How to Make Your Own Wallpaper for Your YouTube Channel
All YouTube users get a customizable channel to host their video content on. Whether they use their channel to post random videos of hilarious moments caught on tape or elaborate amateur productions that otherwise wouldn't get exposure, their content will go onto their channel. By personalizing their YouTube channel's background, users can add a dash of personality and style that reflects the nature of their videos or says something extra about the users themselves. All that's required is an image editing program and a YouTube account.
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Instructions
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Creating Wallpaper
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1
Open the image editor of your choice, and create a new canvas. If you're going for a large, single image for the background, the dimensions should be 2,200 pixels tall by 2,000 pixels wide to accommodate wide-screen or high-resolution viewers. If you are creating a tiled background, any size will work.
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2
Create a column that surrounds the central 960 pixels of the image if you are making a large, continuous wallpaper. This column will act as a boundary, telling you where the YouTube channel content begins and ends so that you can edit accordingly around it. Make sure this column can be easily removed when you are finished editing around it. If you are making a tiled wallpaper that has no need for centering, skip to step 3.
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3
Edit the picture as desired, and add any information, logos, images or other stylish accents that you want to include. Ensure that no part of the image encroaches on the boundary column established in step 2, because anything in this area will be obscured by the channel content. Keep images as close to the borders as possible, to allow screens of any resolution the ability to display the bulk of the image. Keep in mind that the background will always start directly below the white YouTube bar at the top of the screen, so you can put images, logos and other information in the top of your wallpaper without the information being obscured, as long as it doesn't encroach on the central boundary column. If you are making a tiled background, you need only make sure that your wallpaper will tile seamlessly, so make sure the borders on the top, bottom, left and right sides of the image match.
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4
Remove the central boundary column established in step 2. While the channel contents will block that central region, wide-screen displays will show any gaps you have left on the outer edges of the image and even some of what is underneath the channel contents. Ensure that the background flows seamlessly from one side to the other to mitigate this effect. If you're making a tiled background, you can skip to step 5.
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5
Save the image as a JPG. If the file size exceeds 256 KB, you will need to refine the JPG compression to reduce the file size because 256 KB is the maximum size YouTube allows for wallpapers. Users with tiled backgrounds are less likely to encounter this file size problem but should keep aware of the size of their background item just to be sure.
Editing YouTube
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6
Go to YouTube, and log in to your account.
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Click the arrow by your account name in the YouTube bar at the top of the screen, and select "Channel" from the drop-down menu.
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8
Click the "Themes and Colors" tab, and then click "Show Advanced Options."
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Click the "Browse" button next to the words "Background Image," and navigate through your folders to the image you saved.
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10
Clear the "Repeat Background" check box if you want a large, continuous wallpaper. If you are tiling the background, select Repeat Background" to make the image tile. Click "Save Changes." Your YouTube will now have a customized, personalized wallpaper. You might need to tweak as necessary to get the best effect, so don't be afraid to tinker around a little bit.
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Tips & Warnings
When doing a large, continuous background, keep the size in mind during editing. While working from a zoomed out canvas can help you keep an eye on the entire image, you might forget that the image you're working with is actually much larger.
You can use any image editing software to put your wallpaper together, but any that support layers, such as Adobe Photoshop or the free GIMP program, work best. These programs make it easy to set up and remove the central boundary column for continuous backgrounds and to control file compression during saving.
Keep your channel's content in mind when you're making your wallpaper. Keeping the wallpaper consistently in context with the content on your channel helps tie things together for a uniform, professional feel.
Refrain from using images that violate YouTube's "Terms of Service." Violations can lead to your account being banned.
