Guides

How to make a game trailer for your Steam page

Q: How long should a Steam trailer be?

Valve sets no length. Practitioners favor about 90 seconds to 3 minutes, with gameplay in the first seconds, since players may give it less than 10 seconds.

Q: What resolution should a Steam trailer be?

Up to 1920 × 1080, at 30 or 60 fps, with a bitrate of 5,000 kbps or more, preferably H.264 video and AAC audio in an .mp4.

Q: Should my Steam trailer start with a logo?

No. Steam plays the start of your trailer when players hover your capsule, and many watch without sound: open on gameplay.

Q: How many trailers should a Steam page have?

At least one gameplay trailer first. The first two trailers show before your screenshots; others appear after them.

DreamEp, founder of NextWishlist · Updated October 28, 2026 · 3 min read

<10 sto make an impression in the Discovery QueueValve rule

1920 × 1080maximum, at 30 or 60 fpsValve rule

6 slooping microtrailer built from your first trailerValve rule

On this page

Gameplay in the first seconds
A structure that works
Valve's technical specs
How many trailers, and in which order
Reuse it everywhere

Short answerOpen on gameplay: Valve says most players want gameplay, may give it less than 10 seconds and may watch without sound, and since June 2026 Steam plays your trailer's start on hover. Upload up to 1920 × 1080 at 30 or 60 fps, and keep a gameplay trailer first.

Your trailer plays at the top of your Steam page and, since June 2026, when someone hovers your capsule. It has seconds to show what the player does. Here is what Valve's documentation and trailer editors recommend.

01Gameplay in the first seconds

Valve: most Steam users are looking for gameplay, and your first trailer should be primarily gameplay, often with the HUD visible.
In the Discovery Queue, players may give you less than 10 seconds, and some watch without sound.
Since June 2026, Steam plays the start of your trailer when someone hovers your capsule on the home page: a logo or a cinematic intro wastes that moment.

So: no studio logo first, no slow fade-in. Open on the moment that best shows what makes your game different.

02A structure that works

Seconds 0 to 3: the core action, the thing a player does every minute.
Then the variety: enemies, places, tools, the twist of your game, in short shots of a few seconds each.
Text overlays short enough to read without sound, if any.
End on the title, the release date or "Wishlist now", and the platforms.

Practitioners favor about 90 seconds to 3 minutes, with shots of 3 to 5 seconds and nothing repeated more than a few times. Derek Lieu's "simplest trailer" is a good template: gameplay, title, call to action.

03Valve's technical specs

Up to 1920 × 1080, at 30 or 60 fps, with a bitrate of 5,000 kbps or more.
.mp4, .mov or .wmv, with H.264 video and AAC audio preferred; 16:9 preferred.
Common failures: use 1920 × 1080 or 1280 × 720, and 44.1 or 48 kHz audio.
Custom thumbnails must be a frame of the video, 1920 × 1080, ideally without text.

04How many trailers, and in which order

The first two trailers appear before your screenshots; the others after them.
Steam builds six-second looping microtrailers from your first visible trailer for quick views, and you can't customize them: another reason to open on gameplay.
Categories: General or Cinematic, Teaser, Gameplay, Interview or Dev Diary.
You can assign trailers to languages and restrict rated videos to some countries.

A trailer must be on your page before Steam Next Fest registration closes, and trailers need time to process before release: upload early.

05Reuse it everywhere

Cut your trailer into one-minute clips for social media, each with its own hook (how to make your game go viral), and put it in your press kit as a link and an MP4 (indie game press kit). Your capsule, trailer and tags work together: see Steam page optimization.

NextWishlist checks your page, trailer included, against the pages of games like yours and tells you what to fix first.