Kindle Cover Size Requirements
A Kindle cover has two jobs: meet the current technical requirements and communicate the right book at very small retail sizes. Technical compliance gets the file accepted; genre signal and thumbnail legibility help the right reader recognise it.
Current KDP technical direction
Amazon KDP's current cover-image guidance recommends a portrait image 2,560 pixels high by 1,600 pixels wide, with JPEG as the preferred format, at least 300 PPI/DPI and a file size no larger than 5 MB. Treat the official KDP Help page as the authority because requirements can change.
The recommended dimensions create a height-to-width ratio of about 1.6:1. A cover can be larger or prepared through a professional workflow, but its proportions should remain intentional.
Protect the aspect ratio
Never stretch existing artwork to force it into the recommended dimensions. Stretching distorts faces, typography and illustration. Crop or rebuild the composition so that the subject, title and author name remain balanced inside the portrait frame.
Design for the retail thumbnail
The cover will often be encountered much smaller than a phone screen. Test it at approximately 100–160 pixels wide. At that size, the reader should still recognise the dominant image, title hierarchy and broad genre signal.
- Use a clear focal point.
- Avoid excessively thin title lettering.
- Separate the title from visually busy artwork.
- Keep small taglines secondary.
- Compare the cover with current books serving the same reader—without copying them.
Prepare the delivery file
Export in the preferred color space and format for KDP, check that text is sharp, remove accidental transparency and inspect the image at 100% zoom. Very light covers can disappear against a white store background; KDP recommends a narrow medium-gray border when needed.
Common mistakes
- Using the paperback wrap as the Kindle cover
- Uploading a low-resolution marketplace thumbnail
- Stretching art to fit
- Making the title readable only at full size
- Allowing series branding to overwhelm the individual book
- Assuming technical acceptance means strong genre positioning
Before upload
Review the final image on a phone, desktop and grayscale preview. Check spelling, author attribution, series text and the relationship between the cover and book description.
For design support, see KDP Book Cover Design. If the existing cover may be misaligned with the listing, start with the Free Book Health Check.
Primary reference: Amazon KDP Help — Cover Image Guidelines.