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 2MB or smaller. Maximum file size on this page refers to URL-linked media only.
  • Airship recommends a maximum file size of 1MB for all media. Additional recommendations and exceptions are noted.
 Note

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:

PlatformMedia typeFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
Android / AmazonImageJPEG, PNG<200K2MB
iOSImageJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<200K10MB1
iOSAudioAIFF, WAV, MP3, M4A<1MB5MB1
iOSVideoAVI, MPEG, MPEG2, MP4<5MB50MB1

1. Refers to URL-linked media only. Uploaded (Airship-hosted) media must be 2MB or smaller.

Image width/height in pixels:

PlatformMinimumMaximumRecommended dimensionsRecommended aspect ratio
Android / Amazon300 x 300px2048 x 1024px720 x 360px2:11
iOS300 x 300px1038 x 1038px1038 x 1038px or 518 x 1036px1:1 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.

 Important

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 slides into the top right or bottom left corner of your audience’s web browser (depending on the browser). On a mobile device, web push notifications appear similar to a push notification. 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 typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file sizeRecommended aspect ratio
JPEG, PNG<200k2MB2:11

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 slides into the top right or bottom left corner of your audience’s web browser (depending on the browser). On a mobile device, web push notifications appear similar to a push notification. . 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 256px x 256px. Overriding the icon in an individual message is not supported for Safari.

File typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file sizeRecommended dimensionsRecommended aspect ratio
JPEG, PNG<100k2MB256 x 256px1:1

Email

You can add images to your Email message content or TemplatesReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic. .

File typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
JPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)1<200K2MB

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 600px.

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. See also: Sinch: MMS Best Practices for images.

Media typeFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file sizeRecommended dimensionsRecommended aspect ratio
ImageJPEG<740KB1MB640 x 1138px9:16
ImagePNG, GIF (static or animated)<740KB1MB640 x 480px or 640 x 640px4:3 or 1:1
AudioMP1, MP2, MP3, M1A, M2A, M4A, M4P, M4B, M4R, MPA, WAV, 3GP, 3G2<740KB1MB
ContactVCARD, VCF<650KB1MB

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 1.5MB, 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.

EditorFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
InteractiveJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<200KB1MB
VisualJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<200KB512KB

Message Center thumbnail image

The default size for a Message Center thumbnail image is 64x48 points. This translates to 256x192px for xxxhdpi screens on Android and 192x144px for @3x on iPhones. To avoid image scaling on Android devices, we advise using 256x192px.

File typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file sizeRecommended DimensionsRecommended aspect ratio
JPEG, PNG<100k2MB256 x 192px1:4

In-app automation

You can add media to your In-App AutomationMessages that are cached on users’ devices and displayed when your 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 typeFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
ImageJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<200K2MB
VideoMPEG, MPEG2, MP4, YouTube<1MB2MB

Scenes

In SceneMulti-screen experiences that are cached on users’ devices and displayed when your users meet certain conditions within your app, such as viewing a particular screen or opening the app a certain number of times. Scenes can include survey questions or be presented as a story. 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 typeFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
ImageJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<2MB2MB
VideoMPEG, MPEG2, MP4, YouTube<2MB2MB

Surveys

You can embed media in your SurveyQuestion-and-answer experiences used to collect and aggregate feedback or generate a net promoter score. They are cached on users’ devices and displayed when your users meet certain conditions within your app, such as viewing a particular screen or opening the app a certain number of times. content.

Media typeFile typesRecommended file sizeMaximum file size
ImageJPEG, PNG, GIF (static or animated)<2MB2MB
VideoMPEG, MPEG2, MP4, YouTube<2MB2MB

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.