- HoneyHat

YouTube Thumbnail Size

YouTube’s help centre notes five key points regarding YouTube thumbnail images. These guidelines will help you achieve YouTube success. These are the five key points.

A perfect size for YouTube thumbnails is 1280 pixels x 720 pixels.
YouTube thumbnail dimensions have an aspect ratio 16:9.
Your thumbnail should be at least 640 pixels in width.
Thumbnail images should not exceed 2MB
Images can be saved in JPG, GIF or PNG formats.

What is the Use of YouTube Thumbnails

YouTube thumbnails are small preview images that show videos. They are used to grab people’s attention and persuade them to view the video.

These are some examples of custom thumbnails taken from Shopify YouTube channel :

Consider YouTube thumbnails as book covers.

These are miniatures of video content that aim to spark curiosity and interest.

Why YouTube Thumbnails are so Important?

It is said that you shouldn’t judge a book based on its cover.

In reality, however, most people do. The same goes for YouTube thumbnails. Thumbnail images can make or break your video.

A good thumbnail can get you thousands of views. Bad thumbnails will keep your video from being seen.

Fortunately, YouTube lets you customize your video thumbnails.

YouTube automatically pulls three still images from your uploaded video to use as thumbnails.

While there are many options, it is always better to make custom YouTube thumbnails.

These two images are from one of our YouTube videos . Which do you think will catch people’s eyes?

Or:

Custom thumbnails make your videos stand out and can have a huge impact on your audience’s growth.

These are a great way to build your brand’s aesthetic.

This is not all. To increase click-through rates in your email marketing, you can use a customized YouTube thumbnail. Wistia actually found that video thumbnails can be used in place of images to increase click-through rates by more than 21%.

Thumbnail images are quick and easy to create.

How about another 10-15 minutes after all the planning, organizing and filming of the perfect YouTube video?

Do not give up.

Create a captivating custom YouTube thumbnail to ensure your video’s success.

What’s the YouTube Thumbnail Size (in pixels)?

It’s important to determine the right size for your YouTube thumbnail before you start.

Google recommends that the custom YouTube thumbnail size be 1280 pixels wide and 720 pixels high. The minimum width for your image should be 640 pixels.

The ideal custom YouTube thumbnail size, in other words is large.

Google explains : “Your custom thumbnail should be as large and as large as you can, because it will also be used in the embedded player as a preview image.”

This is a thumbnail because it’s displayed often small:

The image must be large enough to look professional when it is displayed at the same size as the player.

YouTube thumbnail ratio for these dimensions: 16:9.

Both images can be used as custom YouTube thumbnail resolution templates.

Upload your thumbnail in one the following formats: JPG or GIF, BMP or PNG.

Last, the limit for your custom YT thumbnail must be less than 2MB.

How To Add a Custom YouTube Thumbnail To Your Video

Let’s see how to upload your customized thumbnail image.

Go to YouTube.com, click on the camera-plus icon and upload a video.

Go to YouTube Studio and go to your videos to add a custom thumbnail. Click on the video to modify its settings.

You’ll find three thumbnails that are automatically generated in the video’s settings.

You can upload your YouTube thumbnail to the bottom right of the screen.

Simply click the box and select the image from your device. Then click “Upload.”

6 Tips to Create Effective Thumbnails

YouTube thumbnails offer a great creative opportunity. It can be difficult to create a thumbnail that is effective every time.

These are six ways to get started when creating thumbnails

1. You can use a still image from your video

This is the simplest form of YouTube thumbnail.

YouTube might have automatically chosen the best still image from your video for you to use as a thumbnail if you’re fortunate.

You could also export a specific still image with editing software .

What happens if you need to update old YouTube thumbnails but don’t have access to the original? You can always pause the video and make it fullscreen. Then, take a screenshot.

You can then use the image as is or add a title to it, such as in this Shopify video that tells the story about MVMT Watches.

2. Make a custom graphic

A thumbnail image of the video content is often created by many brands. This will often include a brief title summarizing the key benefits of the video.

These YouTube thumbnails can include the brand name or logo.

This is a YouTube thumbnail graphic we created for our video. It teaches you how launch your first Facebook advertising campaign.

3. Combine a video still with graphics

Combine a still image and graphic elements from your video to create a compelling YouTube thumbnail.

This is an option that’s popular for videos that feature people such as a tutorial or vlog.

This is a thumbnail we created for our video on how to find reliable dropshipping suppliers.

4. Create eye-catching titles

YouTube videos can only be as good as the titles they contain. Although this may not be true, it is crucial to include the title in your YouTube video. It is important to include it in your thumbnail. It is important to let people know what your video is about. You can also catch their attention with carefully written titles.

We could, for example, create a video on video marketing and call it “Everything About Video Marketing” or “Video Marketing in Nutshell: 6 Tips To Elevate Your Video Marketing in 2023”. Which one would you choose to click on more? The second is more striking.

5. Avoid misleading images and titles

It is easy to get carried away when creating thumbnails or titles, especially when trying to increase traffic to your YouTube Channelspan styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>. While this is normal, it is important to be careful not to create misleading titles or images.

If your thumbnail has the text “How to make an awesome YouTube thumbnail image” and your video contains only the top 6 ways to optimize it, your content is misleading. Keep your image clear and concise to increase your video click through-rate.

Images that may pose a danger to your target audience should be avoided. You don’t want to scare away your target audience by using inappropriate, excessive, or outlandish imagery.

You should not use another person’s images. Reverse image search tools can help you track down the owner of the image and save you a lot of trouble.

6. Try Different Thumbnail Designs

If you are unsure about the thumbnail design that is best for your YouTube channel, don’t be afraid of trying different designs. You can choose a design you like, select a video that works well, change the thumbnail, and then track the results. This design may be more suitable for your audience than the one before you change the thumbnail. If this happens, the click-through rate will increase.

Testing is great because you can continue to experiment with different designs as long as your findings are based on solid data. The findings of a test aren’t significant enough to prove anything if a video receives only one or two clicks per week.

To increase your YouTube views and test different thumbnail designs, check out our article 18 Simple (and Free) Ways for More YouTube Views to get some ideas.

3 No-cost Tools to Make a YouTube Thumbnail

There are many amazing tools that can help you create a YouTube thumbnail design that is eye-catching.

This is a brief overview of three amazing design tool .

1. Canva allows you to create a Thumbnail on YouTube

For: Regular users who are looking for a large selection of design elements.

Canva is an extremely popular online tool for graphic design.

You will find a variety of YouTube thumbnail templates that you can use to get started. You will also find tons of stock images, icons and illustrations that can help you bring your ideas to life.

The best thing?

Canva is totally free to use. You get 1GB of storage for your photos and assets, plus access to over 8,000 templates and other free images.

To access more features, stock images and templates, you can upgrade at $12.95 per year.

2. FotoJet allows you to create a YouTube Thumbnail

For: Casual customers who prefer not to create another online account.

FotoJet Another great online design tool is

It’s similar to Canva. You can find a lot of YouTube thumbnail templates and clipart images as well as fonts you can use for the perfect design.

But, unlike Canva you can use Fotojet free of charge without creating an account.

You can upgrade to FotoJet Plus at $6.99 per month, or $39.99 per annum.

3. Adobe Spark Post allows you to create YouTube thumbnails

Recommended for: Adobe Creative Cloud Users and others who are familiar with Adobe’s other design tools.

Adobe Spark Post is part of a large family of professional design tools. It has all the professional features that you would expect.

This editor offers a variety of templates, fonts and composition tools.

Adobe Spark Post’s integration with Adobe Creative Cloud is the key selling point.

It makes sense to save everything if you use Photoshop for photo editing or Premiere Pro CC video editing.

But, convenience comes with a price.

Adobe Spark Post is free to use, but you will be able to place a watermark on any designs. Plans start at $9.99/month or $99.99/year to remove the watermark and unlock more features.

8 YouTube Thumbnail Tips with Examples

Now you’re familiar with the technical details of YouTube thumbnails, let’s see how to create one that grabs people’s attention that encourages them to click through to your video.

These are eight YouTube thumbnail best practices that you should keep in mind.

1. Your Video’s Thumbnail must accurately represent it

Don’t confuse your viewers with a thumbnail that doesn’t accurately portray your video.

Clickbait is a hateful thing.

This is a great way to make enemies and hurt relationships with people you want to build.

How? It’s called “Audience retention .”

Audience retention is a YouTube metric that helps to measure the quality of your YouTube views.

This metric doesn’t consider how many views your video gets, but the time viewers spend watching it.

This is very important.

YouTube’s algorithm rewards channels with high retention rates.

When you create a YouTube thumbnail that deceives users, they will click away as soon as the video begins playing.

This will severely affect your video’s Audience retention score and YouTube will penalize your channel.

Honesty is the best policy. Your thumbnails should accurately represent your videos.

2. Add a shorter version of your video title

YouTube users will likely look at thumbnails of videos before they read the description or title.

It is a good idea to include the title of your video in the thumbnail.

But, space is limited, so it’s better to include an abbreviated video title

We have reduced the title of our video How to Start a Dropshipping Store with Shopify in the thumbnail below.

“How To Set Up Shopify Dropshipping With Shopify”

To:

“How To Build a Shopify Store- 2023”

Also, notice that the thumbnail title is abbreviated and focuses on the main tutorial that the video offers: How to Build a Shopify Store

3. You should ensure that the Thumbnail Text text is large enough to read

A thumbnail that highlights a key benefit can have a significant impact on how many views you get. However, users must be able to read the text.

Frank Uses great still images from YouTube to create YouTube thumbnails. However, the text is very small.

This makes it difficult to read the text.

The image above was taken from a computer. These thumbnails will be smaller on smartphones.

Frank Body’s thumbnails make it clear that they don’t want to overlay text on the faces of models. This is a good idea if you don’t want the image to be distorted.

In these cases, however, it may be more efficient not to include any text.

Let the image speak for itself.

4. To grab attention, use contrast colors

Colours are powerfulspan design=”font-weight 400 ;”>. They are eye-catching.

Use bright, contrasting colors to make your YouTube thumbnails stand out and encourage viewers to click on your videos.

Contrasting colors make it easier to read your text

This is how Gary Vaynerchuk does this.

Try different colors to find the right combination for you brand.

To really make your color pop, you can increase the saturation and contrast of the thumbnail design.

5. Use whitespace and negative space

There are many brands that create thumbnails that look cluttered and busy.

Sometimes less is more.

In art and design span type=”font-weight 400 ;”>, Whitespace (or negative space) is the area between and around images. It is an essential design tool that can be used to great effect.

Skullcandy combines the power of whitespace with negative space to create a professional thumbnail.

This space has a professional, elegant, and classy look.

Claude Debussy, a French classical composer, famously stated that music is “the silence between the notes”.

When creating thumbnails for YouTube, be aware of the space between images.

6. Add your brand logo

Your YouTube thumbnail can help you build your online brand by featuring your logo or business name.

To create a consistent brand look, make sure your logo is in the same spot on all your thumbnail images.

Gymshark displays their logo at the top-right corner in their YouTube thumbnails.

Vogue Always places their logo at the bottom-left corner of thumbnails

7. To build a strong brand aesthetic, be consistent

Consistency is key to building a strong brand.

No matter what thumbnail type you choose, it is important to keep the same consistency. This will make it easier for viewers to find your videos while browsing YouTube.

This is a great way to increase engagement and views.

Create a unique thumbnail design and stick with it

We use the same YouTube thumbnail template almost for all our videos. To keep things fresh, we modify the background graphics, title and image still.

8. Highlight different content streams with colors

Different content streams are needed to keep people interested in the most successful content-marketing strategies .

Most brands will be able to separate their video content into several categories

Which recurring themes are you using?

Most of our videos fall under one of the following three categories: Q&A videos and product recommendations.

Next, we color-code the thumbnails to make it easier for our viewers:

Yellow weekly Q&A videos.
Green to suggest products.
Blue to get marketing tips.

Make it easier for viewers and increase your views.

Summary – What are the Dimensions of a YouTube Thumbnail’s Size?

Thumbnails can make or break your video advertising efforts.

A compelling design can grab people’s attention, and make them click to see your videos.

These YouTube thumbnail best practices are important to remember when designing your design:

Use the perfect dimensions for YouTube thumbnails – 1280 pixels by720 pixels
Make sure your YouTube thumbnail accurately portrays your video content.
Add an abbreviated version to your title in your YouTube thumbnail.
Make sure that your thumbnail text is large enough for smartphones to read.
Choose contrasting colors to make your YouTube thumbnails pop and grab attention.
Add a little class to your YouTube thumbnails by using whitespace and negative spaces.
Add your logo to each thumbnail.
Check out some YouTube thumbnail designs to locate an image that is effective
Use the same YouTube thumbnail template consistently to build a strong brand aesthetic.
Different content streams can be color-coded to make it easier for viewers to find their favorite videos.

Finally, take the time to design a beautiful website.

As the American baseball player Charles Comiskey said, “It’s the small things in Life that count; it’s the inconsequential leak that empties the largest reservoir.”

Would you like to learn more?

Author: Thomas J Law

Need Help Finding B2B Service Provider?

Table of Contents