What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?

YouTube recommends 1280 × 720 pixels with a minimum width of 640, in the same 16:9 shape as a horizontal video. JPG, PNG and GIF are accepted, and Studio tells you if a file is too large. Designing at 1280 × 720 or a multiple of it, such as 1920 × 1080, keeps text sharp on large screens and TVs. If you design in another shape, YouTube will add bars or crop it, and the bit you cared about may disappear.

The numbers are the easy part. The thumbnail people actually see on a phone's home feed, in search results or in the suggested list beside another video is a fraction of that size. Text that looks bold at full size turns into a smudge; a group photo becomes a crowd of dots. Before uploading, shrink the design to roughly the width of your thumb on a phone screen and look at it next to other thumbnails. If you cannot read the words or recognise the face at that size, simplify.

Two layout details catch people out. The video's duration is printed in the bottom-right corner, so keep text and faces out of it. And YouTube appears in light and dark mode, so a thumbnail with a white or black background can blend into the page; a coloured edge or background separates it. If you want to use Test & Compare, prepare every version at the same size so the comparison is fair.