The Best Artwork Files for Custom Shirt Printing (and How to Fix Bad Ones)

Best to worst file types

Vector art scales to any size with no quality loss, so it is always first choice. Raster art works fine as long as the pixel dimensions are big enough for the printed size.

• SVG, AI, EPS, or PDF vector — perfect at any size
• PNG with a transparent background at 300 DPI — excellent
• JPG at 300 DPI — good, but the background has to be removed
• Screenshot or social-media save — usable only for small prints

How big does the file need to be?

Multiply the printed width in inches by 300. A standard 11-inch adult chest print wants roughly 3,300 pixels wide. A 4-inch left-chest print only needs about 1,200 pixels, which is why small logos survive from files that would look rough at full size.

Backgrounds and transparency

DTF prints white ink, so any white box behind your logo will actually print as a white box. The background must be transparent before the file goes to film.

Our online tee builder includes a background remover with a tolerance slider, an invert option, and a layer editor with erase, restore, and wand tools so you can decide exactly which enclosed areas stay solid and which show the shirt color through.

Thin lines and small text

Anything under about 1 point tends to break up on a textured garment. We bump hairline strokes and tiny sponsor text up during the proof stage and email you the adjusted mockup before we print anything.

Colors

Send Pantone or hex values if your team has locked-in colors. Screens are backlit and shirts are not, so a color that glows on your phone will print slightly deeper. We color-match against your reference and show it on the proof.