Storeshot · blog

Google Play feature graphic: 1024×500 size, safe zones, and what gets it excluded

Samer Alatawneh · Founder of Storeshot

October 17, 2026 · 7 min read

The Google Play feature graphic is 1024×500 pixels, saved as a JPEG or a 24-bit PNG with no transparency, and you can't publish a store listing without one. Those are the only hard rules. Everything else on Google's guideline page is marked “highly recommended”, and those recommendations decide whether the graphic is eligible for the large-format placements where it actually gets seen. This guide covers the spec, where the graphic shows up, the safe zones, the content Google excludes, and a checklist to run before upload.

For Play screenshots, tablet slots and the 512×512 icon, see the Google Play screenshot size guide.

The spec

Unlike screenshots, the feature graphic is not a range. Play screenshots accept any size between 320 and 3840 pixels per side, but the feature graphic slot takes 1024×500 and nothing else. A 2× export at 2048×1000 is rejected rather than downscaled, and so is a near-miss like 1024×512.

Where it shows up

Google's Play Console Help lists three placements:

• Cover of your preview video. If you upload a promo video, the feature graphic is its thumbnail, with a play button laid over it. Where the video autoplays, it plays inline and muted, so the graphic is what people see before it starts or on surfaces that don't autoplay.
• Large-format collections of apps, including ads. These are the wide cards in browse and editorial rows.
• Large-format groups of recommended games, shown next to preview videos and screenshots.

Two of the three are discovery surfaces, where people haven't opened your listing yet. The feature graphic is often the first image of your app someone sees, so it works more like a banner ad than a screenshot.

Safe zones: keep the middle clear of clutter, and the edges clear of text

Google asks you to keep the main visual and focal point near the centre, keep the logo, app name, slogan and main UI out of the “cutoff zones”, and limit background elements to the edges. It also warns that some formats add UI overlays, and that ignoring the safe zones can make the graphic ineligible for those formats.

The play button is the detail most designs miss. A headline centred on the canvas looks right in Figma and then gets a white circle printed over it on every listing that has a promo video. Composing slightly off-centre, with the headline on the left third and the visual on the right, avoids that and still reads well on surfaces without a video.

Design guidelines that matter

• Show the core value, not the logo. Google asks for the app or game experience and its core value. Storytelling is fine. A logo on a gradient says nothing the icon doesn't already say.
• Don't duplicate the icon. The graphic often sits right next to your icon. Google recommends branding that extends the icon (its colours, character or shapes) rather than repeating it at a larger size.
• Skip fine detail. On a phone the graphic renders at a fraction of its pixel width. Thin type, small UI and dense illustration turn to noise. If a word isn't readable at 360 pixels wide, cut it.
• Use vibrant colour. Google specifically warns against pure white, black and dark grey, which blend into the Play Store's light and dark backgrounds. Keep the palette consistent with your icon and the app itself.
• One focal point. At 2:1 the canvas tempts you into a feature row. Pick one moment from the app and show it large.

What gets a feature graphic excluded

These aren't upload errors. The console accepts the file. Google lists them as content to avoid, and graphics that break them can be left out of the large-format placements.

• Performance, ranking, award and price claims: “Best”, “#1”, “Top”, “New”, “Free”, “Discount”, “Sale”, “Million Downloads”, testimonials and accolades. It's the same kind of wording Play's metadata policy bans from app titles and icons.
• Time-sensitive content. A holiday graphic is fine if you swap it out promptly afterwards. A stale one isn't.
• Device imagery. No phones, tablets or device frames. This is the opposite of screenshot convention, so a screenshot dropped onto a wide background usually fails here.
• Google Play or other store badges and icons. No “Get it on Google Play” badge. The user is already on Google Play.
• Third-party characters or logos you don't have permission to use.

Localize it, and write alt text

Each Play listing language can carry its own feature graphic, and Google recommends localizing graphic and branding text per market. If your graphic has a headline, it should be translated wherever your listing is, because an English headline over a Japanese listing reads as a mistake. If you don't want to maintain per-language versions, design a graphic with no text at all. That is a legitimate choice for games and visual apps.

Add alt text too: 140 characters or fewer, describing what's shown, without starting with “image of” or “photo of”.

Common mistakes

1. PNG exported with an alpha channel. Figma, Sketch and most design tools export 32-bit PNGs by default even when nothing is transparent. Flatten to 24-bit or export as JPEG.
2. Wrong size. 1024×512, 1920×1080, or a 2× retina export. Only 1024×500 uploads.
3. A screenshot in a phone frame on a gradient. Device imagery is on the avoid list, and the frame wastes most of a wide canvas.
4. Headline under the play button. Fine until you add a promo video.
5. Dark-grey or white background. It disappears into the store UI in one of the two themes.
6. “Free” or “#1” in the artwork. Tempting, and explicitly excluded.

Pre-upload checklist

• Exactly 1024×500 px
• JPEG, or PNG with no alpha channel
• Logo, name and headline inside the central safe area, clear of the play button
• One focal point, readable when shrunk to phone width
• No device frames, store badges, rankings, prices or “Free”
• Not white, black or dark grey as the dominant colour
• Text localized for each listing language (or no text)
• Alt text under 140 characters

The free screenshot size checker recognises the 1024×500 feature graphic size and flags a PNG that carries an alpha channel, the two technical reasons an upload fails. It runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Frequently asked questions