Files, DPI, color, transparency
- Format: PNG for anything with transparency (DTG, DTF, embroidery placements, UV); PNG or JPEG for all-over and sublimation where the Spec forbids alpha.
formatsin the Spec lists what a placement accepts. - Size: the placement’s print area in inches × its DPI, rounded to pixels: a 12×16 in DTG front at 150 dpi is 1800×2400 px. The Spec states the exact pixels; Pressline rejects anything else.
- DPI: stamped in the PNG’s
pHYs; providers read pixels first, but the stamp keeps preview tools honest. - Color: sRGB, 8 bits per channel, declared with
sRGB+gAMA. Embed the sRGB profile if your exporter writes one — Printful asks for it; never embed a CMYK or grayscale profile. Expect DTG prints darker and less saturated than a screen; avoid relying on pure neon. - Transparency:
alpha: "allowed"— transparent pixels print nothing (garment shows through);forbidden— the file must be opaque (flatten onto the product color or white);required— reserved in the Spec for placements that need transparency; Pressline’s Printful catalog derivation today produces onlyallowed(DTG, DTF, embroidery, UV) andforbidden. - Bleed: none for DTG/DTF placements. For all-over and sublimation products check Printful’s placement documentation for whether the print area includes bleed; Pressline passes the provider’s dimensions through unchanged.
- Color type: Pressline reads the PNG header, the first 64 KiB: color type 4/6 or a
tRNSchunk means alpha, and reachingIDATwithout one means none. If the chunk table runs past 64 KiB beforeIDAT, Pressline cannot tell either way and a placement whose Spec isforbiddenorrequiredrejects the file. Keep ancillary chunks (iCCP,eXIf, text) small enough thatIDATstarts inside that window. - What Pressline verifies: exact size; 8-bit; non-interlaced; not palette-indexed; a declared color space that is not CMYK or grayscale; alpha per the Spec; a file under 200 MB. Everything else on this page is advice Pressline records as a Deviation when the file departs from it, and shows the Operator; it does not block a sale.