YouTube Thumbnail Resizer
Drop in any image and get it back at 1280 × 720 — or 4K, or a 1080 × 1920 Shorts cover. It also tells you what YouTube will object to before you upload: too narrow, wrong shape, too heavy for the phone app.
Drop an image here
It never leaves your browser — the resizing happens on your own device, and nothing is uploaded to us.
Already know the numbers you need? The full breakdown of YouTube thumbnail sizes covers standard, 4K, Shorts and the file-size limits.
YouTube thumbnail sizes and limits
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Recommended size | 1280 × 720 pixels (16:9) |
| Minimum width | 640 pixels |
| 4K source | 3840 × 2160 pixels |
| Shorts cover | 1080 × 1920 pixels (9:16) |
| File limit — mobile app | 2 MB |
| File limit — podcast thumbnail | 10 MB |
| File limit — desktop | 50 MB |
| Formats | JPG, PNG, GIF |
Sourced from YouTube's own custom thumbnails help page. The reasoning behind each number is in our breakdown of YouTube thumbnail sizes.
Questions about resizing YouTube thumbnails
What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?
1280 × 720 pixels, in a 16:9 ratio, with a minimum width of 640 pixels. That is YouTube's own recommendation and it has not changed in years. Below 640 pixels wide the image is rejected or upscaled, which is where most blurry thumbnails come from — not a bad export, just too small a source. Going bigger than 1280 × 720 is fine and sometimes better: a 3840 × 2160 export gives YouTube more detail to work with when it generates the smaller versions used in search results, suggested videos and the mobile feed.
Why is my thumbnail rejected or blurry after uploading?
Three causes, in the order you should check them. The file is over the limit for where you uploaded from: 2 MB from the mobile app, 10 MB for a podcast thumbnail, 50 MB from desktop. The image is under 640 pixels wide, so YouTube has to enlarge it. Or the shape is not 16:9, so YouTube crops it and the part you cared about ends up outside the frame. This tool checks all three against your file before you upload, and keeps its exports under 2 MB so the phone app accepts them too.
What size is a YouTube Shorts thumbnail?
1080 × 1920 pixels, vertical 9:16 — a different frame entirely, not a crop of a landscape thumbnail. Taking a 1280 × 720 image and cutting it to vertical throws away two thirds of the width, which is usually where the subject and any text were. Choose the Shorts output above to work from your original image instead, and use "Fit whole image" if you would rather pad the sides than lose them.
Does my image get uploaded anywhere?
No. The resizing happens in your browser, on your own device, using the canvas your browser already has. The file is never sent to our servers, there is no account, no sign-up and no queue — and it keeps working if you go offline after the page has loaded.
Should I export as JPG or PNG?
JPG for photographs and anything with a face, which is most thumbnails: it is far smaller at the same visible quality, and staying under the 2 MB mobile ceiling matters more than the difference you cannot see. PNG for flat colour, sharp text or screenshots, where JPG compression shows around hard edges. YouTube accepts both, plus GIF.
Need to add text to it as well? The free thumbnail text editor does that in the browser too, or pull an existing video's thumbnail to see how another channel handled the same subject.