How to prepare images for Google Display ads
Sizes, file limits and the design rules that decide whether a banner is readable in the slot it lands in.
Google Display campaigns take two different kinds of image creative, and most rejected uploads come from mixing them up. Uploaded display ads are finished banners at exact pixel sizes. Responsive display ads are separate assets — images, a logo, headlines — that Google recombines into whatever slot it finds. The requirements below cover both.
Google Display ad sizes
These eight sizes carry most Display inventory, and they are what VR9 AdKit generates from a single brief. Google supports more of them — 200×200, 250×250, 240×400, 250×360, 580×400, 120×600, 300×1050, 468×60, 930×180, 970×90, 980×120 and 300×50 — but a campaign rarely needs every one.
| Size | Google's name | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| 300×250 | Inline rectangle | The most widely available slot: inside article text, on desktop and mobile. |
| 336×280 | Large rectangle | A wider inline unit, usually placed in long-form content. |
| 728×90 | Leaderboard | Above or below the content on desktop pages. |
| 970×250 | Billboard | A large desktop unit at the top of publisher pages. |
| 160×600 | Wide skyscraper | A vertical sidebar unit that stays in view while the page scrolls. |
| 300×600 | Half-page ad | The largest sidebar format and a strong share of desktop inventory. |
| 320×100 | Large mobile banner | Double-height mobile strip, with room for a real headline. |
| 320×50 | Mobile banner | The standard mobile strip, anchored to the top or bottom of the screen. |
File requirements for uploaded display ads
An uploaded banner is checked against three hard limits before it ever reaches an auction.
- Formats
- GIF, JPG and PNG. Animated GIF is allowed; a static image is easier to keep under the weight limit.
- Maximum file size
- 150 KB per banner. This is the limit people hit most often: a full-quality export of a large size passes 150 KB easily, and the upload is refused outright.
- Exact dimensions
- The file has to match the format to the pixel. A 728×91 image is not a leaderboard, and Google will not scale it for you.
Source: Uploaded display ads specifications, Google Ads Help
Responsive display ads use different numbers
If you build responsive display ads instead, you upload assets rather than finished banners. Google asks for:
- Landscape image, 1.91:1 — 1200×628 recommended, 600×314 minimum
- Square image, 1:1 — 1200×1200 recommended, 300×300 minimum
- Square logo, 1:1 — 1200×1200 recommended, 128×128 minimum
- Landscape logo, 4:1 — 1200×300 recommended, 512×128 minimum
Each asset may weigh up to 5120 KB — far more headroom than the 150 KB an uploaded banner gets. The trade-off is control: you no longer decide how the finished ad is composed.
Designing a banner that still works at 320×50
A display slot gets a fraction of a second of attention, and the same idea has to survive both a 970×250 billboard and a strip 50 pixels tall.
- One message per banner. A headline of about five words, a product shot, a call to action — nothing else.
- Redraw, don't rescale. Text that is comfortable at 300×600 turns to mush when the same layout is squeezed into 320×50. Every size needs its own arrangement of the same elements.
- Keep a margin. Publishers draw a border around the slot, so anything pressed against the edge looks clipped.
- Contrast before decoration. Put text on a calm area of the image, never across the busy part of a photo.
- One call to action, and no fake interface. Buttons imitating a close icon, a system dialog or a video player are a policy violation, not a clever trick.
- One story across the set. The pack should read as a single campaign: same headline, same colours, same logo position.
What gets banners rejected or ignored
- The file is a few pixels off the required size.
- The export is over 150 KB — most often on 970×250 and 300×600.
- Half the sizes are missing the logo because they were exported at different times.
- The headline is legible in the design tool at 100 % zoom and unreadable in the actual slot.
- Every size reuses the same crop, so the small formats show a fragment of a photo and nothing else.
Frequently asked questions
- What image sizes does Google Display accept?
- Google lists around twenty supported sizes for uploaded display ads, from 300×50 up to 970×250. In practice a handful carry most of the inventory: 300×250, 336×280, 728×90, 970×250, 160×600, 300×600, 320×100 and 320×50.
- What is the maximum file size for a Google display ad?
- 150 KB for an uploaded display ad. Assets for responsive display ads are allowed up to 5120 KB each.
- Which file formats can I upload?
- GIF, JPG and PNG. There is no WebP or SVG option for uploaded display ads.
- Do I need every size?
- No, but every size you skip is inventory you cannot buy. A set of eight covers desktop and mobile, in-content and sidebar placements, which is enough for most campaigns.
- Can I generate Google Display banners with AI?
- Yes. The requirement is not the model but the output: exact pixel dimensions, text that stays readable at small sizes, and a file under the weight limit. A generator that returns one square image and leaves the resizing to you has not solved the problem.
- How long does a full set take?
- In VR9 AdKit one brief produces all eight sizes in a single run, and any single size can be regenerated on its own without touching the rest of the pack.
Generate the whole set from one brief
VR9 AdKit takes a short brief — product, audience, headline, call to action, colours — and returns all eight sizes, each composed for its own shape instead of being cropped from a master image, and each already inside the 150 KB limit.