GUIDES.
Straight answers to the specs creators look up constantly. Each one leads with the number, then explains why it matters.
YouTube banner size and safe area
Upload your YouTube channel banner at 2560 x 1440 pixels, and keep everything important inside the centre 1546 x 423 pixels. That centre strip is the only part guaranteed to be visible on every device.
What LUFS should you use for YouTube?
Target about -14 LUFS integrated for YouTube. Anything noticeably louder gets turned down on playback anyway, so mastering hotter than that buys you nothing and costs you dynamic range.
YouTube thumbnail size and requirements
Upload YouTube thumbnails at 1280 x 720 pixels, 16:9, under 2 MB. That is the recommended size; the hard minimum width is 640 pixels.
YouTube Shorts dimensions and format
YouTube Shorts are vertical 9:16 video, ideally 1080 x 1920 pixels. A video qualifies as a Short when it is vertical or square and within the Shorts length limit.