Best practices for MMS campaigns
Bird allows you to add images and GIFs to your text messages. Add branded images, product photos, or graphics that align with your marketing communications.
Follow these best practices for sending images and GIFs in text messages to ensure they display perfectly for your recipients.
When you include an image or GIF in a text message, it automatically converts from SMS to MMS.
Context
Several factors influence how an image or GIF appears on a recipient's phone, such as the wireless carrier, the type of phone (iOS or Android), and the phone version.
By adhering to MMS best practices, you can enhance the likelihood of your media looking great for all your recipients.
Please keep in mind the following about MMS messages:
The position of the image in an MMS cannot be changed, and it may display differently on iOS and Android devices.
MMS is not available for all sending number types and countries. If MMS is unavailable, the message will be sent without the media.
Supported media for MMS messages
Bird supports the following media types for MMS messages:
PNG
JPEG
GIF
File size limits
All images and GIFs must be under 600 KB.
If a file size exceeds 600 KB:
The image or GIF may be compressed and distorted.
The message may not be delivered.
Image and GIF ratio and orientation
Always optimize your images and GIFs for mobile.
When choosing a format, vertical is generally the best option, followed by square. Vertical media looks good on most devices and is less likely to be cut off or cropped since all media adjusts based on the width of the message.
Recommended image and GIF dimensions:
Square: 1:1 ratio (600 x 600px)
Vertical: 9:16 ratio (1080 x1920px)
Landscape: 16:9 ratio (1920 x 1080px)
If the image or GIF is too large, it may be cut off, requiring recipients to click to expand and view the full content. Your images and GIFs should not be excessively wide or tall, as phones adjust multimedia to fit the width of the text message. Ratios exceeding 9:16 (or 16:9) may appear distorted.
Tips for using GIFs
To improve delivery speed and user experience, adhere to the recommended size and ratio for images and GIFs. Experiment with different sizes to determine what works best for your brand and maintain consistency.
Use short animations: The total duration should not exceed 6 seconds. Long GIFs may not hold your subscribers' attention, and they might not watch them to the end.
Use less colors per pixel.
Reduce your frame rate: Frame rate should be between 2 to 4 frames per second.
Do not use transparency: Within the message thread, a transparent background appears solid with a randomly selected color. As a result, recipients may not see your image as intended, and it could look blurry or like a solid-color image.
Simplify your message: Use animated images of product pictures, collections, or banners that are easy to understand. If it aligns with your brand’s concept, consider incorporating memes.
Use high color contrast: Ensures that the image and its background are distinct, preventing the image from appearing blurry or as if it's a single solid color.
Use high gradient contrast: If using a gradient, ensure the colors are sufficiently different from each other. Otherwise, it might look like a solid-color image.
Bird compression methods
If your file size is greater than 600KB, we will try to compress the GIF or image, which may affect its quality.
We compress files that are too large. We start with the method outlined in step one, then progress to steps two and three as required:
Reducing frames per second (fps) to 2-3 fps, but maintain the same total duration. This makes the animation less smooth.
Reducing the dimensions.
Reducing the image quality.
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