Media guidelines
Supported file types, sizes, recommendations, and more.
- Media URLs must use HTTPS and be accessible by your audience.
- Uploaded (Airship-hosted) media must be 2 MB or smaller. Maximum file size on this page refers to URL-linked media only.
- Airship recommends a maximum file size of 1 MB for all media. Additional recommendations and exceptions are noted.
Your audience’s ability to receive media may be limited by their download speeds. If media is too large and takes too long to download, your message may render without it. In general, you should use the smallest possible image size to ensure that your audience receives messages quickly, regardless of connection quality.
See also:
Push notifications
You can add media to your Push NotificationA message that can appear on any screen on a mobile device. Push notifications appear as banners. message content and TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic..
File type and size:
| Platform | Media type | File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android / Fire OS | Image | JPEG, PNG1 | < 200 K | 2 MB | |
| iOS | Image | JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 200 K | 10 MB2 | |
| iOS | Audio | AIFF, WAV, MP3, M4A | < 1 MB | 5 MB2 | |
| iOS | Video | AVI, MPEG, MPEG2, MP4 | < 5 MB | 50 MB2 |
1. Android and Fire OS support additional file types. Only JPEG and PNG are supported for Airship push notifications.
2. Refers to URL-linked media only. Uploaded (Airship-hosted) media must be 2 MB or smaller.
Image width/height in pixels:
| Platform | Minimum | Maximum | Recommended dimensions | Recommended aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android / Fire OS | 300 x 300 px | 2048 x 1024 px | 720 x 360 px | 2:11 |
| iOS | 300 x 300 px | 1038 x 1038 px | 1038 x 1038 px or 518 x 1036 px | 1:1 or 1:21 |
1. For non-iOS devices, the 2:1 aspect ratio prevents cropping. Images in iOS scale vertically. If you use a 2:1 aspect ratio on iOS, or 1:2 on Android, the image will zoom and crop accordingly. We recommend testing to ensure your messages appear as intended.
Media attachments for iOS notifications are not guaranteed to be delivered by Apple and are dependent on local device conditions. A combination of the media file size, connection speed, and network congestion may result in Apple’s push service dropping the media in favor of delivering the text only. Use the smallest media file possible to increase the chances it will be delivered even under suboptimal conditions.
Web notifications
You can add an image to your Web Push NotificationA message that appears in the top or bottom right corner of a web browser or in a notification center.On mobile devices, web push notifications appear similar to push notifications. content and TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic.. The image appears in web push notifications in Chrome and Opera browsers on Windows and Android platforms.
| File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size | Recommended aspect ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG, PNG | < 200 k | 2 MB | 2:11 |
1. If you use a 1:2 aspect ratio, the image will zoom and crop accordingly. We recommend testing to ensure your messages appear as intended.
Web icon
The web icon is an image that appears in a Web Push NotificationA message that appears in the top or bottom right corner of a web browser or in a notification center.On mobile devices, web push notifications appear similar to push notifications.. Typically, it is your brand’s logo. You set the default icon when configuring the Web channel. You can also override the default icon for an individual message. See Optional features: Web icon.
If you are including Safari support, the default icon must be square and at least 256 x 256 pixels. Overriding the icon in an individual message is not supported for Safari.
| File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size | Recommended dimensions | Recommended aspect ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG, PNG | < 100 k | 2 MB | 256 x 256 px | 1:1 |
You can add images to your Email message content or TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic..
| File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)1 | < 200 K | 2 MB |
1. Additional formats are supported (e.g., TIFF, BMP), but they do not always display in email clients.
Recommendations:
- 72 DPI.
- Keep image size as small as possible. Use compression to decrease the size and balance quality.
- Consider using an image that is twice the size of the space you’d like to fill so that it looks good on all screens. You can adjust the dimensions in the WYSIWYG editor, or with
<img>tags if using HTML. The width of the image will depend on the space you are trying to fill, but for reference, it is commonly recommended to have your email width at 600 px.
SMS (MMS)
You can add media to your MMS message content or TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic.. SMS does not support media.
Twilio automatically resizes supported image file types based on specific carrier limits. See also Twilio Programmable SMS Supported File Types and Size Limits for MMS Media Messages .
| Media type | File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size | Recommended dimensions | Recommended aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | JPEG | < 600 KB | 1 MB | 640 x 1138 px | 9:16 |
| Image | PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 600 KB | 1 MB | 640 x 480 px or 640 x 640 px | 4:3 or 1:1 |
| Audio | MP1, MP2, MP3, M1A, M2A, M4A, M4P, M4B, M4R, MPA, WAV, 3GP, 3G2 | < 600 KB | 1 MB | ||
| Contact | VCARD, VCF | < 600 KB | 1 MB |
Message Center and landing pages
The hosted content limit for a Rich PageA landing page or Message Center message in your app that can include HTML, video, etc. is 1.5 MB, which includes the HTML and images. So the maximum image file size to use should be calculated in aggregate with other included images and kept as low as possible. See also: Message Center content: Hosting and page size; this information applies to both Message Center and Landing pages.
You can enter a URL for video content in the Interactive and Visual editors, but the Interactive editor accepts YouTube URLs only. The same image file types are allowed in both editors.
| Editor | File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive | JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 200 KB | 1 MB |
| Visual | JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 200 KB | 512 KB |
Message Center thumbnail image
The default size for a Message Center thumbnail image is 64x48 points. This translates to 256 x 192 px for xxxhdpi screens on Android and 192 x 144 px for @3x on iPhones. To avoid image scaling on Android devices, we advise using 256 x192 px.
| File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size | Recommended Dimensions | Recommended aspect ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG, PNG | < 100 k | 2 MB | 256 x 192 px | 1:4 |
In-app automation
You can add media to your In-App AutomationMessages cached on users’ devices and displayed when users meet certain conditions within your app, such as viewing a particular screen or opening the app a certain number of times. content and TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic..
- Banner image — A small thumbnail image that appears on the right or left side of the message.
- Modal image — A large image embedded in the message.
- Fullscreen image — A large image embedded in the message.
- Fullscreen video — Can be displayed instead of an image.
| Media type | File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 200 K | 2 MB |
| Video | MPEG, MPEG2, MP4, YouTube | < 1 MB | 2 MB |
Scenes
In SceneA single or multi-screen in-app experience cached on users’ devices and displayed when users meet certain conditions in your app or website, such as viewing a particular screen or when a Custom Event occurs. They can be presented in fullscreen, modal, or embedded format using the default swipe/click mode or as a Story. Scenes can also contain survey questions. content you can use images and video for Background and Media. If using the Bullet list layout, you can use an image for each bullet. We recommend that all bullet images in a bullet list have the same aspect ratio.
| Media type | File types | Recommended file size | Maximum file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated) | < 2 MB | 2 MB |
| Video | MPEG, MPEG2, MP4, YouTube | < 2 MB | 2 MB |
Responsive design
Images for HTML content should be designed for and tested on multiple devices to ensure your content looks great on a range of screen sizes and orientations.
- Make sure your images are wide enough to look correct on a wide desktop screen.
- Be aware of what part of your content will appear on smaller screens or in landscape mode when the page loads, and what will show only when scrolling.
- If you include text within your images, make sure your font is large enough to be readable when it is resized down to smaller screen sizes.
Open channel
When including media URLs in open channel payloads, make sure to use media that match the criteria of your OS or interface, or the third-party service you are integrating with.
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