YouTube thumbnail size
YouTube thumbnails are 1280 × 720 (16:9). Resize your image to fit and save a JPEG under the 2 MB limit that works everywhere.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type or upload is sent anywhere.
YouTube recommends 1280 × 720 pixels, at least 640 wide, in a 16:9 ratio. A thumbnail is shown as small as a stamp in search and as large as a TV screen, so make the subject big and keep text to a few words.
The long-standing file limit is 2 MB. YouTube announced in October 2025 that it would raise it to 50 MB for 4K thumbnails uploaded from a computer; under 2 MB works on every upload path, which is what the resizer checks against.
The timestamp sits in the bottom-right corner, so don't put anything important there.
Thumbnail specs
- Size
- 1280 × 720 px
- Minimum width
- 640 px
- Ratio
- 16:9
- File size
- 2 MB (up to 50 MB on desktop, rolling out)
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Questions about youtube thumbnail size
Anything else, write to support@cuedm.com.
Why can't I upload a custom thumbnail?
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