Google Play Preview Video and Feature Graphic Requirements: 2026 Guide

Google Play does not take a video file. You give it the address of a YouTube video, and Google shows that video at the top of your store listing, behind a play button drawn over your feature graphic.

That one design choice explains most of the rules: some are about your app, and some are about the YouTube video itself, which has to be public or unlisted, embeddable and free of ads. This guide reads Google's preview assets page as it stood on 22 October 2026 and puts the video and the graphic together, because on the listing they are one object.

Two labels mark the weight of each rule. Required means Google lists it under "Requirements", which it calls mandatory. Recommended means Google lists it as "Highly recommended".

We are a small studio that makes short product films. The last section says how we work; everything before it stands on its own.

The short answer

Where the video and the graphic appear

Required Google states it plainly: "You can add one preview video to your store listing by entering a YouTube URL in the "preview video" field." It must be the address of one video: "Use a video's YouTube URL, not a YouTube playlist or channel URL", and "Do not add extra parameters like timecodes in the YouTube URL."

On the listing, "Your preview video is displayed before your screenshots", and "Users can watch your preview video by tapping on the play button that overlays on your feature graphic." Google adds that the video "may also be displayed on both home and search page" and "may autoplay inline with muted audio up to 30 seconds depending on the user device, setting, network connection, and surface area. Whenever your video does not autoplay, a play button is overlaid on your feature graphic."

So the feature graphic is the poster of your video. Whatever the first frame of the film looks like, many people see the graphic first, with a play button in its middle.

A video is optional. Google's words: "It is not required, but we highly recommend providing a preview video for games particularly. Your game requires a preview video to be shown in certain parts of Google Play."

Two kinds of rule

Google's preview assets page sorts its guidance under two headings, and says what each means. Of the first, the page says that "Requirements" listed on it "are mandatory; failure to meet requirements may result in removal or suspension from Google Play." The second heading is gentler: "Failure to comply with these guidelines will not impact your store listing page, but may result in changes to how your preview assets appear on Google Play or limit promotional opportunities."

For a preview video, the requirements are all about YouTube. Everything about the content of the film is a recommendation, which is why guides that call them rules disagree with each other.

The YouTube rules, all required

• Required No ads. "Disable ads for your video to be shown on Google Play." Either "Turn off monetization in your video, or Upload a different video without monetization claims and update the URL in Play Console."
• Required Music you own. "If your video uses copyrighted content, turning off monetization for your video may not be enough to prevent ads. In that case, you will need to use a different video (without copyrighted content that has monetization claims)." A track that someone else has registered can put ads back on your video even with monetization off.
• Required Public or unlisted. "Set your video's privacy setting to public or unlisted. Do not set it to private." Unlisted keeps it off your channel page while the listing can still play it.
• Required Not age restricted. "Do not use an age-restricted video."
• Required Embeddable. "Make sure that your video is embeddable on Google Play." Embedding is a setting on the YouTube video; leave it on.

Length and orientation

Recommended Google's page sets no minimum and no maximum length. What it says is this: "Keep your videos short and concise because only the first 30 seconds autoplays. Users can continue watching the full video by tapping it but we recommend keeping your video short."

In practice the first 30 seconds are the film most people see, and they see it muted. A film of about 30 seconds loses nothing to autoplay; a longer one should still make its case before the 30 second mark.

Recommended Orientation is your choice: "Create a video in either landscape or portrait, both orientations are supported on the store listing page." Google asks you to "Choose a video orientation that best matches the app experience", and adds one rule that a quick vertical export often breaks: "Do not leave black bars on either side of a portrait video." A phone app recorded upright suits a 9:16 film; a tablet or desktop app suits 16:9.

What the video should show

Every item below is Recommended, in Google's words.

• The app, early. "Show the actual in-app or in-game experience, focusing on the core features and content as early as possible within the first 10 seconds of the video."
• Mostly the app. "Aim for at least 80% of the video to be representative of the user experience." And "Limit title screens, logos, cutscenes, or other pre-rendered or promotional content." In a 30 second film, that leaves about 6 seconds for everything that is not the app.
• No hands. "Do not include people interacting with the device (for example, fingers tapping on the device), unless the core gameplay or app usage is off-device."
• No calls to action. "Do not use call-to-actions, for example, "Download now," "Install now," "Play now," or "Try now."" The install button is already beside the video.
• No rankings, awards or prices. Do not suggest "Google Play performance, ranking, accolades or awards, user testimonials, or price and promotional information". Google's examples of words to leave out include "Best," "#1," "Top," "New," "Discount," "Sale," and "Million Downloads".
• Words for a muted film. "Consider using copy to give the user context if the video is muted (for example, when autoplayed)", and "Make sure that the text is legible by using readable fonts, proper font size, and displaying the text long enough for the user to read it."
• Nothing that dates. "Avoid time-sensitive content or taglines that can become outdated quickly to reduce the need to update."
• Captions. "Use captions for preview videos to help users who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those in loud environments."
• Polish. "Your video does not need to be professionally made", but Google asks that "the pacing, visual effects, sound effects/music, transitions and text overlays" work smoothly together.

The feature graphic

Required "You must provide a feature graphic to publish your store listing." This holds whether or not you add a video. The format is fixed: JPEG or 24 bit PNG with no alpha channel, 1024 by 500 pixels.

Google uses it in three places: "As a cover image for your preview video, if present"; for apps, in "a collection of apps in a large format with your feature graphic, including ads"; and for games, in groups of recommended games.

Recommended Google's advice for the graphic, in short:

• "Keep prominent visuals and the focal point towards the center of the graphic", and keep the logo, app name, slogan and main interface out of the cutoff zones, because the graphic "may be cut off depending on the UI format". Google's page shows those zones as red areas in an example image.
• Do not repeat your icon: "Do not use prominent branding that is similar to your app icon, as this will cause duplications when shown in context with your app icon."
• Avoid fine detail, and avoid "pure white, black, or dark gray as these colors can easily blend in with Google Play's background."
• No device imagery, no store badges, no trademarked characters without permission, and the same ban on rankings, prices and "Free" as the video.
• Add alt text, which Google suggests keeping to "140 characters or less".

One tension to plan for: the play button sits in the centre, and Google also asks for the focal point in the centre. A graphic that puts its main picture in the middle and its words to one side survives both uses: with a video and without one.

Where other guides differ

We read the guides that rank for this topic on 22 October 2026. Three points disagree with Google's current page:

• Length. One guide says Google recommends a promo video "between 30 seconds and 2 minutes"; another says Google recommends 15 to 30 seconds, which is Apple's rule. Google's page today sets no length, and asks only for a short video because "only the first 30 seconds autoplays".
• The 80% guidance and black bars. Neither of the two video guides we fetched mentions "at least 80%" of the film showing the app, or the black bars rule for portrait video.
• When the graphic is needed. One guide ties the feature graphic to the video: to use a promo video, it says, you must have one. That is true, but Google's page asks for it whether or not there is a video: it is needed "to publish your store listing".

Languages and custom listings

Recommended Google asks you to "Provide a localized video tailored for users in different markets around the world" and to "Properly localize the video including the UI, taglines, and audio." Localized graphics and videos are added on the main store listing; people see them when "their language preferences match the languages that you've added", per Google's setup page.

Beyond languages, Google Play has custom store listings: you "can create up to 50 custom store listing pages", aimed at countries, at people who arrive through a unique listing address, or at a Google Ads campaign, each with its own graphics. A campaign aimed at one kind of user can open on a listing whose video speaks to that user. Details are on Google's custom store listings page.

One more thing Google asks you to accept: by publishing, you give Google a license to use "your app icon, screenshots, and videos" for promotion "on the Play Store, in promotional campaigns, and across other Google services". Anything in the film you do not have the rights to use widely does not belong in it.

Exporting for YouTube

Google Play sets no file format, because YouTube receives the file. YouTube's recommended upload settings, read on 22 October 2026, ask for an MP4 container with the "moov atom at the front of the file (Fast Start)", H.264 video in High Profile, progressive scan, "2 consecutive B frames", a closed GOP of "half the frame rate", 4:2:0 chroma, and AAC LC stereo at 48 kHz. Its suggested bit rate for 1080p at 24 to 30 frames per second is 8 Mbps, and 384 kbps for stereo sound.

This ffmpeg command, which we ran on a test clip and checked with ffprobe, writes a 1920 x 1080 file at 30 frames per second to those settings. For a portrait film, change 1920:1080 to 1080:1920.

ffmpeg -i film.mov \
  -vf "scale=1920:1080:flags=lanczos,fps=30,format=yuv420p" \
  -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -bf 2 -g 15 -flags +cgop -b:v 8M -maxrate 10M -bufsize 16M \
  -c:a aac -b:a 384k -ar 48000 -ac 2 -movflags +faststart play_preview_1920x1080.mp4

The scale step assumes your film is already 16:9 (or 9:16). If it is not, fix the shape in the edit rather than letting a scale stretch it or a pad add the black bars Google asks you to avoid.

Next to Apple's rules

Most apps on Google Play are on the App Store too, and the two stores want different files. Apple takes an uploaded file of 15 to 30 seconds at exact sizes, with no YouTube involved; Google takes a YouTube address and sets no length. Apple's rules are in our App Store preview requirements guide, and our free App Store preview checker tests the Apple file against them in your browser. A 30 second film that shows the app from the first seconds can serve both, exported twice.

The checklist

The film

• The app's own screens within the first 10 seconds, and for at least 80% of the film.
• The case made inside the first 30 seconds, readable with the sound off.
• No hands on a device, no "Download now", no rankings, awards, prices or "New".
• Landscape or portrait to match the app, with no black bars beside a portrait film.
• Captions, and only music you have the rights to.

YouTube

• Uploaded as MP4, H.264, with Fast Start, at the size you exported.
• Public or unlisted, embeddable, not age restricted.
• Monetization off, and no copyright claim that could bring ads back.
• The address of the video itself, with no playlist, channel or timecode.

The listing

• A 1024 x 500 feature graphic, JPEG or 24 bit PNG with no alpha.
• The focal point in the centre, words clear of the play button and the edges.
• Alt text on the graphic, 140 characters or fewer.
• A localized video for each market that has a localized listing.

Sources

Every page below was read in full on 22 October 2026. Google's help pages show no date of their own.

• Google Play Console Help, Add preview assets to showcase your app
• Google Play Console Help, Create and set up your app
• Google Play Console Help, Create custom store listings to target specific user segments
• Google YouTube Help, YouTube recommended upload encoding settings