YouTube video watermark requirements
The published requirements are already set. Add your image and FileBelow makes it match — 1:1 · at least 150px wide · under 1 MB · PNG or JPEG.
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, AVIF and BMP. Your file is processed on your device.
A square image of at least 150 by 150 pixels, under 1 MB. This is the subscribe badge shown in the corner of your videos, so a simple high-contrast mark reads far better than a detailed logo at that size.
Official source · checked 2026-08-22
The published requirements
| Minimum width | 150 px |
|---|---|
| Minimum height | 150 px |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1 |
| Maximum file size | 1 MB |
| Accepted formats | PNG, JPEG |
Read from support.google.com on .
Platforms change their requirements without notice. If this page disagrees with the source, the source is right — please tell us so we can correct it. Changes are recorded in the changelog.
What YouTube video watermark means in practice
A square image of at least 150 by 150 pixels, under 1 MB. This is the subscribe badge shown in the corner of your videos, so a simple high-contrast mark reads far better than a detailed logo at that size.
The watermark is a subscribe button; if it will not upload, that prompt simply never appears on any of your videos.
Where this image actually appears
A small branding image overlaid in the corner of the player during playback, which doubles as a subscribe button on hover. It is set once for the channel and appears across the videos it is enabled for.
Preparing one properly
It is displayed very small and over unpredictable footage, so it needs to be a simple shape with a transparent background and strong edges. A single mark or monogram works; anything with fine lines or its own background box does not, and a white mark disappears over a bright scene.
The mistake people make
Reusing the channel avatar. The avatar is designed to sit inside a circle on a plain interface background, and dropped onto moving footage at a fraction of the size it becomes an unreadable blob. This slot wants its own simplified mark.
Meeting the requirements
Choosing YouTube above sets every rule in the table at once, and the result panel reports each one with a pass or a fail rather than leaving you to check. The 1:1 ratio is applied as a centre crop, and you can drag the frame to choose which part survives before anything is processed.
To see what is wrong before changing anything, the YouTube requirement check reports every rule against your file without processing it.
Common questions
- What size should a YouTube video watermark be?
- 1:1 · at least 150px wide · under 1 MB · PNG or JPEG. Those are the values published by YouTube itself, read from its documentation on 2026-08-22 — the source link is on this page so you can check it. Platforms change requirements without announcing it, so verify before anything important.
- What is a YouTube video watermark for?
- It is a channel branding image shown in the corner of the player, and it acts as a subscribe control when a viewer hovers over it. It is set once at channel level rather than per video, and it is separate from any watermark burned into the footage itself.
- Can I add a watermark to the video file instead?
- Yes, and the two are different things. A watermark burned into the footage travels with the file wherever it is reposted; YouTube's branding watermark exists only inside YouTube's player and doubles as a subscribe button. Many channels use both, for different reasons.
- Is my image uploaded when I use this page?
- No. The image is opened, measured and processed by your own browser. This site is entirely static and has no server that could receive a file, which you can confirm in your browser’s network tab or by going offline after the page has loaded.