YouTube thumbnail downloader

1. 1

   Paste the link

   Copy it from the address bar or the Share button. A Shorts, youtu.be or embed link works too.

2. 2

   Get the thumbnails

   Every size YouTube has for the video appears, largest first, with its pixel size.

3. 3

   Download

   Save the size you need as JPG.

Max resolution is 1280 × 720, the largest copy YouTube serves, even when the thumbnail was uploaded bigger. YouTube keeps it only for some videos, usually ones uploaded in HD.

Standard (640 × 480) and High (480 × 360) are 4:3, so a widescreen thumbnail comes with black bars above and below. Medium (320 × 180) is the smallest widescreen copy.

Saving your own thumbnail is the quick fix when the original file is lost. For someone else's, use it as a reference: the image belongs to the channel that made it, so ask before reusing it.

Every thumbnail sits at a fixed address on YouTube's image server. Put the video's 11-character ID, the part after v= in the link, in place of VIDEO_ID:

• https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg
• https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/hqdefault.jpg

Your browser asks YouTube's image server, i.ytimg.com, for the thumbnails of that video ID, as it does when a YouTube page shows them. The link you paste isn't sent to Cutfac.

YouTube keeps the 1280 × 720 copy only for some videos, mostly ones uploaded in HD. Take the largest size listed.

No. YouTube serves thumbnails up to 1280 × 720, whatever size was uploaded.

Standard and High are 4:3. YouTube fits a widescreen thumbnail inside them without cropping, so bars fill the rest.

Yes. Paste the Shorts link as it is.

Look at it, compare it and learn from it, but the image belongs to its channel. Ask the creator before using it in your own work.