This topic discusses the size requirements for tile images.
General image requirements
Tile images must have dimensions less than or equal to 1024x1024 pixels, have a file size of less than or equal to 200 KB, and be of type .png, .jpg, .jpeg, or .gif. There are no bit-depth or color requirements for an image as long as it meets the other requirements.
Square and wide tiles
Tiles are shown on the Start screen and can be either wide or square.
- If only a square logo image is provided in the app's manifest file (package.appxmanifest), your app's tile will always be square and you can only use square templates in tile notifications. This is sufficient for some scenarios.
- If both a square and wide logo image are provided in the manifest, your app's tile will default to a wide tile when it is installed. Tile notifications sent to your app can use both wide templates and square templates. It is a best practice to include both square and wide templates in a single tile notification because the user can change your tile's size at any time and only notifications that match its current size will be displayed. For instance, if you include only a wide template in a notification and the user has chosen to display the square tile, the default square image will be shown instead of the notification content.
Choosing a tile shape
- Use the square tile if your app will not use notifications to send updates to the user.
- Use the square tile with a badge if your app supports only scenarios with short summary notifications. For instance, a short message service (SMS) app that will show only the number of new text messages received.
- Use the wide tile only if your app has new and interesting content to display to the user, and the notifications that deliver that content are sent frequently (weekly at the very least). Wide tile content is meant to be fresh and "alive". Have a good reason to take up the extra space.
How Windows scales tile sizes
The Start screen supports four scale values that affect image dimensions as shown here:
| Scale | Wide tile size (in pixels) | Square tile size (in pixels) |
|---|---|---|
| 80% | 248 x 120 | 120 x 120 |
| 100% | 310 x 150 | 150 x 150 |
| 140% | 434 x 210 | 210 x 210 |
| 180% | 558 x 270 | 270 x 270 |
Because Windows can be run on many different devices, it is a best practice to include scaled versions of your images in your app package so that Windows can choose the most appropriate version for the device and its settings. For more information, see Globalization and accessibility for tile and toast notifications.
Related topics
- Application resources and localization samples
- The tile template catalog
- Guidelines and checklist for tiles
- Quickstart: Creating a default tile using the Visual Studio manifest editor
- Quickstart: Sending a tile update
- Tiles XML schema
- App tiles and badges sample
- Tile and tile notification overview
Build date: 10/26/2012
