Podcast cover art size: 3000 × 3000 for Apple Podcasts

Podcast cover art should be 3000 × 3000 pixels, square, saved as PNG or JPG with no transparency: that is Apple Podcasts' Show Cover size. If you submit the cover through your RSS feed, Apple accepts square artwork from 1400 × 1400 to 3000 × 3000 pixels and prefers the largest size.

Apple's rules are quoted from its Apple Podcasts for Creators page Show Cover; Sume facts come from the Image API docs and the Sume API reference. All were read on 2026-09-29. Other podcast apps publish their own specs, so check each one you submit to.

What are Apple's podcast cover art requirements?

The Show Cover appears as a square in many sizes across apps and devices, and Apple requires it to publish a show:

What should podcast cover art look like?

Apple's best practices for the Show Cover:

• Use Apple's Show Cover template, which keeps design elements inside the safe area so the play button, labels or subscription offerings don't crop or cover them.
• Make the podcast title clear and prominent, legible at small sizes, and limit extra text or logos.
• Give text enough contrast with the background.
• If the background is black or white, use a slightly different value so the cover doesn't blend into the app background.
• Don't add Apple logos or hardware; Apple may reject artwork that includes any visual representation of Apple.

How do I make podcast cover art with AI?

Generate the art square and without text, then set the title yourself. On Sume, ChatGPT Image 2.5 (openai/gpt-image-2.5) takes an exact custom image_size with both edges multiples of 16 and at most 8,294,400 pixels, so the largest square it renders is 2880 × 2880. That is inside Apple's RSS range as it comes out, with no upscale.

The result is a signed, Sume-hosted URL in data[].url, so download the file you keep. Add the show title in a design tool using Apple's template, and export a JPG or a PNG without an alpha channel. Why generated lettering needs a proofread is in AI image with text.

curl -X POST "https://api.sume.com/v1/images" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "openai/gpt-image-2.5",
    "prompt": "Podcast cover art: a vintage microphone in warm orange light on a deep teal background, bold simple shapes, empty space at the top, no text",
    "image_size": { "width": 2880, "height": 2880 },
    "output_format": "jpeg"
  }'

How do I get podcast art to exactly 3000 × 3000?

Generate at 2400 × 2400, upscale it 1.25× with Image Upscale 1.0, then add the title: 2400 × 1.25 = 3000. Image Upscale 1.0 takes a public HTTPS image_url and an upscale_factor from 1 to 4. API pricing lists Image upscale at $0.20 per image, plus a 5.5% agent fee by default. The same route for album art, with the request, is in AI album cover generator; check the size of the file you get back before you publish it.