The Essential Guide to Professional Thumbnail Dimensions for YouTube

Best YouTube Thumbnail Size You Should Know[The Ultimate Guide]

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Around 300 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube in every single minute. Then content creators need to be more innovative and creative than others in the market. A thumbnail is worth a thousand words that show its real meaning in the case where every month YouTube records a whopping 2 billion active users. To create an impressive and tempting thumbnail, you should set a perfect youtube thumbnail size first.

So you may be wondering what the best youtube thumbnail size is, and how to create a attractive thumbnail for your YouTube videos? Don’t worry I’ll explain everything here. You will learn:

• Part 1: The Ultimate Guide of YouTube Thumbnail Size
• Part 2: Upload and Change a Custom YouTube Thumbnail to Your Video
• Part 3: Q&A– About Creating YouTube Thumbnails

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links

If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Part 1: The Ultimate Guide of Youtube Thumbnail Size

Every content creator needs to select the right youtube thumbnail size for any given video.

1. What’s the Best YouTube Thumbnail Size(Dimensions)?

According to the YouTube guidelines , the best-suited youtube thumbnail size is 1280x720 pixels with a minimum pixel width of 640 pixels. Also, the custom thumbnail image must be as large as possible as it will be utilized as a preview image in the embedded player.

2. What Are the Compatible Formats for YouTube Thumbnail Image?

The recommended thumbnail image formats are .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, .BMP

3. What’s the Maximum YouTube Thumbnail Size?

The maximum YouTube thumbnail size must be below 2MB. Keeping the limit in mind design your thumbnail image as high-resolution as possible. This will ensure your custom thumbnail doesn’t get rejected by YouTube.

4. What’s the Recommended Aspect Ratio of YouTube Thumbnail?

Usually, the 16:9 ratio is deemed an ideal choice for any YouTube video aiming high view volume. As it is most widely used in YouTube players and previews.

Part 2: Upload and Change a Custom YouTube Thumbnail

With a verified account, you can upload custom thumbnail on new videos as well as change the thumbnail of uploaded videos.

1. For New Video

YouTube makes it very simple and easy for any content creator to publish custom YouTube thumbnail on their video while uploading the video onto the platform. Here’s the method to do so:

• Upload your desired video to YouTube in the Upload section.

• When your upload to the YouTube is completed a section will appear at the down portion of the browser screen showing Video Thumbnails. Here YouTube automatically creates some thumbnail images from your uploaded video and shows them here. These are the screenshots from your video, and you can select any one of them to be your thumbnail.

• You will be able to see a button right next to the image – Custom thumbnail. Click on the button and you can upload a set of images of your choice as the thumbnail of your video.
• Once done you can see the custom image just uploaded as the thumbnail of your video.

• If you want to update the image or change it with another one you can just click on the same image in the video thumbnail section and swap it with any other image.

2. For Already Uploaded Video

To change the thumbnail on an already uploaded video you need to follow these steps:

• Sign in to YouTube Studio associated with your YouTube channel.
• From the menu go to Videos and then select the video you want to upload a custom thumbnail to via its title or thumbnail

• Now in the thumbnail section if you already haven’t uploaded a custom thumbnail, click Custom thumbnail.
• Select your intended thumbnail file and click Save.

Part 3: Q&A– About YouTube Thumbnail Images

You may want to know:

• Question 1: How do I make my youtube thumbnail less than 2mb?
• Question 2: How can I create an attractive youtube thumbnail?

1. How do I make my youtube thumbnail less than 2mb?

YouTube will not allow you to upload a custom thumbnail image if it is bigger than the 2MB limit. So, you need to make sure the file size is below the limit to be able to successfully upload a custom thumbnail. To reduce the image size you can follow the steps below:

• 1. Open Microsoft Paint and open the thumbnail image that is above 2MB size
• 2. Now go to the File menu and click Save as then select JPEG picture
• 3. Select the location you want the file to be saved to
• 4. The thumbnail picture will be reduced to Kilobytes only while maintaining the image quality

2. How can I create an attractive youtube thumbnail?

Utilizing online platforms and software tools to make your thumbnail image informative and attractive can potentially increase your views and traffic. You can use any advanced tools like Wondershare Filmora, Wondershare PixStudio, or Canva to create an aspiring and luring image that will get more views on YouTube just because of the thumbnail image. Here we will show you how to do it with Wondershare Filmora, Wondershare PixStudio and Canva:

1. Try Wondershare Filmora>>

Wondershare Filmora is an outstanding tool if you want to make a perfect thumbnail image. Consider and optimize your thumbnail for mobile devices to offer the best experience to your users on every possible device. Make it stand out as the thumbnail can be the very first thing that might attract a viewer.

Let’s see how you can create your thumbnail using Wondershare Filmora:

2. Try Wondershare PixStudio>>

Wondershare PixStudio provides you massive pre-designed templates which help you to create attractive YouTube Thumbnail. Let’s see the video below and see how you can design your YouTube Thumbnail easily.

3. Try Canva>>

With Canva you can make a distinct and stand-out YouTube thumbnail image. Canva hosts a number of readymade designs that you can use to design and customize it for your use.

Note:

To download the image without the watermark you’ll need to sign-up for a premium account on the Canva.

To sum up

YouTube thumbnail plays an important part for the audience’s first impression on your video. And it is of essential essence as it can attract more viewers to your content. So you should get the right youtube thumbnail size before you start customing your thumbnail. We’ve gone through all the detailed requirements of youtube thumbnail size and how to make the best thumbnail by using the best software solutions. Please leave your comments below if any suggestions. We’d love to hear them!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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