You upload photos, and the website rejects some of them without explaining why. Or it accepts them, but the advert looks different from what you expected. In most cases, this isn’t down to the content of the photo, but to technical specifications: the aspect ratio, resolution or file size.
We have summarised the published technical requirements of the largest Czech property portal in a single table and, in addition, we have measured our own outputs to show where reality diverges from the rules. This follows on from our articles on which edits need to be flagged and where to place the flag.
Requirements in a single table
| Parameter | Sreality.cz |
|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 4:3 |
| Lowest resolution | 480 × 360 |
| Highest resolution | 1920 × 1080 |
| Format and size | JPG, up to 5 MB |
| Number of photographs | at least 3 different ones |
| The first photograph | the property itself, not a collage |
| Text in the photograph | prohibited (Article 114) |
| Logo | watermark 150 × 70 px, 30 per cent |
| Floor plan | only from second place onwards |
| Rules for AI edits | does not have a separate |
The source is the Sreality.cz advertising policy, downloaded on 17 October 2026. The technical requirements for Slovak portals have not been published; this is covered in a separate section below.
The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height, not the resolution
Sreality requires a 4:3 aspect ratio. It sounds like a harmless statement, as 4:3 is the standard aspect ratio for a camera. However, the estate agent is taking the photo with a mobile phone and is holding it vertically. The result is 3:4 - the same numbers in reverse - and that does not comply with the rule.
The second pitfall is SLR cameras and most mirrorless cameras. These take photos in a 3:2 aspect ratio, not 4:3. The photographer therefore delivers a set of photos that doesn’t fit either, and nobody notices until the advert is returned.
The third pitfall is the upper limit itself. With a 4:3 aspect ratio, a photograph 1920 pixels wide would be 1440 pixels high, which would exceed the 1080-pixel limit. The largest dimensions that Sreality will accept at a 4:3 aspect ratio are therefore 1440 × 1080, not 1920 × 1080.
The target size
The requirements give rise to one target dimension and two conditions relating to it:
- A maximum of 1440 × 1080, as this is the largest 4:3 aspect ratio that fits within the Sreality’s limits.
- Landscape orientation, 4:3 aspect ratio, JPG, up to 5 MB.
- Sreality’s minimum resolution is as low as 480 × 360, which is very low. However, the portal stretches the photo in the gallery to the width of the window, so a small original image becomes blurry. This is our recommendation, not a rule: aim straight for the upper limit.
If there’s one figure you need to remember, it’s 1440 × 1080.
We measured our own outputs
To ensure this wasn’t just theory, we ran 32 edited photographs from our own service through the system and compared them against Sreality’s rules. This is an analysis of our own data relating to our tool, not an independent test, and it yields an unsettling result: only three out of thirty-two photographs passed the rules.
You can swipe the table to the side with your finger.
| Output dimensions | Number | Ratio | Will it work? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 864 × 1152 | 17 | 3:4 portrait orientation | no |
| 1248 × 832 | 9 | 3:2 | no |
| 1152 × 864 | 3 | 4:3 | yes |
| 1301 × 918 | 1 | 1,42:1 | no |
| 832 × 1248 | 1 | 2:3 portrait orientation | no |
| 2496 × 1664 | 1 | 3:2 | no, even above the ceiling |
The reason is that the adjustment preserves the aspect ratio of the source photograph. If you take a portrait-oriented photo, you’ll get a portrait-oriented output. The tool isn’t doing anything wrong; it’s simply faithfully reproducing what you’ve photographed, whilst the website wants something different.
How much does it cost to crop to 4:3?
A photo with the wrong aspect ratio can be cropped, but not for free. We’ve worked out how much of the original area will remain after cropping to a 4:3 landscape aspect ratio:
- 89 per cent remains from the source at a ratio of 3:2 - that is, from the camera. That is acceptable.
- From a source with a 3:4 aspect ratio - i.e. a portrait-oriented mobile phone - 56 per cent remains.
- 50 per cent remains from the source at a ratio of 2:3. Half of the photograph is gone.
When it comes to interiors, it’s not just a number. In a cropped vertical photograph, the ceiling or floor disappears - in other words, precisely what gives a room its sense of scale.
The practical conclusion is unpopular, but clear: take landscape photos for your advert. Not because it looks better, but because a 4:3 landscape aspect ratio is what the website requires, and anything else can only be achieved by cropping the image.
Slovak websites have not published their rules
We were unable to find any technical requirements for photographs in the publicly available terms and conditions of Nehnuteľnosti.sk: neither aspect ratio, nor resolution, nor file size. This does not mean that they do not exist; they may be included in the contractual documentation for estate agents, which is not publicly available.
In practice, this leads to a simple rule. If you prepare a set of images according to Sreality’s specifications - that is, 1440 × 1080 in width in JPG format - they will almost certainly be accepted even where no specific rules have been published. The reverse is not true.
Checklist
- Is the photo landscape, with a 4:3 aspect ratio?
- Is my photo 1440 × 1080 at most, i.e. the largest 4:3 aspect ratio allowed by Sreality?
- Is it a JPG file under 5 MB?
- Are these three different photographs, including at least one interior shot and one exterior shot?
- Is the first photo of the property itself, rather than a collage or a floor plan?
- Is there no text, frame or highlighting in the photo, and is the logo just a watermark no larger than 150 × 70 px?
What we do about it
The measurement above relates to our own service, and as the result is not flattering, we are including it along with the figure. The MeaReal service (meareal.com), operated by MeaOvis s. r. o., currently preserves the aspect ratio of the source photograph, so a portrait-oriented photo taken on a mobile phone will not fit onto the portal without being cropped.
That is why the service offers a portal export option. The ‘For portals’ button returns an image in a 4:3 aspect ratio, up to a maximum of 1440 × 1080, and, for vertical source images, it shows how much of the image will be cropped before downloading, rather than silently discarding half the frame.
This advice from the text still applies: when taking photos, hold your phone horizontally. The portal will prepare the portrait-oriented photo for upload, but it won’t restore the half of the shot that is cropped out.
We checked the portals’ rules on 17 October 2026; the portals are in the process of amending them. The output measurements were carried out on 32 edited photographs from our own service.