Any graphics editor can feed a USB signage screen: the card plays standard files, not project files. Export PNG or JPG slides and one H.264 MP4 at the screen's native resolution, name the files with zero-padded numbers, and the loop plays in order with no internet. Touch-button menus need a different kind of player, so run two swapped cards instead.
The program matters less than the file you hand the screen. A sign that plays from a USB stick or a memory card shows standard files: PNG and JPG images, and MP4 video. Work in the editor you already know, set the canvas to the screen's native resolution, and export still slides plus one H.264 video. Name the files so they sort in play order. That is the whole specification, and any competent design tool meets it. We sell small retail screens that play straight from a USB stick or microSD card with no subscription, and the same export spec feeds them and any other card-playing sign. What no editor decides for you is the order of the loop and whether touch buttons are possible on a screen with no internet. Both answers are below.
The export is the specification
Every card-playing sign reads files, not project files. Whatever you design in, the card receives finished images and finished video. The spec has four parts: canvas size, file formats, text size and file names.
Canvas size. Set the document to the screen's native resolution before the first layout. A full-HD screen is 1920 x 1080 pixels. A canvas at some other size is how slides end up shrunk into one corner, and a 4K canvas on a portrait panel is how a quarter of the layout vanishes; fix a slide that shrinks into one corner and why a 4K portrait layout shows a quarter of the panel show both failures.
File formats. PNG or JPG for still slides. H.264 video in an MP4 container for motion. H.264 MP4 is the baseline every signage screen is built around. Player spec sheets list more on top of it, such as H.265 or HEVC in MKV, MOV or AVI containers, MPEG and FLV files, even 4K output at 30 Hz. Design to the baseline. A layout that mixes photos, captions and a clip on one screen is a single MP4: the editor composites it and the card plays one file. Export 1080p H.264 at 8 to 12 Mbit/s. Drop well below 5 Mbit/s and fast motion smears. When a clip plays on your workstation but freezes or refuses on the sign, the codec or container is the first suspect, and the USB video playback fix lists the checks in order.
Text size. Plan 30 ft of viewing distance per inch of capital letter height, the FHWA planning figure, and 20 ft per inch where people read while walking. Set line spacing at 1.7 x capital height. A counter layout read from 6 ft needs capitals of 6 / 30 = 0.2 in; the safer walking figure gives 6 / 20 = 0.3 in. Measure on the screen, not in the editor's rulers.
File names. Covered in their own section below, because order is where card loops go wrong.
Program types and what each exports
Any tool that writes PNG, JPG or MP4 works. The choice is about workflow, not capability.
| Program type | Fits when | What you export to the card | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation software with a video export | Counter staff already build slides | One MP4 of the deck, or PNG and JPG per slide | Keep the slide size at 1920 x 1080 px, 16:9 |
| Web template design tools | Speed and brand templates matter more than control | JPG or PNG per page, video where the tool allows it | Design at 1920 x 1080 px and confirm the export keeps that size |
| Desktop design suites | A trained designer with print habits | JPG or PNG pages, MP4 through the export or render menu | Start an RGB screen document in pixels; print color habits are for paper |
| Video editors | Motion-heavy reels, mixed clips and photos | One H.264 MP4 at 1920 x 1080 | Hold 8 to 12 Mbit/s at 1080p; keep each clip short |
| Dedicated signage design apps | You want playlists and zones from the start | PNG, JPG and MP4 assets for the player app | Most are cloud services; confirm what updates with no internet |
The presentation route is the fastest for office staff, and exporting slides to video for an offline player walks the export settings that keep the MP4 playable. For color, compression and sizing inside the files themselves, preparing images and video for a sign covers the basics this page stays off.
Name the files so the loop plays in order
A card player reads the folder and sorts by file name, the way a desktop file list does. Alphabetical sort puts 10 before 9, so numbering 1, 2, 10 plays as 1, 10, 2. Pad every number to three digits and the sort holds to 999 slides:
- 001-header.png
- 002-range.jpg
- 010-offer.jpg
- 011-last.png
Keep names short: letters, digits and hyphens, no spaces. Then set the screen to launch the playlist when power arrives; the offline playlist autostart setup walks that through. The other classic failure is the date: the loop keeps advertising an offer that ended, because nobody reopens the folder. The content expiry checklist catches those before the card ships.
Example: an 11-slide counter loop with one 45-second video
Inputs. A shop counter sign, no internet, content built by the owner: 11 photo slides and one product clip, the mix the shop asked for. Slides are JPG at 1920 x 1080, about 1 MB each, typical for a photographic full-HD JPG at high quality. The clip is 45 s of 1080p H.264 at 10 Mbit/s, a mid-range good-quality export. Dwell is 10 s per slide, a starting value to adjust. These are planning inputs; change one and the arithmetic below moves with it.
The rules. Loop time is slides x dwell plus video length. Video size is bitrate x seconds divided by 8, because 8 bits make a byte.
Arithmetic.
- Loop time: 11 x 10 s = 110 s. 110 s + 45 s = 155 s, or 2 min 35 s.
- Clip size: 10 Mbit/s x 45 s = 450 Mbit. 450 / 8 = 56.25 MB, about 56 MB.
- Slides: 11 x 1 MB = 11 MB. The whole card load is about 67 MB.
Result and decision. Keep an ambient loop under 180 s: 155 s passes for a window or endcap. Where customers queue in sight of the screen, keep it under 90 s: cut to 6 slides and a 30 s clip, and 6 x 10 s + 30 s = 90 s meets it. Space never decides a retail loop. At 10 Mbit/s the clip runs 1.25 MB per second, so a 16 GB card holds about 16,000 / 1.25 = 12,800 s, roughly 3 hours of video. Order, codec and expired dates are the real constraints, and each has a fix above.
Touch buttons need a different player
Two buttons, Photos and Videos, need software that reacts to a touch and jumps between screens. A card player does one job: play the folder in name order. It is not designed to run branching touch menus, and no export setting turns it into a touch app. The platforms that build those menus are mostly cloud services, and your screen has no internet, so interactive content waits until the sign has a player that runs it. If touch is a maybe, read interactive or simple digital signage for a small shop before paying for either.
The offline version of the two buttons is two cards: one with the photo slides, one with the videos. Power down, swap the card, power up; the player is designed to start the playlist from the card at power-up. The same swap covers the update need, new photos every few weeks: edit, export, copy, swap.
When a card loop is the wrong tool
Three cases send you to a different product:
- Content changes most days, by staff with no design tool: a networked player with remote updates, which needs the internet this screen lacks.
- Content switches by time of day, a lunch board that changes at 11:00: a card has no clock, so time-switched boards need a player with a schedule.
- The screen is a large wall model: wall models up to 75 inches are quoted per project, and the same MP4 export feeds them.
What to send the designer
Send one page with these six lines and the files come back playable on the first pass:
- Screen native resolution and orientation, for example 1920 x 1080 landscape.
- Export: PNG or JPG slides plus one H.264 MP4 at 1920 x 1080, 8 to 12 Mbit/s.
- Names: three-digit prefixes in play order, 001-header.png onward.
- Dwell: 10 s per slide as the starting value.
- Loop target: under 180 s, or under 90 s with a queue in sight.
- Text: 0.2 in capitals at a 6 ft read, 0.3 in at the safer walking figure, line spacing 1.7 x capital height.
Recommendation: Build the loop in the editor you already know, export PNG or JPG slides plus one H.264 MP4 at the screen's native resolution, pad the file names to three digits, and keep the loop under 180 s. Treat the touch buttons as a separate project: with no internet, run Photos and Videos as two swapped cards until the sign has a player that runs interactive software.
Questions
Should the USB stick or card be FAT32 or exFAT?
FAT32 is the safe default for a card-playing sign. It caps the size of any single file, so keep each video short; a 45-second 1080p clip at 10 Mbit/s is about 56 MB, well inside the cap. exFAT lifts the cap, but some players skip it. If the screen ignores the stick after a copy, reformat to FAT32, copy the files again, power down, and swap the card.
Can I put transitions between slides on a card loop?
Still files on a card play back to back with a hard cut; there is nothing on the card to hold a fade between two images. Build the transitions inside a video instead: assemble the whole loop in an editor with a video export and hand the card one MP4. The fades then live inside the file and play anywhere the MP4 plays.
What resolution do I design at for a portrait screen?
Swap the numbers: 1080 x 1920 for a full-HD panel standing upright. Set the document to that size before the first layout, so text and photos land where you want them. Text sizing works the same way either way: 0.2 in of capital height reads at 6 ft whether the canvas stands upright or lies flat.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.