages. If you don't have one, the guidelines say people will likely skip over it.

That makes the cover the image most people see before they decide to click. Your banner and screenshots only get seen once someone opens the page.

So the cover needs to work small. Look at it at 315x250, the minimum size, and check that the main subject still reads.

itch.io allows animated covers. The quality guidelines say you can even upload a GIF of your project as the cover image to attract attention.

There's one condition. If you use an animated cover, the guidelines ask that it doesn't have seizure inducing effects, as per the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

The WCAG rule on this, three flashes or below threshold, says pages shouldn't contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second period, unless the flash stays below set thresholds.

The quality guidelines also list flashing imagery among the things to avoid, next to shock images and loud noises. A slow loop of gameplay is a safer choice than fast cuts or strobe effects.

If your game runs at 16:9, such as 1920x1080, its screenshots are much wider than the cover's 1.26:1 ratio. You'll need to crop.

From a 1920x1080 screenshot, a 1260x1000 crop fits inside the frame. Scale that down by half, and you get 630x500, the size itch.io suggests.

Pick the crop on purpose. Center it on your character, your title or the action, not on empty sky or a menu bar.

If your art allows it, add your game's title to the cover. Listings show the title as text too, but a title in the art helps the cover stand out at a glance. That's my advice, not an itch.io rule.

itch.io is relaxed about screenshots. The getting started guide says screenshots can be any size, and it recommends uploading between 3 and 5 of them.

Screenshots can also be GIFs, according to the quality guidelines. They say to feel free to use GIFs if they better represent your project.

The same guidelines explain why screenshots matter. Many users rely on them to decide whether a project is worth their time.

Any size doesn't mean any mix looks good. I'd export every screenshot at your game's own resolution and keep them the same size, so the gallery looks even. That's a style choice, not a rule.

itch.io pages come in two layouts, a single column and a two column mode. The page design docs say the two column mode is the default for downloadable projects. It shows your screenshots and video on the right, with your main content on the left.

You can change it in the theme editor. Its Layout section offers three screenshot settings.

1. 1Sidebar gives you two columns, with screenshots and your trailer on the right.
2. 2Hidden gives you one column, and any screenshots you uploaded stay hidden.
3. 3Auto picks Hidden for pages with game embeds and Sidebar for the rest.

The docs also say the video player sits above the screenshots in that second column. So your trailer comes first, and your screenshots follow under it.

Browser games work differently. For HTML5 and other embedded content, itch.io defaults to the single column mode, which hides the screenshot column.

Upload screenshots anyway. The quality guidelines recommend them even for an embedded browser game, and they say itch.io displays them on different parts of the site.

If you keep the screenshot column hidden, the design docs still recommend that you find a way to show images. Their suggestion is to embed images in your description.

There's one exception. If images don't suit your project, such as a text only Twine game, the quality guidelines say there's no obligation to upload them.

The banner sits at the top of your page. The design docs call it probably the most important graphic part of your page, since it's the first thing new visitors see.

It can be a PNG with transparency or an animated GIF. When you upload a banner, it replaces the title that itch.io would otherwise show just above the description.

That means your banner has to carry the game's name. Put the title in the art, or visitors won't see it in text at the top.

The docs I read don't give a banner size. Make it as wide as your page's content column, then check how it looks in the interactive theme editor before you publish.

You can also set a background image for the whole page in the theme editor. The design docs call it more subtle than the banner. They point to a page that repeats its background vertically to style its content column.

Browser games get a second background option. For projects that use Click to Play, the HTML5 docs describe a Background Image that takes up the size of the viewport, the game area, and sits behind the Play button.

A Gradient option can also lay a color over that viewport, to match your page's color scheme.

That image is the first thing visitors see of a browser game before they press Play. Treat it like a second cover, and size it to the viewport dimensions you set.

Browser games need one more set of numbers, the viewport. The HTML5 docs describe two ways to show a game.

1. 1Embed in page, where you provide the viewport dimensions and the game runs on the page.
2. 2Click to launch in fullscreen, where the game fills the screen and no dimensions are needed.

Phones change the picture. If you mark your game Mobile Friendly, itch.io uses click to launch in fullscreen on a phone, whatever you chose for desktop. The docs say a mobile viewport has a dynamic aspect ratio and resolution that match the user's device.

So don't build your game for one exact shape. The HTML5 docs recommend a template that lets your game's canvas adjust to the size of the window it sits in.

The quality guidelines include several rules that apply to your images.

1. 1Misleading content isn't allowed, so your images should show the real project.
2. 2Impersonation is out, including content confusingly similar to other creators or companies.
3. 3Shock images, loud noises, flashing imagery and obnoxious material are on the list to avoid.
4. 4Explicit images shouldn't be your cover, and the guidelines tie this to the adult content classification.

These rules carry weight. For some of them, the guidelines warn that a breach can take your account off the browse and search pages. For the adult content rule, they say itch.io may remove all of your pages from its discovery features.

Timing matters on itch.io. The quality guidelines say that as soon as you publish a page for the first time, it's added to the Most Recent list. It can't be put on top of that list again.

They also say a page that goes public should be ready, including all its images, files and classifications.

Draft and Restricted pages don't show up on browse and search pages, according to the same guidelines. So you can build a page in private while you finish the art.

Upload the cover, screenshots and banner first. Then make the page public.

If your game is also on Steam or a mobile store, you already have screenshots. itch.io accepts any size, so they'll upload as they are.

The cover is the piece you'll likely need to make fresh. None of Steam's capsule sizes share the cover's 1.26:1 shape. Our guide to Steam capsule and screenshot sizes lists them.

Phone screenshots work too, since any size is allowed. Our Play Store screenshot size guide covers the phone side.

Whatever you reuse, check that it still shows the current build. Old screenshots of a game that has changed can mislead players.

We make PlayMockUp, so weigh this part with that in mind. PlayMockUp puts screenshots into device frames, and every phone frame is a branded phone.

That fits one kind of itch.io page. If you ship an Android build or a mobile friendly browser game, a phone frame shows players at a glance that it runs on a phone.

For a PC game, plain screenshots are the better choice. A phone frame would suggest the wrong platform, and itch.io's guidelines ask you not to mislead.

You can try our free mockup generator and see the devices on the frame list.