Steam store assets: the complete checklist
Everything a Steam page needs before it can go live, in the order it makes sense to produce it. Sizes come from the Steamworks documentation, and so do the rules about what each asset may contain. If you only need a number, the capsule size reference is the faster page.
The store capsules
These are what a potential customer sees before they have decided anything. Every one of them is required.
| Asset | Size (px) | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Header capsule | 920 x 430 | Top of the store page, Recommended For You, Big Picture |
| Small capsule | 462 x 174 | Search results, top sellers, new releases |
| Main capsule | 1232 x 706 | Store home page carousel |
| Vertical capsule | 748 x 896 | Front page during seasonal sales |
| Page background | 1438 x 810 | Behind the store page (optional) |
The library assets
These appear inside the Steam client, after someone owns the game. They are the easiest to skip, because a store page publishes without them. Skipping them is visible: Steam falls back to showing a screenshot with your game's name overlaid in the corner, next to competitors who supplied real artwork.
| Asset | Size (px) | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Library capsule | 600 x 900 | The player's library grid and collections |
| Library header | 920 x 430 | Recent Games in the Steam client |
| Library hero | 3840 x 1240 | Banner across the top of the library details page |
| Library logo | 1280 x 720 | Overlaid on the hero at the top of the library details page |
One caveat on the library logo. Valve documents it as 1280px wide and/or 720px tall rather than as a single fixed size, because it is a transparent logo that Steam positions for you. Treat 1280 x 720 as the canvas to work inside rather than a shape the artwork must fill.
Screenshots and the trailer
| Asset | Size | Required | Rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screenshots | 1920 x 1080 minimum, 16:9 | At least 5 | Actual gameplay only. No concept art, cinematics, award logos or marketing text. Valve asks that at least four be suitable for all ages. |
| Trailer | 1920 x 1080 recommended | Optional, strongly recommended | Lead with gameplay. A trailer that opens on thirty seconds of logos loses the viewer before the game appears. |
What Valve will not allow on a capsule
These are rules rather than advice, and they are the commonest reason artwork has to be redone late:
- No review scores or award logos. However good the quote is, it does not belong on the capsule.
- No marketing copy. No taglines, no feature lists, no "Now with multiplayer".
- No discount or price text. Steam renders sale badges itself, and a baked-in one will be wrong later.
- No text beyond the game title. The logo is the exception, not an allowance for a sentence.
- No text at all on the library hero. Steam overlays your separate logo asset there, so any burned-in title appears twice.
Screenshots have their own version of this: they must show real gameplay, not concept art, pre-rendered cinematics, award logos or marketing text. A menu screen only counts if the menu is itself a distinctive part of the game.
A sensible order to work in
The capsules all derive from the same key art, so producing them in this order means you are never redrawing something because a later format did not fit:
- 1. Key art, square or larger. One strong illustration that every capsule can be cropped from. Square crops well into both the wide header and the tall library capsule.
- 2. The logo, on its own transparent layer. Never baked into the art. The small capsule wants it nearly filling the frame while the main capsule wants it clear of the subject, and one flattened image cannot satisfy both.
- 3. The small capsule first. It is the hardest constraint, because Steam scales it to 120 x 45. If the composition survives there it will survive everywhere.
- 4. The remaining store capsules, reframing the same art per aspect ratio.
- 5. The library set, keeping the hero free of text and its subject inside the centre 860 x 380.
- 6. Screenshots and the trailer. These come from the game rather than from art production, so they are the part you cannot outsource to a tool.
Frequently asked questions
- What assets are required to publish a Steam store page?
- At minimum: a header capsule (920 x 430), a small capsule (462 x 174), a main capsule (1232 x 706), a vertical capsule (748 x 896), the four library assets, and at least five screenshots at 1920 x 1080 or larger in 16:9. A page background and a trailer are optional but strongly recommended.
- How many screenshots does Steam require?
- At least five. They must show actual gameplay rather than concept art, pre-rendered cinematics, award logos or marketing text. Menu screens only count if the menu is itself a distinctive gameplay element. Valve also asks that at least four be suitable for all ages, because those are the ones shown in the widest range of places on the store.
- Can I put review scores or awards on my Steam capsule?
- No. Valve prohibits quotes, award logos, review scores, marketing copy and discount information on capsule art. The only text that belongs on a capsule is the game's own title or logo.
- Can I put text on the Steam library hero?
- No. The library hero must not contain text, because Steam overlays your separate library logo asset on top of it. Only the centre 860 x 380 region is guaranteed to stay visible, since the hero is cropped as the client window resizes.
- What happens if I do not upload library assets?
- Steam falls back to showing one of your store screenshots with the game's name overlaid in the bottom left corner. It works, but it looks unfinished next to games that supplied real library art, and the library is where owners see your game most often.