Album artwork is often a bit of a roadblock in the release process. The design is perfect, but you might have been sent an email saying that it is the wrong size or resolution (also known as DPI). This can be a bit confusing, especially if you’re not the one who originally designed it. Fear not, however, because we’re here with a guide to help you correct your artwork. Remember: if you ever have any queries or problems with your release, you can always drop us an email and we’ll do our best to help you.
1. Correct your Artwork with Preview
Yes, you read that right. You can use Preview on OS X to change the size and resolution of an image with very little effort. Below, we have our totally mind-blowing album cover.
However, if we open Preview’s Inspector by pressing ⌘ + I, we can see that the resolution isn’t correct – it’s set to 72 DPI, which is the default value for many photo editing suites such as Photoshop. Fiddlesticks!
Not to worry. Apple have hidden an extremely useful method of changing image sizes in the Tools menu, known as Adjust Size:
In this window, you can very easily change both the size and resolution of the image. Like earlier, we can see that the DPI is still 72. iTunes request that all album artwork has a DPI of 300. Simply change it to the correct value.
Once you’ve done that, simply press OK, and you’re done. Incredible stuff. Now, if we re-open Inspector (⌘ + I), we can see that the resolution is now correct.
2. Correct your Artwork with Photoshop
If you are on Windows or prefer to use the Adobe creative suite, then the same result can be achieved with relative ease using Photoshop. Simply open up your album, then navigate to Image Size in the Image menu, or press ⌘ (or ctrl on Windows) + ⌥ + I.
Then, you’ll be met with this screen, which will allow you to change the size and the resolution of the image.
Simply change the resolution to 300. If your artwork is already 3000×3000, then increasing the DPI from 72 to 300 will boost the size of the image up to 12500×12500, which makes for a pretty giant .jpeg. Change the width and height back to 3000, and you’re good to go. You may be tempted to use Save For Web, but beware, as this will create a .jpeg with a DPI of 72 again, so don’t. Instead, use Save As… and select .jpeg.
3. Correct your Artwork with Paint.NET
If you’re using Windows, the best way to do things is to download Paint.NET (which is effectively Microsoft Paint’s bigger brother). It’s totally free, it’s pretty similar to Microsoft Paint, and it does everything we need it to. For starters, open up your album artwork in paint.net, and navigate to Image -> Resize… (or press ctrl + R).
You’ll then be met with a prompt which will initially look like this:
This prompt will allow you to change the size and resolution of your image. If you need to resize it, make sure Maintain aspect ratio is checked in order to keep your artwork square. Set the Resolution (highlighted above) to 300. Once you’re all done, press OK and save the image as a jpeg (if it isn’t one already).
Hey presto! You have an image up to iTunes standard. Simply upload the .jpeg you’ve just created to your release on our Client Zone and carry on with your release!
