Photos, What is the best size and resolution?

[Donn1]

I just had new photos taken of my property.

My photographer told me to find out the optimal size and resolution to submit my photos in. He said if I submit images that are too large/high res they will loose clarity if they need to be reduced . My new photos are absolutely spectacular.

I want them to be posted in their best possible format.

Donn

[Jessica18]

I have the same question - my photos are high res and look horrible.

[Karen1109]

Wish I had never asked! Can't airbnb just give an answer!

[Carole355]

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@Jessica18 wrote:

I have the same question - my photos are high res and look horrible.

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[Nada11]

I have the same problem, high resolution photos ( Airbnb - you suggested it!? ); but when uploaded it is all messy and cracked.. I am quite surprised this subject is somehow neglected.. what to do?

[Alison174]

I would like the answer to this too please - what are the ideal pixel dimensions?

[Andrej21]

Same problem!

[Jonathan150]

On the same boat here. And in my case I actually paid a professional photographer to come and shoot my listing. This horrible. But one thing to note. When Airbnb was giving host free photographer to take pictures of the listing, the pictures they took once uploaded were kept at the highest quality as possible. It is my theory, that Airbnb is not allowing high res photo to keep everyone on a par. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Donn1, @Jonathan150, @Andrej21, @Alison174, @Nada11,

Welcome to the Community Center. 

Aw photography can be the best thing, but it can sometimes cause a headache. I am not sure if you have seen this Help Center article regarding uploading photos. It says to have photos of at least 1024 x 683px to get a good resolution example of your listing, so perhaps this is a good base to work from.

Plus, if you are looking for some extra tips on photography take a look at this thread here in the Community Center and this recent blog article. 

It would be great to hear how you get on. 

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Carl-Erik0 · Accepted solution]

Jeebus, if you don't have any new information to contribute, why even post? It's especially annoying to see a representative from AirBnB, that might actually be in a position to get the data we ask for, not even bother to understand the problem area before posting. A photo of 0.6 Mpix, as you suggested, is in no way a high resolution image. The problem all of us is facing is that AirBnB takes a high-resolution image (say of 20Mpix) and resizes it using parameters that make it look crap (probably solely chosen just to save AirBnB cpu, bandwidth and storage costs).

The problem is not resizing per-se, it's understandable that AirBnB needs to scale images down to avoid huge bandwidth costs. The problem is that the results are so crap, so people would like to fine tune it for optimum effect. From some very basic research, it seems that the max horizontal resolution is 1440px, which coupled with the tips from AirBnB on using a ratio of 1.5 (1024 x 683) would set the max vertical resolution to 960.

The best case would be if the AirBnb service would skip resizing given that the image was beneath a certain file size threshold and the max resolution. That would mean we could upload 1440x960 images directly without any alteration, fine-tuning the quality parameters for the file size threshold. I remember that Facebook's image upload used to work like this in past, so if you knew what you were doing you could bypass the quality deteriorating resizing process and get far better looking photos.

I realize the site is not Flickr, but people still should be able to get the basic info on how to get their photos looking their best when prompted.

[Peter740]

I am no expert. But playing around with various scenarios, I found that a ratio of 964X399 worked well with my profile photo. I also realised that when I uploaded the photo initially, it doesn't look right (because view dimensions in the initial window are different to that of the profile view dimensions).
But when I moved it to the profile slot and then pre-view it, it is correctly positioned. 

Just trying to help folks. If it doesn't work to your satisfaction, please accept my apologies for the inconvenience in advance. 😉 Peter 

[Nikita6]

I think Myself and others here are still looking for an answer here.

Is it possible to upload a photo to AirBnB without forced compression?

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Would be Great if AirBnB AT LEAST made the cover photo of acceptable quality...
or just apply a simple rule: photos under 1440x960px under 1024kb don't get compressed.

And Considering AirBnB payf for professional photographers to make photos for hosts, it seems strange that they then turn around an decrease the quality of those photos to the point were people start complaiing. 

Also AirBnB is competing with other sites like booking.com VRBO, home away, expedia... etc. so having good photos is actually benefitial to them as they would get more bookings due to the percieved higher quality that photos in high resolution will provide.

[Robin4]

@Nikita6

The system will handle photos under 2 Mgs but still gives good results with photo size down to 700Kbs. This photo is currently at 828Kbs it has been resized to 1808 x 1356 using the 're-size' option in 'Windows'  Paint. 

828Kb 1808x1356 file

Uploading an image any larger than this will give no additional benefit on the Airbnb plaform,

and an image of this size will upload in about 7-10 seconds. Click the magnifying glass top right corner of the photo to view full size.

Cheers......Rob

[Nikita6]

I am a Photographer, Graphic Desginer and was a web designer since the days of 56K dial up modems, where image compression meant EVERYTHING! I figured out all the "hacks" in all different platforms like using TinyPNG to compress .png images under 960px so fb won't resize them. My Post: http://canofart.com/upload-high-quality-images-facebook

And I can tell you there is TONS to complain about the Image quality of AirBnB...
Please see this screenshot with side by side AirBnB browser to the left and original photo to the left in mac preview (full size)

Direct Screenshot from mac PNG

 
p.s. it seems that 1440x960  is no longer the format:
now it's even less, now it is 909 x683 (in my case)
original uploaded image of 5megapixel compressed to 909x683px

[Karen1109]

Does anyone have a simple answer to a simple question?!