The size of the image you use for your certificate's background is important.
If the image is too small, then it will make your certificate look low-quality. If the background image you use is too large, the resulting certificate will take longer to load on a webpage and even fail to download or share on other platforms like LinkedIn. Here are the best pixel sizes to use for your certificate background images.
What Size is Your Certificate?
First, it depends on your desired paper size. Accredible Digital certificates match standard paper sizes, so it is easy to create PDFs and for recipients to print their certificates if they choose to do so.
If most of your students are located in North or South America, you likely want to create a US Letter design (8.5" x 11"). If most of your students are in the rest of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa), you likely want to create your certificate design on A4 paper size.
You can select which size certificate design you want on the design editor if you have not selected a text or image block.
What Orientation is Your Design?
If you have chosen Landscape, you want a certificate that is wider than it is tall. The portrait is the same size as paper, oriented up and down.
Our Recommended Minimum Sizes for your certificate background image:
US Letter Landscape: 1056px x 816px
US Letter Portrait: 816px x 1056px
A4 Landscape: 1123px x 794px
A4 Portrait: 794px x 1123px
Important Note: Be aware that these are minimum sizes; however, don't make the image too large, as this will cause loading and rendering issues for your recipients.
Ensure that if your image is larger, you maintain the correct aspect ratio so that when your image gets resized on the certificate, it doesn't become distorted.
What Image Format Should I Use?
The following formats are supported for background images:
- PNG
- JPEG
- GIF
When designing your certificate template, PNG is the better route due to its lossless compression. This type of compression will result in retaining better detail and quality compared to JPG's lossy compression.
Keep in mind that if you do choose to use a GIF for your background image, it will become static when downloaded by the recipient.
For more information on image formats, check out this article: What Image Formats are Accepted for Certificate Design Backgrounds?
Note: Do keep in mind that PNG will result in a higher image file size, which can cause slow load times. If you plan on using PNG for the highest quality output, we recommend a background image no greater than the recommended sizes below for HQ Printing.
Considering High-Quality Printing?
If you want your recipients to have the option of printing their certificate at a professional printer, you will need to have a sufficiently high-resolution background image. As always, if you are providing a larger image, ensure that you maintain the correct aspect ratio to prevent distortion.
Required Sizes for HQ Printing
US Letter Landscape: 3418px x 2668px
US Letter Portrait: 2668px x 3418px
A4 Landscape: 3626px x 2598px
A4 Portrait: 2598px x 3626px
Important Note: For HQ Printing the sizes above must be adhered to exactly.
High-Quality Printing - The Bleed Area
If your background is large enough for a high-quality print, we will assume your image has a bleed area, an extra image around the edges designed to be cut off after printing.
The bleed area ensures that your design can go right to the edges of the paper size, accounting for printers not printing right to the very edge of the paper. Ensure that if you want your design to reach the very edges of the page, turn bleed margins ON, and you keep specific details away from the edges of your design.
Important Note: If HQ PDF for printing is enabled, attributes will be shifted to accommodate the bleed area. Any attributes, especially near the edge, that is placed specifically to match the elements on the custom certificate templates can seem unaligned with this feature enabled. To mitigate this alignment issue, disable HQ PDF for printing or adjust your custom certificate template accordingly to give some breathing room for the attribute to rest on the specific elements within your template.
Downloading the Print Quality PDF Version
Once you have enabled this feature, your recipients can download the higher quality PDF version by
1. Heading to the Credential Page
2. Click on 
3. Then click Download Print Quality PDF
Has this article helped you? Let us know!
If you would like to tell us about any improvements you feel could be made to this page, you can email us at support@accredible.com.