YouTube Thumbnail Size: A Guide for Crafting Flawless Thumbnails

YouTube is the ultimate visual wonderland, filled with content ranging from funny bloopers to critically acclaimed documentaries. However, what makes this platform so compelling is not just the videos; it's the eye-popping thumbnails, too. Thanks to these small but enticing preview images, simply scrolling through YouTube can be an exciting experience. Most importantly, the right thumbnail is the key to making the first impression. But is there a right YouTube Thumbnail Size?

This blog answers this question by exploring the essential elements surrounding the ideal YouTube Thumbnail Size, including best practices, thumbnail creator tools and mistakes to avoid while creating thumbnails. So read on, craft thumbnails that stand out in a crowded feed and turn your YouTube videos into irresistible clicks!

Table of Contents 

1) Best YouTube Thumbnail Size  

2) Use of YouTube Thumbnails  

3) Importance of YouTube Thumbnails  

4) YouTube Thumbnail best practices  

5) Free tools to create a YouTube Thumbnail  

6) YouTube Thumbnail mistakes to avoid  

7) Conclusion  

Best YouTube Thumbnail Size  

While YouTube Thumbnail Sizes may vary, the ideal one in pixels is 1280 × 720. For the best results, create your YouTube thumbnail with the following dimensions:

a) Size: 1280px x 720px

b) Aspect Ratio: 16:9

c) Minimum Width: 640px

d) Maximum file size: 2MB

e) File types: .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png

1) Even though thumbnails look small in search results, they get bigger when they appear as suggestions for the next video to watch. That's why it's better to start with a larger image that can shrink well rather than a small one that gets blurry when enlarged. 
 

Use of YouTube Thumbnails  

YouTube thumbnails are the small preview images used to represent videos. They work like book covers and are aimed at attracting people’s attention and convince them to watch the video. Here are some examples of custom thumbnails:

Importance of YouTube Thumbnails 

Thumbnails are crucial because most people decide whether to watch your video based on these images. A good thumbnail can get you thousands of views, while a bad one might mean your video goes unnoticed. Luckily, YouTube lets you choose or create your own thumbnails. 

When you upload a video, YouTube automatically offers three stills from your video to use as thumbnails. However, making your own custom thumbnails is a better choice. Custom thumbnails make your videos stand out, help grow your audience, and let you show off your brand's style. They can even boost the click-through rate and become an essential part of a Digital Marketing Campaign.

Creating a thumbnail hardly takes around 10-15 minutes. Considering all the effort you put into planning, filming, and editing your video, it's worth it to spend a little more time. This, in turn, can ensure that your video is a big success. 

YouTube Thumbnail Best Practices 

In addition to some of the ideas we have discussed above, there are some best techniques that you can apply to your video’s thumbnail to get the best results. Some best practices to keep in mind include the following. 

1) Include Your Brand Logo

Put your brand's logo on your thumbnails. Many brands do this to make it clear where the video is from. You can also add a short title to your thumbnail that sums up what the video is about and shows off the main benefits of watching it. 

2) Utilise Whitespace  

If you are using graphics or a designed image, use whitespace (or negative space) to your advantage. This helps to keep your thumbnail clean and organised. This gives a high-quality look professional look to the images. Using whitespace attracts more people and lets them know what your video is about in a flash.  

3) Conciseness is Key  

When you add the title of your video or any other descriptive text to your thumbnails, it needs to be extremely concise. Your audience doesn’t need the full YouTube Description. Instead, they require a few words that will give them the gist and catch their interest. It should be short and to the point, and giving users everything they need to be interested in. 

4) Use Contrasting Colours 

Using the right colours will help you get more views and clicks on your content. Contrasting colours, especially the graphics and text on your video images, will immediately draw the eye in. When you are competing with a crowd of other search results or suggested videos, this will be a great deal. In addition to contrasting colours, using bright colours will help your video get more attention since they naturally draw the audience’s gaze. 

Fortunately, you can use the editing features to brighten your images with just a few clicks. You can also increase the colour saturation, even just a tad to grab the attention. Your thumbnail doesn’t have to be so bright or saturated that it looks unnatural from the quality of the image. Instead, just subtle tweaking is enough for your image stand out against your competition. 

5) Take Still Images  

Have you ever seen that when you pause a video, the person on the video is almost making some ridiculously embarrassing expression, even if you didn't see it that way when you played that video? You don’t want to experience the same thing in your thumbnail images, right?. If you are planning on using an actual photograph as your YouTube Thumbnail, do yourself an enormous favour and take a real photograph. By pausing and taking a few moments to pose for a staged photograph, you will get the high-quality image you’re looking for. 

Only in very rare cases, you will get the same great quality when you pause your video and try to take a still to use as an image. The reason why it makes sense is that your video is just that: a video that is constantly in motion. It’s much more important to have a high quality, and professional looking image than one literally taken from the video. 

Discover important Search Engine Optimisation tactics with our comprehensive and up-to-date  SEO Course - join us now! 

Free Tools to Create a YouTube Thumbnail

There are several amazing tools available that will help you successfully create an eye-catching YouTube Thumbnail design. You can utilise a free image resizer tool to solve size issues, but for professional photo editing, here is a quick outline of three awesome design tools. 

Adobe Spark Post  

Adobe Spark Post is best for people already familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud users and Adobe’s other design tools. This tool comes from a family of heavyweight professional design tools. As a result, it has all the professional features you would expect. This tool also offers several templates, fonts, and composition tools.   

This tool also integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud. Therefore, if you already use Photoshop for editing your photos or Premiere Pro CC for video editing, you can keep everything in one place.   

However, this convenience comes at a price. You can use this tool for free, but it’ll include a watermark on your designs. You need to choose plans that start at £7.88 per month or £7.88 per year to remove this watermark and access more features. 

FotoJet  

FotoJet is best for casual users who would prefer to avoid creating another online account. It is another great online design tool that helps you create Thumbnails. It provides several YouTube Thumbnail templates, clipart images, and fonts like Canva that you can use to create the perfect design. However, unlike Canva, you can use Fotojet for free without registering an account. If you would like more options and features, you can upgrade to FotoJet Plus for £5.52 per month or £31.55 per year.  

Enhance your video editing skills with our YouTube Marketing Course today! 

Canva 

Canva is best for regular users looking for a wide selection of design elements. It is a highly popular online graphic design tool and offers a wide selection of amazing YouTube Thumbnail templates to get you started. There are also various fonts, stock images, icons, and illustrations to help bring your image ideas to life.  

The best part is that Canva is completely free to use. Additionally, you get 1GB of storage for photos and assets. There are more than 8,000 templates and free images available in this tool. You can upgrade for £10.22 per month to access additional features, stock images, templates, and graphic elements. 

YouTube Thumbnail Mistakes to Avoid  

We have talked about everything you can do to create the best YouTube Thumbnail images. Now, let’s look at what you shouldn’t do. When it comes to avoiding mistakes (apart from using YouTube’s default thumbnails or the wrong thumbnail size), there are a few to keep in mind. These include the following: 

Too Much Text  

Some text is good and will enhance your video’s performance. Make sure there isn't too much text. If users cannot read the text in one quick, it’s too much. You should never have more than a concise title and, if necessary, a concise subtitle in smaller text beneath it.  

Having Text That's Too Small 

Some businesses try to make the text on their images small and unassuming. Sometimes, the text is too small for readers to understand when the thumbnail image is small in searches or video suggestions. This can lower the number of clicks you get. 

Choosing an Image That Isn't Relevant or is Misleading

This happens more often than you would think. Similar to how some blog posts are titled incorrectly, some YouTube channels use stunning stock photos that don’t relate to the videos at all.

A YouTube thumbnail that matches the video content will set clear expectations with viewers and create trust. This can lead to better engagement and prevent users from clicking away due to mismatched expectations.

Conclusion  

In conclusion, the perfect YouTube Thumbnail Size is key to grabbing attention and boosting your YouTube success. By adhering to the correct dimensions and design tips, you can create thumbnails that stand out, inspire curiosity, and drive more clicks than ever. While YouTube's automatic thumbnails are an option, it's better to create a customised one based on the guidance provided in this blog.

Improve your Content Marketing skills with our Content Marketing Course – join now!