Text & Watermark
Discord Server Banners: 960×540, Quiet Top 48 px, No Last Raid Date
Clean Discord server banners with AI text and watermark removal: erase old event stamps, keep art readable at mobile sizes, and export crisp HD banners ready t…
Written by Backgroundcanvas Editorial, the team that builds these image tools. We disclose that affiliation here. Platform sizes and rules below come from the linked official docs, not from a lab bake-off.
The channel list still says last month’s raid
Discord’s own server-banner article asks for an image at least 960×540 in 16:9, and says a 1920×1080 file will be resized. It also tells you to keep the top 48 px fairly simple so the server title stays readable. Mods still ship a flattened PNG that says “RAID SAT 9PM” while this week’s event is a map vote. Redesigning the mascot is a week. Clearing the date is this afternoon. The job is to paint out the burned-in line, keep the character art, and letter this drop in Canva on a 16:9 master — not to tour every cleanup tool, and not to stretch a Discord profile banner (a different crop) into the server slot.
Paint the date; leave the top strip empty
Upload the 16:9 file to text removal. Brush the raid date, “BOOST NOW,” and an expired Nitro promo as one block. Zoom to 100% on linework. You want the original grain, not a soft rectangle. Do not run full-image auto if the server name is drawn into the illustration; paint only the dated line. After cleanup, keep the top 48 px quiet — Discord will put the title there. A partner logo in the corner is a mark, not a caption; route that after the letters are gone, then come back to type. Mixing logo and date in the same stroke is why a cheek still shows a yellow smear.
Before
After
Size versus the 10MB cap
Work at 1920×1080, then export 16:9 JPEG or PNG for Discord. Uploads here accept JPG, PNG, WebP, or AVIF up to 10MB and 6000×6000 px. A 1920 px PNG under 4MB typically returns in under 60 seconds. Server banners are a Boost Level 2 feature on Discord’s page; if your community is not boosted, this file still belongs in the invite embed and the website hero. Do not upload a 640 px Twitter crop and hope 960×540 will save it. Name files `server-banner-base.png` versus `server-banner-raid-09-02.png` so next event is a lettering job.
Invite embeds are not profile banners
A user profile banner is a different ratio. Do not reconstruct this week’s raid onto a Nitro profile strip and then stretch it. Letter each surface separately. Skip the tool when the date covers most of a face, when the file is a screenshot of a screenshot, or when you do not own the art. Clearing your own expired raid stamp is ops. Lifting another server’s banner is not. If reconstruction ate a letter of the hand-drawn title, you need the layered file, not a second pass.
Event-week habit
Keep untitled 16:9 bases in a folder named for the server, not for the raid. When a drop ships, add type in the layout tool, preview the top 48 px with the server name in mind, then upload. Do not bake member counts or “BEST SERVER” into the JPEG; those claims belong in a channel, not in reconstructed enamel on a mascot. A second auto pass will not invent linework the first pass flattened.
What Discord resizes for you
If you only have 960×540, it still meets the documented minimum. If you have 1920×1080, upload that and let Discord resize. Either way, letter after cleanup so a rain delay does not force another reconstruction. When the invite still shows last season’s championship date, clear the overlay, keep the top strip quiet, and ship a 16:9 banner that matches the event in #announcements.
Boost level is a Discord switch, not a cleanup switch
Server banners require Boost Level 2 on Discord’s article. Cleanup will not unlock the slot. If you are not boosted, use the cleaned 16:9 as an invite-link preview image and a website hero, then letter the raid in #announcements. Animated banners are the same 960×540 habit; this pass is for a still PNG or JPEG. Do not reconstruct a GIF frame-by-frame in this tool. Keep the top 48 px free of type after you add this week’s date in Canva, because Discord will still overlay the server name. Preview at 960×540 and at a phone width before you upload.
Roles and CTAs belong in channels
“TICKET LINK IN #DROPS” is a channel pin, not a reconstructed line on a mascot’s chest. Baking it into the banner is why you are here every Friday. If review or a partner asks you to remove a logo you do not have rights to, clearing the raid date will not fix the logo. Pull the layered file. When the invite still shows last season’s championship, clear the overlay, keep the top strip quiet, and ship a 16:9 file that matches the event you actually scheduled.
Preview before Boost users see it
Upload as a draft if you can, or check the banner on desktop and in the mobile app. The top 48 px that looked empty in Canva may still collide with a long server name. Shorten the lettered event line, not the mascot. If 1920×1080 is over 10MB as PNG, export JPEG for this cleanup pass, then save the Discord upload as PNG if you need sharper type you add later in Canva.
When the drop is live and the banner still names last Saturday, clear the type and leave the mascot alone.
Friendly links: Discord Support: server banners.