What do Vungle, Chartboost and InMobi have in common?

All three are MRAID networks: they expect a tag and the store exit on mraid.open(). That means one creative concept covers all three, with packaging and size being the differences that matter.

What size should a creative be for all three?

Vungle documents a 5 MB allowance for playables. Chartboost publishes no strict cap at all — its documentation asks for MRAID Playable format and recommends keeping the full rendered size under 5 MB rather than enforcing a number. Because "recommended" is not a guarantee of acceptance, Playable Ads Maker holds Chartboost exports to 3 MB internally, which is a conservative choice on our side rather than a figure Chartboost publishes.

How should you package a Vungle playable?

Vungle expects a ZIP with the HTML entry point at the archive root; Chartboost and InMobi take a single HTML file. Since the packaging differs but the creative does not, build once and export three times rather than rebuilding per network — and size the creative for the tightest budget you plan to serve, so the same source clears all three without a second compression pass.

Which MRAID version does InMobi use?

InMobi uses MRAID 2.0, with mraid.open() for the store redirect. An export that assumes MRAID 3.0-only signals such as exposureChange should still handle the 2.0 viewableChange event, which is why builds that follow whichever the container actually fires are safer than ones that branch on a version number.

Vungle, Chartboost & InMobi Playable Ad Specs (2026)

Most playable ad guides cover Google, Meta, Unity and TikTok, then stop. Vungle, Chartboost and InMobi carry serious volume — particularly for mid-core titles and non-gaming advertisers — and their requirements differ in ways that cause avoidable rejections. This guide covers what is distinct about each.

What the three have in common

All three are MRAID networks. That means your creative uses mraid.open(url) for the click rather than a proprietary exit call, waits for the MRAID bridge before assuming it exists, and respects viewability before starting content. If you have built for Unity or ironSource, the mental model transfers directly — which is not true of Google, Meta or Mintegral, all of which own the click and take no URL.

All three also enforce the usual rules: everything embedded, nothing fetched at runtime, and a size ceiling that is not the same across the three. Check each network's current figure rather than assuming one number covers them all.

Vungle (Liftoff)

Vungle is now part of Liftoff, and its playable submission requirements are among the more prescriptive. The notable one is packaging: Vungle expects a ZIP with the entry file at the root, named to their specification. Getting the archive structure subtly wrong — entry file one directory deep because your zip tool included the containing folder — is a common rejection with an unhelpful error.

Packaged as a ZIP with the entry HTML at the archive root, not inside a subfolder.
MRAID-based; use mraid.open for the click-through.
All assets inlined; no runtime requests.
Test the archive by extracting it fresh — if the first thing you see is a folder rather than the entry file, it is wrong.

The ZIP-root mistake

On most systems, right-clicking a folder and choosing "Compress" wraps the folder inside the archive. Networks that require the entry file at the root will reject that structure. Select the files themselves, not the folder containing them.

Chartboost

Chartboost documents its MRAID playable requirements clearly, and the significant practical constraint is size: Chartboost caps below the commonly-quoted 5 MB figure. Creatives built to the loosest limit you have read about will be rejected here. If you are shipping one creative to several networks including Chartboost, build to Chartboost's ceiling and everything else is comfortably inside.

MRAID playable; mraid.open for click-through.
A lower size ceiling than most networks — verify the current figure and treat it as your build target.
Single self-contained HTML, fully inlined.
Ensure the creative handles the MRAID ready and viewability events rather than starting on page load.

InMobi

InMobi is the one of the three most worth knowing about for non-gaming advertisers. Unlike networks assembled primarily for game publishers, InMobi runs broad inventory across shopping, finance, travel, entertainment and lifestyle, with interest targeting that spans those categories. For a fintech or retail playable, that is meaningful — the same creative on a game-centric network often buys cheap installs with poor downstream value, simply because the audience was assembled for a different advertiser.

MRAID 2.0 based; mraid.open with a store or tracking URL.
Standard single-file, fully-inlined requirements.
Non-gaming interest targeting is a genuine differentiator versus purely game-focused networks.

Testing across all three

The same QA pass covers all three, and it is worth running before submitting anywhere rather than per network. Open the exported build on real iOS and Android devices, record the network tab through a complete playthrough and confirm zero external requests, check the file or archive against that specific network's ceiling, verify the archive structure where a ZIP is required, and tap the CTA on both platforms to confirm the right store listing opens.

Where the effort actually goes

None of these requirements are individually difficult. The cost is that they differ per network and must be reapplied to every revision of every creative. Producing the correct packaging, click call and size handling automatically per network is the difference between three submissions and three rounds of rejections.

Choosing between them

For mobile games, Vungle and Chartboost sit naturally alongside Unity, ironSource and AppLovin in a mediation-heavy buying strategy. For non-gaming apps, InMobi and Moloco are usually the more productive additions to Meta and TikTok. Running one creative across a mix is the right instinct — but only if you have verified the file passes the strictest constraint in the set rather than the most generous.

How mediation changes what you should submit

All three of these networks are commonly bought through mediation rather than in isolation, and that has a practical consequence for creative. Your ad competes in the same auction as creatives from advertisers who have optimised for that specific inventory. A creative built to the loosest common denominator — heavy, slow to first frame, portrait-only — competes badly not because it is rejected but because it wins less often and performs worse when it does.

Load time is a real competitive variable. A lighter creative reaches its first interactive frame sooner, and the opening seconds are where playables win or lose.
Covering both orientations widens the pool of placements you can win rather than improving any single one.
Rewarded placements behave differently from interstitials: the user has opted in and will tolerate a longer experience, so the same creative can underperform in one and do well in the other.

A build order that avoids rework

When shipping one creative to several of these networks, the order you work in matters more than it looks.

Identify the strictest size ceiling among your target networks and build to it. Retro-fitting a creative down from a looser limit means recompressing art after the design is signed off, which usually costs quality.
Build and test the MRAID click path once — it is shared across all three — then verify per network in their own preview tools.
Produce the packaging shapes last, and extract each archive fresh to confirm the structure before submitting.
Submit to the strictest network first. Passing there is a strong signal for the rest; passing a permissive one tells you almost nothing.

Keep a per-network note

Current figures for size ceilings and packaging move, and the published documentation is not always in step with what review enforces. A short internal note of what each network actually accepted, updated when something is rejected, is worth more than any external guide including this one.

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Open Playable Ads Maker

Check a build against these specs

The free Playable Ad Spec Checker grades an HTML or ZIP against all 13 networks’ size caps, packaging, MRAID rules and store-exit calls. It runs entirely in your browser — no upload, no sign-up.