What Is The Size Of A Thumbnail On Youtube

Are y'all looking to become more than views on your YouTube videos? One like shooting fish in a barrel way to practise that is to improve your video thumbnails.

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

2021 YouTube Thumbnail Sizes

1280 ten 720 pixels
– Minimum width: 640 pixels
– Recommended ratio: 16:9
– Maximum file size: 2MB
– Accepted file types: .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG

Of course, it'due south a good idea to have a neat video behind the thumbnail. That's why I highly recommend you as well bank check out our Ultimate Guide for How to Make 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 being about the size of a human being thumbnail.

YouTube thumbnails act as the book covers of the online video earth. Our decision whether or not to click on a video often depends on the thumbnail. An eye-catching paradigm can depict us in, while a tiresome or blurry thumbnail can hands deter us.

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

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

First, permit's get-go with the exact size you should make your YouTube thumbnails!

The ideal thumbnail size is 1280 × 720 pixels with a minimum width of 640 pixels, and the ideal ratio for YouTube players and previews is 16:nine. Forth with the correct size, yous'll also want to proceed in mind the ratio, file size, and file type of your thumbnail. Below is a handy guide you can reference as yous create a thumbnail for your video.

Now that we've covered the technical details of your YouTube thumbnail, permit's dive into the creative. How do you make a not bad-looking thumbnail that entices potential viewers? Great question! We've pulled together some tips that y'all'll want to keep in listen while creating YouTube thumbnails.

YouTube Thumbnail Best Practices

Keep it unproblematic

Exist concise! YouTube thumbnails are small. And they're fifty-fifty smaller when they're viewed on a mobile device, which is extremely common since YouTube is often watched on mobile phones. In fact, on an average solar day in 2018, there were ane billion mobile views. That'southward why you should try to avert adding too much text or too minor of text. People won't exist able to read information technology, and thus wasting valuable thumbnail real estate.

To make sure you keep your thumbnail simple, avoid adding the entire title of your video to the prototype. Your video championship will appear correct next to your thumbnail anyways. Endeavor to shorten your title to just a few short words, or if possible, you lot tin simply use simply a still image with a logo. Yet images work peachy for thumbnails because they quickly give a snapshot of what viewers will discover in your video without you having to create an prototype entirely from scratch.

Use contrasting colors

You've seen this tragic error before: white text on a low-cal background or blackness text on a dark background. Yikes. As I mentioned before, thumbnails are pocket-size, and there are a lot of them. Yous demand yours to stand out, so if a viewer can't hands read the text on your thumbnail, it'southward likely your video will be skipped.

Pay attention to logo placement

Adding your logo to your YouTube thumbnails is a skillful thought. It tin can help with make awareness, however, how and where you place your logo on your thumbnails is of import. Outset, brand certain your logo isn't too big. Y'all don't want to distract from the overall message of the thumbnail, simply if it'south too small at that place's no sense of calculation it at all.

Adding your logo to the corner of the thumbnail prototype works well, peculiarly if yous have other text on your thumbnail, but avoid the correct lesser corner. Why? Considering that's where YouTube displays the length of your video for viewers. If you put your logo there it'll be covered up and brand your video look unprofessional.

Avoid irrelevant or misleading images

No one likes clickbait. That's why It's important to make sure that your YouTube thumbnail accurately depicts what a viewer is going to find in your video. If information technology doesn't, y'all could hurt your reputation or brand. And even worse, YouTube could potentially cease showing your videos in search results if your bounciness rates are too high.

A thumbnail'south purpose is to give context, and so using an image that doesn't draw what a viewer is actually going to see won't benefit you. It's a good idea to find the most important point of your video and highlight that past creating a thumbnail effectually it. It's all-time to remainder creating a visual teaser without revealing too much. Only show enough to make users want to click through and come across what yous accept to say.

Bonus! How to Make Your Own YouTube Thumbnail

Now, permit's put what nosotros learned most thumbnails to use by actually creating a custom thumbnail image. An piece of cake fashion to create a YouTube thumbnail is to use TechSmith Snagit.

Here's a step-by-stride on how to create a YouTube thumbnail in Snagit.

one. Download a costless trial of Snagit.

It's really that easy!

2. Import your video into Snagit.

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

iii. Utilise Snagit's convert to PNG button to plough your video withal into an image.

Play through your video and find the exact spot you'd like to plow into an image.

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

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

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

Now, go alee and try making your own YouTube thumbnail in Snagit, or feel free to use whatever software you feel most comfortable using. Then, upload your custom thumbnail to YouTube before posting your video.

Hopefully, your new, customized thumbnail will bring you more than views, clicks, and engagement!