What Is A Good File Size For Pitch Deck Presentations?

Entrepreneurs often ask – what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations. Creating a winning pitch deck can be incredibly difficult and takes much time to perfect.

There are many factors involved, including finding the perfect file size for your presentation. There are some recommended size limitations and different aspects of the sizing that you need to consider in this process.

Number of Slides

The key to winning pitch deck presentations is to keep it short and concise to ensure that you present the right message to your audience.

Here are the slides that you generally will have with your pitch deck presentation:

• Introduction
• Team
• Problem
• Advantages
• Solution
• Product
• Traction
• Market
• Competition
• Business Model
• Investment
• Contact

Some presentations can be up to 15 to 20 slides long. Though 10 is generally a good number to stick with. Anything shorter and your presentation might be lacking, but longer presentations will end up boring your audience.

How Many MBs Should It Be?

Even though you’ll have at least 10 slides, you should keep your presentation between 8 megabytes to 10 megabytes. This is because your file might be too large to share or transport between devices.

If you stick to the 10 slides and you avoid having too many high-resolution images, you should be good to go.

How Many Slides are 8 MB to 12 MB?

The truth is, it depends on what you have done with the presentation. If you have a lot of slides and high-resolution content, this could be a large file size.

If you have less content and fewer slides, this could significantly reduce the file size and allow you to stay within 8 to 10 MB.

The average file size for one PowerPoint presentation is about one MB.

However, as mentioned, this needs to be considered with some of the presented resolution and content. If there are high-quality photos, you could significantly increase the file size.

It is likely you might end up with too much content, thus creating a large file size. If you’re having trouble keeping your presentation within this limitation, there are a few things that you can do to keep your file size appropriate without sacrificing quality or content.

What Affects My File Size?

There are a few aspects that affect your file size. They are:

• Pixel dimensions
• Image format
• Bit depth

These play an essential role in what file size you have and how you can adjust your file to reduce its size. Pixel dimensions are the horizontal and vertical measurements of an image expressed in these pixels.

Pixel dimension may be determined when you multiply this, and there are many different options that you can choose from.

Do keep in mind that pixel dimensions change the resolution and the quality of your content. And, you would want to factor them in when evaluating what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations.

With pixel dimensions, you want to make sure that the pixels are not too large. If you have many pixels, it is more likely that your file will be much more expensive than you imagine.

A great way to think about this is the quality of photos and how large these file sizes can be. The higher the quality of pictures in your presentation, the higher the file size.

The image format is also important because there are so many options to choose from, and they have other implications for what file size you will have.

Here are some of the options you can choose from:

• JPEG/JFIF
• JPEG 2000
• Exif
• TIFF
• GIF
• BMP
• PNG
• PPM, PGM, PBM, PNM
• WebP
• HDR raster formats
• HEIF
• BAT

JPEG is probably the most appropriate for a pitch deck presentation. The quality is not super excellent, but the compression allows for you to have as many photos as you would like in your presentation.

If there are any photos in your presentation, people should consider this. If you lack pictures in your production, consider adding some to keep your audience interested and add more personality to your presentation.

Bit depth relates to the unique colors that are available within the image or the presentation. The bit is used to describe what color is being used, determining what file size you have.

With more shades or hues, your image might have more bit depth, resulting in a higher presentation file size than you might imagine. If you want to reduce the file size, reduce the bit depth, stick with primary colors, and keep things simple.

Additionally, keeping this simple will also allow for the audience you are presenting to remain attentive and interactive with your presentation.

If it is too flashy or too busy, you likely will lose them in the process. Learn how to maintain the right balance when assessing what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations.

Ways to Reduce File Size

If you’re looking for other ways to reduce your file size and you find yourself struggling even after the suggestions mentioned above, there are a few ways that you can proceed.

Other ways that many people do not realize affect your file size and to produce a smaller file for your pitch deck presentation include the following.

Size and Aspect Ratio

Size and aspect are also critical to your pitch deck presentation. Checking the size and aspect ratio for production can also ensure that you will be within the realm of what design you will be using for your presentation.

If you’re presenting off a laptop, you need a specific size and aspect ratio. If you’re presenting to a large screen projector or a display, there’s also a particular aspect ratio that you need to consider.

Without the proper sizing and aspect ratio as well, you could potentially have a file size that is incredibly big compared to what you need.

For laptops, it depends on what type of laptop you have. Most laptops have a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is only for models that are not Apple products. The Apple products have a unique design, with a 16:10 aspect ratio for their MacBook models.

Projectors are unique because of their aspect ratio and what they offer their users. Unlike other formats, this is a much different aspect ratio, but there are ways that you can change the aspect ratio to match those.

Pitch deck presentations that are going to get presented via projector need to fit a 4:3 aspect ratio. Changing this aspect ratio is relatively easy and will be discussed later for those who need to check your aspect ratios properly.

Finally, there’s also the ability to present on a large screen display. This is different from a projector but has the same ratio as a laptop. With a 16:9 presentation aspect ratio, this is easily one of the best ways people can present from their laptops or transfer it to a large-scale display.

For those who must present to several investors, this is an excellent way for you to keep it simple and explain exactly what you created for them. Keep these considerations in mind when identifying what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations.

Figuring out the right file sizes becomes all the more critical when you’re understanding how to cold email investors. Check out this video I have created where I can explain how it’s done.

How Do I Reduce My Aspect Ratio in Powerpoint?

Reducing your aspect ratio is not difficult and is quick to complete. One of the easiest ways for those with PowerPoint pitch deck presentations is by changing the slide aspect ratio. Here’s how you can change your aspect ratio on PowerPoint:

• Select Design
• Go to Customize
• Check Slide Size
• Select Custom Slide Size
• Select Slide Size Menu
• Adjust to the Aspect Ratio You Need

After you fix this, your presentation should be ready to go and with a different aspect ratio than before. However, it is essential to make sure your file’s aspect ratio agrees with what you need for your presentation.

If you are presenting from a laptop, you need 16:9. If you are giving from a projector, adjust it to 4:3. This is incredibly important and can make you look even more professional and prepared.

If your aspect ratio is off, it will look inaccurate, or the audience might miss important details. Keep these nuances in mind when figuring out what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations.

Keep in mind that in fundraising storytelling is everything. In this regard for a winning pitch deck to help you here, take a look at the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

Other Options

Besides the aspect ratio that you can adjust, you can sometimes choose between fit and maximizing. For your slide, you must choose wisely, as both have very different effects on how people see your content.

Ensure fit makes sure that all your content stays within the frame. If you don’t do this, you will likely experience cut-off pictures, words, and more.

It doesn’t look great, and you are less likely to have a flawless presentation if you have this option for your slides. Maximize is the opposite of ensuring fit. For those who want to zoom in on the content they have created, this is the option for you.

It helps you to correctly display the information and ensure that you will show the essential details. This works well with writing and helps significantly in presentations.

When you review your content regularly, you can see some of the issues you might have and also ways to improve your presentation. If you have to change things up regularly, don’t worry. This is better, and it helps you make the best presentation you can for your investors.

After all, it is way more vital that you continue to impress your investors in your meetings, which comes from having fresh content.

The Most Important Thing to Remember

With all these tips in mind, there’s also one more vital tip to communicate. You’ll want to make sure that your pitch deck presentation is clean and professional, and prepared.

Further. you need to make sure that you have the prescribed number of slides and you do not have a significant number of photos of high resolution.

Also, to truly make a professional presentation to present to your investors, you need to keep in mind that you need to make your presentation uniquely yours.

it’s not yours, people will recognize that you’re not connected to the material.

It’s not difficult to add personality to your presentation. It is essential that you make your presentation simple but effective and communicate your brand what you have to offer as an individual and founding team.

So, take your time figuring out what is a good file size for pitch deck presentations.

Ideas for Presentations Within Size Requirement

Some of the most successful startups have proven that you can have a 10-megabyte presentation without sacrificing quality.

The quality of your presentation is critical, it can be the make or break to whether a potential investor will be interested in investing in you.

There are plenty of ideas here for you to keep your presentation within the recommended length, and you can always pass it on to a professional designer just to touch up your images and optimize your file size if needed.

You may find interesting as well our free library of business templates. There you will find every single template you will need when building and scaling your business completely for free. See it here.