YouTube Thumbnail Maker
A thumbnail at YouTube's 1280 × 720, with big words that still read when it is small.
Runs entirely in your browser
Loading the tool…
Drag the picture to move it in the frame. Drag a text to place it, or click it to edit it.
Drag the picture in the frame to choose what shows.
Your picture is opened by this page and never uploaded. The ad is made on this device, and sharing hands it to your device's apps rather than to a server, so the page keeps working with the network off.
YouTube shows a thumbnail at 1280 × 720, 16:9, and this page opens on that size. Use a still from the video or any photo, drag it so the face or the object is in frame, and put a few big words on it. The file comes out at exactly 1280 × 720, and as a JPG far under the 2 MB YouTube allows.
Most people see a thumbnail at a fraction of that size, a few centimetres across in a list on a phone, so it is designed for small. Three or four words at the largest size that fits, in a heavy weight such as Poster or Black, in a colour that stands off the picture, or on a solid box behind it. The description box can go, or carry a short second line.
Keep words out of the bottom right-hand corner: YouTube puts the video's length there, over whatever is underneath. Snap the title to Top, or to the left, and it stays clear.
How to use it
- Choose a still from your video or a photo: the frame is already 1280 × 720.
- Drag and zoom it until the subject fills the frame.
- Write three or four words as the title, large and bold; empty the Text box if you do not need it.
- Keep words out of the bottom right, where the video length goes.
- Download the JPG and upload it as the custom thumbnail in YouTube Studio.
Questions
What size is a YouTube thumbnail?
1280 × 720 pixels, 16:9, at least 640 pixels wide, and under 2 MB as a JPG, PNG or GIF. A JPG from here is usually a few hundred kilobytes, well inside the limit.
How big should the text be?
As big as fits. A thumbnail is mostly seen a few centimetres wide, where small text is a grey line. Three or four words at a large size, in Poster or a Black weight, read at that size; a sentence does not.
Where does YouTube cover the thumbnail?
The bottom right corner, with the video's length. On some pages a progress bar runs along the bottom edge too. Keep the title towards the top or the left, and nothing important in the bottom right.
Can I remove the second text box?
Yes: empty its text in the Text tab and it disappears from the thumbnail. A single strong line is usually the better thumbnail.
Is my picture uploaded?
No. The picture is opened and the ad is made in this tab, and the page is served with a rule that forbids it from opening a network connection. Sharing hands the finished file to an app on your device; nothing is sent to a server by this page.
YouTube's thumbnail rules
| Requirement | |
|---|---|
| Size | 1280 × 720 pixels, 16:9 |
| Smallest width | 640 pixels |
| File | JPG, PNG or GIF, under 2 MB |
| Covered | Bottom right, by the video's length |
Other platforms
The same maker opened on another platform's format. Any of them makes every size once you are there.
Your data stays on your device
Everything above runs inside your browser as WebAssembly compiled from Rust. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored on a server. You can load this page once, go offline, and it still works.
This page makes no requests at all, to anywhere. That is not a promise in the copy: it is a Content-Security-Policy header your browser enforces, and connect-src on it is none. Open the network tab and watch nothing happen.