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Popular banner design format for affiliate marketing campaigns

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This page lists the banner formats most used in affiliate marketing, with their dimensions and their usual placement. Use it to decide which sizes to produce as an advertiser, and to spot the ones that fit your site as a publisher.

Note: this page only covers the choice of format. To learn where and how to upload a visual in Affilae, read How to integrate a banner on Affilae?

What Affilae actually accepts

Affilae imposes no dimensions at all. The only constraints when you upload an ad apply to the file type and its weight.

CONSTRAINT	WHAT AFFILAE DOES
File types	Three image formats only: JPEG, PNG and GIF. Animated GIF works. WebP, SVG, PDF and video are rejected.
Maximum weight	3 MB per file. The note Size limit: 3MB appears under the upload area.
Dimensions	Free. No width or height is required, no list of sizes is offered, and Affilae never measures or displays your visual’s dimensions.
Replacing a visual	The new file must keep the same extension as the previous one. A JPEG cannot replace a PNG.
Ad category	The Ad element category cannot be changed after creation. To turn a banner into a text link, create a new ad.

Warning: if you drop a file in an unsupported format (a WebP for instance), the upload area does not react and shows no message. The file is simply not taken. So if your visual seems ignored, check its extension first.

Careful, the Format column is not the size

In the Ads table, the Format column does not show dimensions in pixels: it shows the ad category, the one you pick at creation under Ad element category.

Banner Text Email Coupon Other

On the publisher side, the All types filter therefore sorts by category, not by size. To know a visual’s dimensions, read the ad Title or download the image.

The market standard formats

The sizes below do not come from Affilae. They are the display advertising standards, the ones the IAB recommends and your affiliates already know. Sticking to them saves everyone time: the visual drops straight into the slot your partner has on their site.

Keep in mind: these dimensions are a market practice, not an application rule. Affilae accepts a visual of any size, as long as it stays a JPEG, PNG or GIF under 3 MB.

728 x 90
Leaderboard

300 x 250
Medium rectangle

300 x 600
Half page

160 x 600
Wide skyscraper

The four most requested formats, drawn to the same scale.

FORMAT	DIMENSIONS	USUAL PLACEMENT	WHAT IT IS FOR
Medium rectangle	300 x 250	Inside an article or in a sidebar	The most versatile and most requested size. Provide it first.
Large rectangle	336 x 280	Inside an article	A slightly wider variant of the medium rectangle, same use.
Leaderboard	728 x 90	Top of a page, on desktop	Seen as soon as the page opens, before any scrolling.
Billboard	970 x 250	Top of a wide page, on desktop	A high impact size, kept for large sites and key moments.
Half page	300 x 600	Sidebar	A large visible surface, often the best click-through rate.
Wide skyscraper	160 x 600	Sidebar, often sticky while scrolling	Stays visible throughout the whole article.
Full banner	468 x 60	Site header, body of a newsletter	An older size, still widely used in email marketing.
Square	250 x 250	Insert, widget, newsletter	Fits narrow slots without being cropped.
Small square	200 x 200	Narrow sidebar	Enough for a logo plus a short offer.
Mobile leaderboard	320 x 50	Top or bottom of a phone screen	A must as soon as your affiliates have mobile traffic.
Large mobile banner	320 x 100	Top or bottom of a phone screen	Twice as tall as the 320 x 50, so easier to notice.

Which formats to provide first

Start with the 300 x 250: this is the size your affiliates ask for most often.
Add a 728 x 90 for the slots at the top of desktop pages.
Complete the set with a vertical size, 300 x 600 or 160 x 600, for sidebars.
Plan at least one mobile size, 320 x 50 or 320 x 100, since much of the traffic comes from phones.

Why the choice of formats matters

An affiliate who finds the exact size of their slot places your visual straight away, with no editing.
The more sizes you cover, the more placements you can appear on.
A light visual loads fast, so it is really seen and clicked.
Each ad is measured separately in your Reporting, which tells you which format performs.

Best practices

Tip: put the dimensions in the Ad title, for example « Banner 300×250 summer sale ». Since Affilae never displays a visual’s size, this is the only way for your affiliates to spot the right format at a glance.

Stay well below the 3 MB limit. The display advertising market rather aims at 150 KB per visual, animation included.
Pick the right file type: JPEG for a photo, PNG for a visual with text or a logo, GIF for a short animation.
Export your visuals as JPEG, PNG or GIF from the start. Many design tools default to WebP, which is not accepted.
Keep the message readable when small: a logo, an offer, a call to action, nothing more.
Use the same message across all sizes, so your affiliates stay consistent between their placements.
Refresh your visuals for every key moment, using the form’s dates (Choose start and end date).

Use cases

Online store. You get ready for the sales with three visuals: a 300 x 250 for blogs, a 728 x 90 for comparison sites and a 320 x 50 for affiliates with a mobile audience.
Media site or blog. Your partner sells a sidebar slot: you provide a 300 x 600, which stays visible throughout the reading.
Publisher newsletter. The slot is narrow and rendering varies from one mail client to another: a 468 x 60 or a 250 x 250 in JPEG works everywhere.

Frequently asked
questions

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No. No width or height is required, and the application offers no list of sizes. The dimensions given on this page are display advertising standards, not Affilae rules.

JPEG, PNG and GIF only, up to 3 MB per file. Animated GIF works. WebP, SVG, PDF and video are rejected.

Your file is most likely not in a supported format. In that case the upload area ignores it without showing any message. Convert it to JPEG, PNG or GIF, then try again.

Your image is over the 3 MB limit. Compress it or reduce its dimensions, then upload it again. A banner visual fits easily under 300 KB.

The 300 x 250. It is the most common size: it fits inside an article as well as in a sidebar.

Yes, but the new file must keep the same extension as the previous one, otherwise the message « File’s extension must be the same as the previous image » appears. To change file type, create a new ad.

The Ads table does not show dimensions, and the « Format » column shows the category (Banner, Text, Email, Coupon, Other). Advertisers therefore put the size in the ad title, for example « Banner 300×250 ». When in doubt, message the advertiser.