What Is The Size Of A Youtube Thumbnail

Are you lot looking to get more views on your YouTube videos? One easy way to do that is to ameliorate your video thumbnails.

Your video's thumbnail is just as important as its title when it comes to attracting views. Thumbnails describe the attention of potential viewers and help them decide which video they should ultimately decide to watch—hopefully yours!

2021 YouTube Thumbnail Sizes

1280 x 720 pixels
– Minimum width: 640 pixels
– Recommended ratio: xvi:9
– Maximum file size: 2MB
– Accustomed file types: .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG

Of grade, it's a good thought to have a great video behind the thumbnail. That's why I highly recommend you too cheque out our Ultimate Guide for How to Brand a YouTube Video.

But, anyway, what exactly is a thumbnail? Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of images or videos that originally got their name from existence about the size of a human thumbnail.

YouTube thumbnails act equally the book covers of the online video world. Our decision whether or not to click on a video often depends on the thumbnail. An centre-catching image can draw usa in, while a boring or blurry thumbnail can easily deter usa.

By having ameliorate video thumbnails than other videos, y'all're more likely to win video clicks on YouTube and other search engines. That's why creating a great custom YouTube thumbnail is so important.

In this blog mail, I'll walk you lot through the exact size your YouTube thumbnail should be and I'll besides cover some thumbnail best practices.

Beginning, let'southward start with the exact size you should make your YouTube thumbnails!

The platonic thumbnail size is 1280 × 720 pixels with a minimum width of 640 pixels, and the platonic ratio for YouTube players and previews is xvi:ix. Along with the right size, you lot'll besides want to keep in mind the ratio, file size, and file type of your thumbnail. Beneath is a handy guide you tin reference as yous create a thumbnail for your video.

Now that we've covered the technical details of your YouTube thumbnail, let's dive into the creative. How do you lot make a keen-looking thumbnail that entices potential viewers? Keen question! Nosotros've pulled together some tips that you'll want to keep in mind while creating YouTube thumbnails.

YouTube Thumbnail Best Practices

Keep it unproblematic

Be concise! YouTube thumbnails are pocket-size. And they're even smaller when they're viewed on a mobile device, which is extremely common since YouTube is oft watched on mobile phones. In fact, on an average day in 2018, there were 1 billion mobile views. That'due south why you lot should endeavor to avoid adding too much text or too modest of text. People won't be able to read it, and thus wasting valuable thumbnail real manor.

To make sure you lot keep your thumbnail elementary, avert calculation the entire title of your video to the image. Your video title will announced right side by side to your thumbnail anyways. Try to shorten your championship to just a few brusk words, or if possible, you lot can but use only a still image with a logo. Still images piece of work great for thumbnails because they speedily requite a snapshot of what viewers will find in your video without you lot having to create an image entirely from scratch.

Use contrasting colors

Yous've seen this tragic mistake before: white text on a light background or black text on a nighttime groundwork. Yikes. As I mentioned earlier, thumbnails are small, and there are a lot of them. Y'all need yours to stand out, then if a viewer can't easily read the text on your thumbnail, information technology's likely your video volition exist skipped.

Pay attention to logo placement

Adding your logo to your YouTube thumbnails is a good idea. Information technology can assistance with brand awareness, all the same, how and where you identify your logo on your thumbnails is important. Kickoff, make sure your logo isn't too big. You don't want to distract from the overall bulletin of the thumbnail, but if information technology'due south also small there's no sense of calculation it at all.

Adding your logo to the corner of the thumbnail prototype works well, especially if you lot have other text on your thumbnail, but avoid the right bottom corner. Why? Considering that's where YouTube displays the length of your video for viewers. If you put your logo in that location it'll be covered upwardly and make your video look unprofessional.

Avoid irrelevant or misleading images

No one likes clickbait. That's why It'due south important to brand certain that your YouTube thumbnail accurately depicts what a viewer is going to observe in your video. If information technology doesn't, you could hurt your reputation or brand. And even worse, YouTube could potentially finish showing your videos in search results if your bounce rates are too loftier.

A thumbnail's purpose is to give context, and so using an prototype that doesn't depict what a viewer is actually going to come across won't benefit you. It's a skillful idea to find the most important point of your video and highlight that by creating a thumbnail around it. Information technology's best to rest creating a visual teaser without revealing besides much. Only prove enough to make users desire to click through and run across what y'all have to say.

Bonus! How to Make Your Ain YouTube Thumbnail

Now, allow's put what we learned nearly thumbnails to use by actually creating a custom thumbnail epitome. An like shooting fish in a barrel way to create a YouTube thumbnail is to use TechSmith Snagit.

Here'south a step-past-step on how to create a YouTube thumbnail in Snagit.

1. Download a free trial of Snagit.

It's really that piece of cake!

2. Import your video into Snagit.

If you've recorded screen video or your webcam with Snagit, you can skip importing your video.

3. Utilise Snagit's convert to PNG button to plough your video still into an image.

Play through your video and find the exact spot y'all'd like to turn into an image.

4. Add together text, callouts, arrows, your logo, and more right within the Snagit Editor.

Don't forget to keep in mind the YouTube Thumbnail best practices—simple, contrasting colors, logo placement, etc.

5. Save your epitome to upload to YouTube for the video thumbnail.

Now, become ahead and effort making your own YouTube thumbnail in Snagit, or experience free to use whatever software you feel virtually comfortable using. So, upload your custom thumbnail to YouTube before posting your video.

Hopefully, your new, customized thumbnail volition bring you more views, clicks, and date!