What is the minimum photo size for Airbnb?

1024 x 683 pixels, according to the Airbnb Help Center article on photo tours. Airbnb adds that a bigger photo is better. There is no published maximum file size or required aspect ratio in that article.

What is the best photo size for Vrbo?

Vrbo publishes a minimum of 1024 x 683 pixels and recommends 3840 x 2160 pixels or higher, horizontal, in JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or SVG. Export at the full resolution of your camera and you are covered.

How many photos does an Airbnb listing need?

Airbnb asks for at least one photo per room so each room appears in the photo tour, and sets no published maximum. Vrbo requires at least 6 unique photos and may suspend a listing that stays below 6 for more than 30 days. For guests, 20 to 35 photos of a normal apartment is the range that shows everything without repeating.

Does Vrbo reject edited photos?

Vrbo rejects black and white or sepia images, blurry photos, close-ups, collages, text and logo overlays and non-photos. It does not reject corrections to exposure, colour or perspective. Keep the room as it is and leave the overlays off.

Airbnb and Vrbo photo size and requirements: what the platforms actually ask for

Most "Airbnb photo size" advice online is guesswork. These are the numbers the two platforms publish, what they leave open, and the export settings that cover both.

Hosts ask about photo size for two reasons: they want the photos to look sharp, and they do not want an upload rejected. The good news is that the published requirements are few and easy to meet. The bad news is that most third-party guides add numbers the platforms never state, so you end up exporting to a spec that does not exist. Below is what Airbnb and Vrbo themselves say, as of October 2026, and nothing else.

Airbnb: the published rules

Minimum resolution: 1024 x 683 pixels. Airbnb adds: "when in doubt, a bigger photo is better".
Cover: the first photo is the large one shown in search. Any photo can be made the cover from the listing editor.
Order: you can reorder the first five photos of the photo tour; they are the grid at the top of the listing page.
Rooms: every room or space should have at least one photo so it can appear in the photo tour. New photos are sorted into rooms automatically; you can move them by hand.
Changes to the cover or order can take up to 30 minutes to show.

Airbnb does not publish a maximum file size, a required aspect ratio or a maximum number of photos in that article. The 3:2 ratio you see repeated everywhere is a sensible recommendation (1024 x 683 is 3:2) and it is the shape the search card uses, but it is not a stated rule. Portrait photos upload fine; they are simply cropped in the grid.

Vrbo: the published rules

Minimum resolution: 1024 x 683 pixels. Best: 3840 x 2160 pixels or higher.
Formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or SVG.
Orientation: horizontal preferred because it displays best; vertical is accepted.
Minimum number: every listing needs at least 6 unique photos. Fewer than 6 for more than 30 days can lead to an indefinite suspension. Duplicates are removed and do not count.
Multi-unit properties: at least 1 building exterior, 1 interior or lobby, 3 guest room and 1 bathroom photo.
Quality: sharp and well lit; Vrbo advises against phone portrait mode because of the blur it adds.

Vrbo also lists what it rejects or edits out: black and white or sepia images, blurry or pixelated photos, close-ups, collages or montages, documents, certificates, illustrations and posters (floor plans and property maps are allowed, area maps are not), text overlays such as URLs or phone numbers, and graphic overlays such as logo watermarks or borders. If a photo has your management company logo in the corner, Vrbo will take it down or crop it.

What to export so both platforms are happy

Landscape, 3:2, at the full resolution of your phone or camera. A modern phone gives 4000 x 3000 or more; do not shrink it. If you must pick one target, 3840 x 2560 (3:2) clears Vrbo’s "best" line and is far above Airbnb’s minimum.
JPEG at quality 85 to 90. Both platforms accept it, it is a quarter the size of PNG, and nobody can see the difference on a listing.
No watermark, no text, no border, no collage, no filter that changes the colour of the room. Vrbo rejects them and on Airbnb they look like ads.
One photo per room at minimum, no near-duplicates, and a set of 20 to 35 for a normal apartment. Vrbo needs 6 to stay listed; guests need enough to picture the whole stay.
The same file on both platforms. Export once, upload twice. If you only have small files, see the next section.

Can you edit Airbnb and Vrbo photos?

Neither platform bans editing. What Airbnb requires is that photos and the description accurately represent the space, and it will ask a host to remove images that hide damage or show something the listing does not have. That line is easy to respect: brightening a dark room, fixing a yellow colour cast, straightening a leaning wall or recovering the view through a blown-out window changes the photograph, not the property. Removing a crack, enlarging a room or adding furniture that is not there changes the property, and that is what gets a listing in trouble with guests before it gets in trouble with Airbnb. Vrbo adds its own list above, all about overlays and image types, none about corrections.

If your photos are already on your listing and the only problem is light and colour, you do not need to reshoot. LiftMyStay fetches the photos from your public Airbnb or Vrbo page, corrects every room the way a retoucher would, never adds or removes anything, and shows you your cover before and after for free. The delivered files are full resolution, landscape, JPEG, ready to upload on either platform.