How to upload art to a Samsung Frame TV

Updated September 17, 2026

You do not need the Samsung Art Store subscription to put art on a Frame TV. Any JPEG on your phone or a USB stick can be uploaded to My Collection and displayed in Art Mode – for free, in about two minutes. This guide covers the SmartThings app method (phone), the USB method (fastest for lots of files), the iPhone-specific steps, and what to do when an upload looks wrong.

Before you start: get the file right

The Frame displays art at 3840 × 2160 pixels (16:9). If your image is that size, it fills the screen edge to edge with nothing cropped. If it is not:

• Smaller images are stretched to fit and go soft.
• Different aspect ratios (4:3 photos, portrait images) are cropped to 16:9, or shown with a matte that covers the mismatch.
• Very large files (over ~20 MB) can fail to upload through SmartThings.

Use JPEG with the sRGB colour profile. PNG and HEIC work on 2021-and-newer Frames, but JPEG is accepted by every model and every upload method. Every design on this site is delivered that way; the free Frame TV art is a good test file.

Full details are in the Frame TV art size and dimensions guide.

Method 1: upload art with the SmartThings app

This is the method Samsung intends you to use and it works from any Android phone or iPhone.

1. Install SmartThings and add the TV

   Download SmartThings (Google Play or App Store), sign in with the Samsung account used on the TV, and make sure the phone and the Frame are on the same Wi-Fi network. The TV normally appears automatically; if not, tap + → Add device.

2. Open Art Mode for your Frame

   Tap the Frame TV tile, then tap Art Mode (on older app versions it is a small picture icon at the top). You will see the Art Store, your favourites and My Collection.

3. Tap "Add your photos"

   Choose the images you want from your phone's gallery. You can select several at once.

4. Choose a matte

   For each image pick a matte style (none, modern, shadow box, panoramic, etc.) and colour. For art that is already 16:9, None shows it full-bleed; a warm-white or off-white matte gives a gallery look. You can change this later.

5. Upload

   Tap Upload (or Save to TV). The file is copied to the TV over Wi-Fi – a few seconds per 4K JPEG. It now appears in My Collection on the TV and in the app.

6. Display it

   Tap the artwork in the app and choose Display on TV, or on the TV press the Art Mode button, open My Collection, highlight the piece and press Select.

Tip: the app lets you set several uploaded pieces as a slideshow (see how to change and rotate art), so you can load a whole seasonal set and let the Frame cycle through it.

Method 2: upload art with a USB stick

Best when you have dozens of files – for example a full bundle download – or when the app is being slow.

1. Copy the files to a USB stick

   Format the stick as FAT32 or exFAT and copy the JPEGs into a folder (or the root). Keep file names simple – letters, numbers and dashes.

2. Plug it into the One Connect box

   The Frame's ports are on the One Connect box, not the TV. Use any USB port.

3. Open Art Mode → My Collection → Photos → USB

   Press the Art Mode button on the remote, go to My Collection, choose Photos (or Add from USB on some models) and select the USB device.

4. Select images and save to the TV

   Highlight the images you want, choose a matte if prompted, and select Save / Add to My Collection. You can display from the USB directly, but saving to the TV means the art stays when the stick is removed.

If the USB stick does not show up: check the format (NTFS is not always supported), try a different port, and make sure the files are JPEG rather than, say, a ZIP that has not been extracted.

Uploading from an iPhone

The SmartThings method above is the same on iOS, with one extra step if the art was downloaded rather than photographed:

1. Downloaded files (from Etsy, from this site, from email) land in the Files app, not Photos. Open the file in Files, tap the share icon and choose Save Image so it appears in the Photos library.
2. If the download is a ZIP, tap it in Files to unzip first.
3. Then open SmartThings → Frame → Art Mode → Add your photos and pick the images from Photos.

AirDrop also works well: send the JPEGs from a Mac to the iPhone and they go straight into Photos.

Getting Etsy art onto the Frame TV

Etsy digital purchases download as a ZIP or individual JPEGs from Your account → Purchases and reviews → Download files. Download on a computer, unzip, then use the USB method or transfer the files to your phone. The full walkthrough is in how to download Frame TV art. Make sure what you bought is 3840 × 2160 – many Etsy listings are smaller and look soft on a 65” Frame.

After uploading: settings that make it look like a painting

Once the art is in My Collection, three settings do most of the work:

• Brightness – two or three notches down from default. Art Mode has its own brightness separate from TV mode.
• Colour tone – warm. It kills the blue cast that makes a screen look like a screen.
• Motion sensor – on, so the panel dims or sleeps when nobody is in the room.

Details and model-specific menu names are in how to make Frame TV art look real and Art Mode settings explained.

Troubleshooting uploads

If the art displays but keeps switching off, that is a different problem: see Frame TV art keeps turning off.