2560 × 1440
Banner dimensions, and the part everyone actually sees
The upload is 2560 by 1440, but only the middle 1546 by 423 survives on every device. Anything that has to be read belongs inside that rectangle.
Processed on your own hardware · never transmitted, never stored
One image, three different crops
A channel banner appears differently on a phone, a laptop and a television, and YouTube provides no way to upload a separate version for each. It takes one large image and removes progressively more from the edges as the screen shrinks.
At full size on a television nearly all of the 2560 by 1440 is visible. In a desktop browser you get a wide strip through the middle. On a phone only the central 1546 by 423 rectangle remains.
Which means everything essential — the channel name, the tagline, the upload schedule — has to live inside that central strip. What sits outside it is decoration that a large share of your audience will never lay eyes on.
Build it inside out
Compose the important content first at 1546 by 423, then expand the canvas outward to the full 2560 by 1440 and extend the background to fill the space. Designing the full banner and discovering the crop afterwards is how channel names end up sliced in half on mobile, and it is the single most common mistake in channel art.
Common questions
What are the exact dimensions?
2560 by 1440 pixels under six megabytes, with everything important inside a central 1546 by 423 area.
Why is mine cropped on a phone?
That is intended behaviour. Mobile displays only the central safe area.
Can I upload something smaller?
YouTube requires at least 2048 by 1152 and rejects anything below that.
Is my image sent anywhere?
No, it is resized entirely within the browser.