July 30, 2026 · 8 min read
The Google Play feature graphic, explained
Two hard requirements, then a long list of recommendations that quietly decide whether Google promotes your app. What the 1024×500 graphic is really for.
Google Play has exactly two hard requirements for the feature graphic: it must be 1024 × 500 pixels, and it must be a JPEG or a 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel. You can't publish a store listing without one.
Everything else Google publishes about the asset sits under a heading called "highly recommended", which reads like polish and isn't. Google is explicit that breaking those guidelines won't hurt your listing page, but it can change how your assets appear elsewhere on Play or limit your promotional opportunities. In other words: the requirements decide whether you ship, and the recommendations decide whether Google ever puts your app in front of anyone who wasn't already looking for it.
It's probably not where you think it is
The common assumption is that the feature graphic is a banner across the top of your store listing. That's not what Google describes. The uses it lists are:
- The cover image for your preview video, if you have one. (Spatial Android XR videos are the exception.)
- Large-format app collections, including ads.
- Large-format game groupings, where recommended games are shown with preview videos and screenshots.
So the asset earns its keep off your listing page, in the merchandising surfaces Google curates. That reframes the whole design brief. You're not making a header for people who already found you. You're making a tile that has to work at unpredictable sizes, next to other apps, for people who have never heard of you.
It also explains why the shape rules matter so much. A banner on your own page would always render as you designed it. A tile in a Google-controlled carousel gets cropped to whatever that surface needs.
The two things that are actually required
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 1024 × 500 px, exactly |
| Format | JPEG or 24-bit PNG, no alpha channel |
The alpha rule catches people who export from a design tool with a transparent background still switched on. A 32-bit PNG is the default in a lot of exporters and it's the wrong file here, the same trap that bites simulator captures on the Apple side. Flatten it onto a real background before you upload.
Note what isn't on that list: a maximum file size. Google publishes one for the app icon (1024 KB) and doesn't publish one for the feature graphic. Keep it sensible anyway, since a 1024 × 500 canvas has no business being large.
For the rest of the Play asset spec, sizes, counts and per-device rules, we keep a verified reference at Google Play screenshot sizes & requirements.
The cutoff zones, with actual numbers
This is the guideline that costs the most and gets explained the least. Google says to keep prominent visuals and the focal point toward the centre, and to keep key elements (brand logo, app name, primary slogan, main UI) out of the "cutoff zones". Some formats add UI overlays on top. Miss this and you can be ineligible for those formats entirely.
What Google doesn't publish is pixel numbers. The guidance ships as a diagram with red bands on it, so you're left eyeballing your own margins.
You can work it out from the geometry instead. A 1024 × 500 canvas is 2.048:1, which is much wider than any common tile. Centre-crop it down to the usual shapes and here's what's left:
| Crop | Keeps (centred) | Trims per side |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 889 px | ~68 px |
| 4:3 | 667 px | ~179 px |
| 1:1 | 500 px | 262 px |
The useful conclusion is the last row. The centre 500 × 500 square is the only region that survives a square crop, and a square crop is the harshest realistic case. Design so that your logo, app name and one-line hook all sit inside the middle half of the canvas, and the outer bands carry nothing but background. Google says as much in a different way: restrict background elements to the edges.
Two more from the same section, both easy to get wrong:
- Don't overload it with fine detail. It won't survive being rendered small on a phone.
- Don't repeat your app icon's branding. The graphic often appears next to the icon, so a second copy of your logo wastes the space. Google suggests treating it as an extension of the icon rather than a duplicate.
What Google tells you to leave out
Some of this is policy language you'd expect, and one item surprises nearly everyone.
Ranking, price and promo claims. No content suggesting Play performance, ranking, testimonials, awards or pricing. Google names the words it means: Best, #1, Top, New, Free, Discount, Sale, Million Downloads. The same rule governs your short description, so a claim you can't make in the graphic is one you can't make in the copy either.
Store badges. No Google Play badge or icon, and none from any other store.
Third-party trademarks. No characters or logos you don't have permission to use.
Device imagery. This is the one that catches people. Google lists device imagery as something to avoid, on the grounds that it dates quickly and can alienate users on other hardware. That's the opposite of the advice for screenshots, where a device frame is standard and helps. Worth being blunt about it, because we sell device frames: they belong in your screenshots, not in your feature graphic. Put your artwork and your value proposition in this one instead.
Time-sensitive content. Anything that goes stale creates maintenance. If you do run seasonal artwork, Google expects you to swap it out on schedule rather than leave a holiday graphic up in March.
Colour, and why white backgrounds disappear
Google specifically warns against pure white, black and dark grey, because they blend into the Play Store's own background. A minimal white graphic that looks clean in your design tool can vanish into the page and read as a rendering bug.
The advice is to go more vibrant than feels natural, and to keep the colour theme consistent across the feature graphic, the icon and the app itself so people connect them at a glance. Saturated brand colour with high-contrast type is the safe shape here.
The alt text nobody writes
Google asks for alt text on each graphic asset, for screen-reader users. The tips are specific: skip "photo of" or "image of" because screen readers already announce that, and describe the important part of the image in 140 characters or fewer.
It takes ten seconds and almost no listing does it. If you want the rest of the pre-launch details in one place, we keep a pre-launch listing checklist.
Making one without opening a design tool
The feature graphic is a different artifact from your screenshots, but it shouldn't be a different project. It's the same brand, the same type, the same palette, at a much wider aspect ratio.
The QuickScreens editor ships a 1024 × 500 feature graphic preset next to the Play and App Store screenshot sizes, so you can build the whole set in one place and export it together. The canvas is locked to the right dimensions.
One practical tip that applies wherever you build it: export the feature graphic as JPEG rather than PNG. JPEG has no alpha channel to carry, so the format rules itself out of the problem. Our exporter also lays the artwork on a white underlay before encoding a JPEG, so a transparent background can't quietly turn into black pixels.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Google Play feature graphic required? Yes. Google requires one to publish your store listing. It isn't optional artwork, even if your app has no preview video.
What size is the Google Play feature graphic? 1024 × 500 pixels, exactly, as a JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel. Those are the only two hard requirements Google lists for the asset.
Where does the feature graphic appear? As the cover image for your preview video, and in the large-format collections Google uses to merchandise apps and games, including ads. It's a promotional tile more than a page header.
Why does my feature graphic look cropped? Because those surfaces crop it. The canvas is 2.048:1 and the placements aren't, so anything outside the centre can be trimmed or covered by a UI overlay. Keep logo, name and slogan inside the middle 500 × 500 square.
Can I put my app screenshots in the feature graphic? You can show your main UI, but keep it centred and large enough to read at tile size. Skip the phone frame around it: Google lists device imagery as something to avoid on this asset.
Does the feature graphic need to be localized? If your listing is localized, yes. Google asks you to localize the graphic and any branding text in it for each market, which is a good reason to keep the text short.
Building your Play listing this week? Open the editor, and export your screenshots and the 1024 × 500 feature graphic from one project. One-time $25, no subscription.