Card types
X Card types explained
The four X Card types side by side: summary, summary_large_image, player and app, with required tags, image rules and the status of each in 2026.
Short answer
X documents four card types: summary (square thumbnail), summary_large_image (wide 2:1 image, the usual choice), player (media in an HTTPS iframe) and app (a store listing); you pick one with the twitter:card tag.
Key takeaways
- Use summary_large_image unless you have a specific reason not to.
- summary wants a square image of at least 144x144; summary_large_image wants 2:1, at least 300x157.
- Player cards need an HTTPS iframe page and come with strict playback rules.
- App cards are still documented, but you will rarely see them; test before you rely on one.
twitter:card takes one of four values, and each produces a different preview. Three of them are rarely the right answer, which is useful to know before you spend time on them.
Which card type should I use?
summary_large_image, for nearly every page that has or can have a decent wide image. It gives the biggest preview, it is what X users are used to seeing, and it is the layout other platforms mirror when they read your tags. Pick something else only when the content calls for it: a square logo with no wide image, a video you host, or an app.
| summary | summary_large_image | player | app | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image ratio | 1:1 | 2:1 | match the player | from store |
| Image minimum | 144x144 | 300x157 | 68,600 pixels | n/a |
| Image maximum | 4096x4096 | 4096x4096 | 4096x4096 | n/a |
| Extra required tags | none | none | twitter:player, width, height |
twitter:app:id:* |
| Seen often in 2026 | sometimes | constantly | rarely | rarely |
All image types share the same file rules: under 5 MB, and JPG, PNG, WEBP or GIF, where only the first frame of an animated GIF is used. SVG is not supported.
How does summary_large_image behave?
It shows your image across the full width of the post at 2:1, with the title over the image and the domain below. If you supply a 1200x630 image, the conventional Open Graph size, X crops a sliver from the top and bottom to reach 2:1. A 1200x600 file avoids the crop.
The card needs an image. Without twitter:image or og:image, X has nothing to draw and usually falls back to showing the link as text. The twitter:creator tag, which names the author's account, is documented specifically for this card type.
When is summary the better choice?
When the only image you have is square: a logo, an avatar, a product icon. Stretching a square logo into a 2:1 large image card either crops it badly or leaves you designing padding around it. The summary card shows a small square thumbnail next to the title and description, which suits profile pages, documentation, repositories and directory listings.
X crops summary images to a square from the center, so keep the subject in the middle. The documented minimum is 144x144; something around 400 to 600 pixels square looks sharp on high-density screens without wasting bytes.
What does a player card need?
An HTTPS page that X can load in an iframe, its width and height, and a poster image. The tags are:
<meta name="twitter:card" content="player">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Bread scoring in 90 seconds">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/video/scoring.jpg">
<meta name="twitter:player" content="https://example.com/embed/scoring">
<meta name="twitter:player:width" content="1280">
<meta name="twitter:player:height" content="720">
<meta name="twitter:player:stream" content="https://example.com/video/scoring.mp4">
X's player card page sets firm conditions. Every asset in the tags and the iframe must be HTTPS, the iframe page should be responsive, and media that autoplays must start without sound; anything longer than ten seconds must not autoplay at all. The player cannot require sign-in, cannot host purchases, games, polls or forms, and must work on all of X's clients, or it will not be approved. Images with fewer than 68,600 pixels will not render the card, so use at least 262x262 or 350x196.
On mobile apps a player card appears as the image with a play icon and opens the player when tapped; on desktop web it can play inline. If you only need people to watch a video, uploading it to X directly usually gives a better result. Player cards make sense for media you need to serve yourself, such as podcasts with their own player.
Are app cards still a thing?
They are still in X's markup reference, but they are uncommon, and you should test one in the composer before building on it. An app card points at a store listing:
<meta name="twitter:card" content="app">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Plan meals for the week in two minutes.">
<meta name="twitter:app:id:iphone" content="123456789">
<meta name="twitter:app:id:googleplay" content="com.example.meals">
<meta name="twitter:app:name:iphone" content="Meal Planner">
<meta name="twitter:app:url:iphone" content="mealplanner://today">
Two details trip people up. The iPhone ID is the number in the App Store URL, not the bundle identifier, and the app:url values are custom-scheme deep links that must include ://. For most app marketing pages, a summary_large_image card with a good screenshot and a link to the store page is simpler and more predictable.
What if I leave twitter:card out?
X may still build a summary card, but only if the page has og:type, og:title and og:description. The markup reference describes this fallback; there is no fallback to a large image card. If you want the big layout, you have to ask for it. The card generator writes the tag for whichever type you choose, and the inspector tells you when a card is only being inferred.
Questions
What happens if twitter:card has a typo?
An unknown value such as large_image or summary-large-image is not a valid card type, and X will not build the card you intended. The value must be exactly summary, summary_large_image, app or player.
Can I set different card types for X and other platforms?
twitter:card only affects X and the few apps that read it, such as Discord. Other platforms choose their own layout, usually from image size.
Is there a gallery or carousel card?
Not for websites. Gallery, photo and product cards existed years ago and were retired in 2015. Multi-image layouts on X today come from posting images directly.
Do player cards autoplay?
X's rules say autoplaying media should start muted, and content longer than ten seconds must not autoplay. The player must also have stop, pause and play controls.