The Complete Guide to Apple Music Motion Artwork

Why almost nobody uses it (yet)

Apple Music now shows motion artworkon album pages — your cover art, moving, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and smart TVs. Almost no independent releases use it. Not because artists don’t want it, but because Apple’s spec is strict, the documentation is written for animation studios, and most distributors accept your file and then let Apple reject it without telling you why.

This is the version nobody wrote.

Part 1 — The technical spec

You need two files. Not one. Both, every time.

And for both files:

• Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 (square pixels)
• Bitrate: minimum 45 Mbps, maximum 100 Mbps
• Frame rate: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps
• Colour profile: Rec. 709 or sRGB

Apple publishes free After Effects templates with the correct settings and safe-area guides baked in — the Album Motion Partner Toolkit. Use them.

Correct export settings

After Effects: Format → H.264. Audio Output → Off. Format Options → Target Bitrate 45 Mbps, max between 45 and 100.

Premiere / Media Encoder:Format → H.264. Preset → Match Source. Deselect “Export Audio.”

FFmpeg, if you’re doing it yourself:

ffmpeg -i input.mov \
  -vf "scale=2048:2732,format=yuv420p" \
  -c:v libx264 -b:v 45M -maxrate 100M -bufsize 200M \
  -color_primaries bt709 -color_trc bt709 -colorspace bt709 \
  -r 24 -an -movflags +faststart \
  album_motion_3x4.mp4

Verify with ffprobebefore you submit. If it doesn’t report a bitrate of at least 45 Mbps, or an audio stream is present, fix it.

Part 2 — The 9 reasons Apple rejects motion artwork

This is the part nobody tells you.

1. The first frame doesn’t match your album cover

   The most common rejection. Apple requires the first frame of the animation to be your album cover art — exactly. On slow connections the first frame freezes, and a user screenshotting your album must see the real cover. Starting on black, a solid colour, a fade-in, or “a vague visual” gets rejected.

2. It doesn’t loop seamlessly

   The animation must run in a continuous loop with no noticeable transition from end back to start. A visible jump means rejection.

3. There are cuts

   Motion art must stay on the album cover art for the full duration. No cuts to other images. No multiple edits. One continuous shot of your cover, moving.

4. It flashes

   Frantic, strobing or constantly-flashing motion is rejected — distracting alongside the Apple Music UI and a genuine accessibility hazard.

5. Text or logos are outside the safe area

   On the 3x4 file only, the Apple Music UI overlays your art — the iPhone notch at the top, and text, buttons and a gradient at the bottom. Typography, logos and key subjects must sit inside the safe area. Push your album title into the gradient and it becomes illegible — Apple calls this “unintentional and broken” and rejects it. The 1x1 file has no safe-area restriction.

6. AI melted your text

   Apple has a dedicated “AI Visual Integrity” policy. It explicitly rejects textual erosion (AI out-painting that distorts titles or makes metadata illegible), anatomical distortion (warped faces, impossibly bent limbs), and poor-quality animation with “an automated feel.” This is the trap for anyone using a generic image-to-video AI tool: those models regenerate the whole frame, including your typography — and they cannot spell. The fix is architectural — your text has to be lifted off as a separate layer and composited back untouched, not re-generated.

7. A square cover sits inside the portrait frame

   Apple names this explicitly: “a 3x4 motion asset that displays a 1x1 album cover will be rejected.” Fill the entire 3x4 frame with art — don’t letterbox your square cover with bars.

8. There’s a border, a drop frame, or a hold frame

   No frame or border if the art doesn’t fill the composition. No dropped frames, no held frames — check the timeline before you transcode.

9. Promotional content, parental advisory logos, or upscaled mush

   No tour dates, no marketing copy, no ad-like material. No parental advisory logo (explicit is handled in metadata now). And don’t upscale a low-res source — pixelation and blur get rejected.

Part 3 — How to actually submit it

You cannot upload motion artwork to Apple yourself. It’s delivered by your distributor, alongside the release.

• Your distributor can also add motion artwork to an album that’s already out — you don’t have to wait for a new release.
• Not all distributors support it, and some charge. Symphonic, for example, charges $50 per release just to submit the file.
• Apple maintains a list of distributors that deliver motion artwork (its Preferred Providers).

Ask your distributor: “Do you deliver Apple Music album motion artwork, and what do you charge?”If they say no, that’s a reason to move.