Abstract
Designing Spotify Canvas Videos for Artists You Work With
Spotify Canvas is a short vertical loop that plays under a song. Here's how to build one as a designer, using a landscape loop as a background element.
Spotify Canvas is the looping vertical video that plays behind a song on mobile. Spotify reports that tracks with a Canvas get more shares and streams, so many independent artists bring in a designer to make one. The library's loops are 16:9 landscape, so they work here as a background element inside a vertical composition you build, not as a finished 9:16 Canvas you deliver as-is.
What artists actually want
They want a Canvas that matches their song's mood, doesn't distract from the cover art, and loops cleanly. That means a designed deliverable: a vertical frame where an animated background sits behind the artist's type, logo, or a motion treatment you add.
How a loop fits the composition
Drop a landscape loop onto a 1080x1920 vertical canvas as a base layer, then build on top of it: a blurred edge fill, the artist's wordmark, a subtle reactive element timed to the track. The result is your composition, with the loop as one ingredient in it.
Delivery checklist
Spotify Canvas specs: 1080x1920 vertical MP4, 3-8 seconds long, H.264, under 4MB. Build your composition to those specs and export the finished deliverable. You are handing over your design, never the raw loop file.