When it comes to Discord server banner sizing, it’s important that you use the correct dimensions if you want to upload an eye catching banner.

In fact, one of the main queries that many Discord users have is about the size of their server banner. You need the right Discord banner dimensions to upload to your server.

The ability to change the banner for both your profile and your server is just one of the many Discord customization features.

If you haven’t tried this feature out yet, here’s a guide to the best practices for these banners and why the practices matter.

The Best Banner Size for Discord

Whether you’re setting a server banner or profile banner, the best size to use for a Discord banner is 960 x 540 pixels. This is because it will cover the entire server banner background without being distorted.

There are other things to consider when you’re creating a Discord server banner too – the size of your banner can not be more than 8MB, as this is the maximum allowed for a Discord background.

Though you may have a lot of Discord server banner ideas, you actually need to unlock the ability to upload banner images. You can’t add your own Discord banner until they’re unlocked.

Here’s how you can use them in your Discord account.

How to Unlock Banners on Discord

For most users of Discord, you’re going to run into a stumbling block when you try to change the banner for your profile or server.

Most users won’t be able to change their banner because that feature is locked behind Discord’s Nitro subscription service.

Discord Nitro is a subscription service that Discord users can buy to expand on what they can do with Discord.

In addition to unlocking banners, Nitro expands on the profile picture options, emojis, bypassing Discord’s file size limit and server features like media uploads and streaming quality.

It comes in two different pricing tiers, depending on whether you want to get Server Boosts alongside your new features.

You’ll need some iteration of Nitro to change up your banners. Once you’ve purchased Discord Nitro, you’ll be able to change out your banner as you see fit.

How to Change Your Discord Banner

Once you’ve acquired Nitro, you’ll want to follow these steps to change your banner:

Open Discord: Discord runs in the background if not in use, so open up the program if it’s already running.
Open up your user settings: Click on the gear icon in the bottom-left part of the program window to get into your settings.
Edit your profile: In the ‘My Account” tab, select the “Edit Profile” option, then select the “Change Banner” option.
Open and size the banner image: Navigate to where you have your banner image saved and open it up in Discord. You can then adjust the size and perspective of the image for your banner.
Save your changes: Once everything is set for the banner, save your choices and exit out from your settings.

If you follow these steps, then you’ll have just changed out or uploaded your first banner to Discord.

Boosting Level 2 Discord servers can upload a static image file. When you get to Boosting Level 3, you can upload animated files to your Discord server.

If you want to make an animated server banner, then you’ll want to use a third party website to create those animated banner images.

You can check out something like PFPs.gg, which have various animated server banners you can choose from. This is a good option if you want to make an eye catching Discord banner.

Though, you do need to make sure that the file is small enough for your Discord server.

Why the Discord Banner Size Matters

If you’re not familiar with the Discord file size limits, it can seem arbitrary that there are recommendations on file sizes and resolutions.

There is a good reason why these limits exist: Discord can only process so much data.

Compared to text, pictures take a lot more resources to process and display.

When you send your image to Discord to use as your banner, you’re asking Discord to read that picture and display it.

Each pixel has to be registered and rendered on the screen by your hardware.

Since so many people use Discord, there has to be a file size limit to make sure that Discord isn’t overwhelmed.

This is the same reason why picture and video uploads on Discord servers are limited.

To keep servers and Discord running smoothly, you can’t let users upload whatever they want. So, ensuring you have the right Discord banner resolution is essential.

Other Discord Banner Tips

If you want to design your own banner for Discord, there are a few things to keep in mind when doing so.

Keep the top of the picture clear: If the top 48 pixels of your banner have a pattern, it’ll be hard to see the server name above the background.
Don’t use text or logos: These can clutter up the banner and make the reset of the picture hard to see.
Keep it consistent: Server banners should relate to what the server is about. If you’re trying to make a banner for a community server and the banner doesn’t match the theme, it can confuse other users.

These tips, alongside other useful graphic design tips, can help keep your server banners looking good for your friends and server mates.

Other Image Sizes for Discord

It’s not just server and profile banners that have restrictions on them.

If you want to personalize your profile or make pictures for other users, there are limitations on what you can do for the other images you can send on Discord.

Here are some of those limitations:

Profile picture: These must be still images no larger than 8MB and have an optimal size of 128 x 128 pixels.
Server Logo: Like profile pictures, logos should be still images of 8MB, but their resolution can go up to 512 x 512 pixels.
Server invite splash image: New users to your server will see this image of up to 8MB and a max resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
Emojis: Fun for reactions and community building, emojis must be no bigger than 256KB and 32 x 32 pixels.
Text chat images: There is no resolution limit on pictures you send through a text channel as long as that image is no bigger than 8MB.

In other words, as long as you’re not making an emoji, Discord supports images up to 8MB for their free users.

Users with Nitro will be able to send and use larger images depending on their subscription and the Level of the server.

Summary

Discord is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) program that lets users communicate through both text and voice chats.

Servers made in the program can create permanent chat rooms and voice channels for users.

With so many features, Discord has become a great place to find and build communities for almost anything – though it isn’t without its problems, like when Discord won’t open.

Discord Banners are a fun way to personalize both your profile and the servers that you moderate.

Because of limitations put in place by Discord, server banners are something only users that use their Nitro subscription method can use.

Nitro users will also get server boosting privileges too, amongst a whole host of other features.

However, if you’re a Nitro user, you can upload a banner to both servers and your profile by following the instructions in the server or profile settings.

As long as the image lines up with memory and storage limits, your banner will be good to go as soon as you upload it to Discord.

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