YouTube Thumbnail Size
Thumbnails that get clicks.
100% Free
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How It Works
1
Upload your image Start with the highest quality source you have.
2
Position your crop 16:9 frame. Make sure faces and text are visible and centered where possible.
3
Download your thumbnail 1280x720 JPG under 2MB. Ready to upload to YouTube Studio.
Why YouTube Thumbnail?
YouTube recommends 1280x720 pixels for custom thumbnails. This 16:9 aspect ratio matches YouTube's player and looks sharp on all devices. Thumbnails under 640px wide won't be accepted at all.
File size matters too—YouTube has a 2MB limit. At 90% JPG quality, a 1280x720 image typically comes in around 150-300KB, well under the limit while looking crisp.
A good thumbnail is the single biggest factor in click-through rate. It needs to be readable at small sizes (think mobile search results) and compelling enough to stand out in a sea of recommendations.
Frequently Asked Questions
1280x720 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio). Minimum width is 640px. Maximum file size is 2MB. JPG, PNG, GIF, and BMP are accepted, but JPG is recommended.
Usually because the source image was too small. YouTube displays thumbnails at various sizes—if you upload at 640x360, it'll look soft when YouTube shows it larger. Always use 1280x720 for best results.
We crop it to 16:9. You can adjust the crop area to keep the important parts of your image. If your source is more square or portrait, you'll lose the edges—plan your composition accordingly.
This tool handles resizing and cropping. For adding text, you'd want a design tool like Canva or Photoshop. That said, if you upload an image that already has text on it, we'll resize it without affecting the text.