Small capsule specification
| Requirement | What to deliver |
|---|---|
| Upload | 462 × 174 px |
| Generated sizes | 184 × 69 and 120 × 45 px |
| Placement | Search, top sellers, new releases and other lists |
| Content | Readable game logo and simplified art |
| Text | Game name and any official subtitle only; no review scores, awards or discount copy |
A capsule is one of the fixed-size images Steam uses to represent your game across the store and library. The small capsule is the harshest legibility test in the store set.
Desktop search rows currently draw the capsule at roughly 186 × 70 px and the search suggestion dropdown at roughly 148 × 56 px (checked September 2026), and Valve generates a version as small as 120 × 45.
At those sizes, fine faces, thin type, particles and secondary characters are the first details to become unreadable. Valve explicitly says the small capsule can use different art from the header and main capsules. Use that freedom when the shared key art will not survive.
Build from the 120 × 45 version upward
Start by reducing the composition to 120 × 45. If the title cannot be read or the genre cannot be inferred, fix the hierarchy before polishing the 462 × 174 source.
The logo will often need to nearly fill the capsule, which leaves room for only one supporting subject or shape.
Run three quick checks:
- Blur: does one focal block remain?
- Greyscale: does the logo still separate from the art?
- Neighbour test: does it remain identifiable beside ten capsules from the same genre?
Then score the asset with the free Steam Capsule Analyzer. The six dimensions it scores against, genre clarity, title readability, contrast and colour, uniqueness and polish, brand consistency and composition, are set out in full in the guide to Steam capsule art.
Design checklist
- Export at exactly 462 × 174 px.
- Preview the auto-generated 184 × 69 and 120 × 45 sizes.
- Let the logo occupy enough of the frame to stay readable.
- Use one clear visual subject; remove decorative detail that becomes noise.
- Keep title and art contrast strong in colour and greyscale.
- Remove award names and symbols, review scores, quotes, calls to action, discount copy and feature copy.
- Compare the final in a search-results-style list, not on a blank canvas.
Common small-capsule mistakes
- Reusing the header composition even though its logo becomes unreadable.
- Designing at 462 × 174 without checking the 120 × 45 generated image.
- Adding multiple characters whose silhouettes merge when reduced.
- Using thin decorative lettering that works in a trailer title card but not a Steam list.
Sources: Valve's own Steamworks documentation on store graphical assets and graphical asset rules, checked September 2026, plus our own audit of the live Steam store at a desktop viewport, September 2026, for the rendered sizes.
