YouTube Thumbnail Maker
Add a photo and a few big words, pick colors and download a click-worthy 1280×720 YouTube thumbnail.
How to use: YouTube Thumbnail Maker
- 1
Choose a bold design
The Thumbnail design uses huge outlined text that stays readable even at the smallest size in search results.
- 2
Keep it short
Use 2-4 words and a bright face or object in the photo. Leave the bottom-right corner free: YouTube puts the video length there.
- 3
Download at 1280 × 720
JPG keeps the file well under YouTube's 2 MB limit. Upload it in YouTube Studio when editing your video.
Tips for YouTube thumbnails
The thumbnail is the first thing viewers see in search, on the home page and next to other videos, so it strongly affects whether they click. YouTube recommends 1280×720 pixels, a 16:9 image that stays sharp on large screens and scales down cleanly to a small preview.
Design for the small size: one clear subject, a close-up face with a visible emotion and only a few words of large, heavy text with an outline or shadow. Avoid the bottom-right corner, where YouTube places the video length. Bright, contrasting colors help the image stand out against both the light and the dark interface.
The Thumbnail design sets big, heavy text over your photo, and seven other designs offer calmer or more graphic looks. Drag and zoom the photo right on the preview, pick one of six fonts and a palette or your own colors, and check the guide for the video-length badge in the corner. Download JPG or PNG at 1280×720 — both are accepted by YouTube — or press Open in editor to add stickers, cut-outs or effects on layers. Nothing is uploaded.
Everything runs locally in your browser — your images are never uploaded to a server.