YouTube Thumbnail Size
The size YouTube actually asks for, which is not the one most pages still print.
Checked August 6, 2026
The short answer
3840 by 2160 pixels, 16:9, saved as JPG or PNG. The minimum width is 640 pixels and anything narrower is refused. Uploading from a phone, keep the file under 2 MB. From a desktop the ceiling is 50 MB, which is the number most pages on this subject get wrong.
Every number on one screen
| What | The number | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Video thumbnail | 3840 x 2160 | What YouTube recommends. 16:9, the ratio its players and previews are built around. |
| Minimum width | 640 px | A floor, not a suggestion. Narrower than this and the upload is refused. |
| Shorts thumbnail | 2160 x 3840 | The same figures the other way up, at 9:16. Shorts ads use it too. |
| Podcast playlist | 1:1 | Square. YouTube publishes the ratio and no pixel figure, so match the longest edge you use elsewhere. |
| File size, from a phone | 2 MB | 10 MB if it is a podcast thumbnail. |
| File size, from a desktop | 50 MB | Video and podcast alike. The limit that applies to most people, and the one almost nobody prints. |
| Formats | JPG, PNG, GIF | Any of the three. There is nothing to gain from GIF for a still image. |
Read off YouTube's own help page for custom thumbnails on 6 August 2026. If they move a number, this page is wrong until somebody corrects it, which is a more useful thing to be able to say than nothing.
Why every other page says 1280 by 720
1280 by 720 was the recommendation for years, and it still works, because the only hard floor is a width of 640 pixels. It is no longer what YouTube asks for. The pages telling you otherwise have not been reread since they were written.
The reason for the larger number is not vanity. A thumbnail is also the preview image inside an embedded player, so it gets shown at the size of a video rather than the size of a grid tile. A 1280 pixel wide image stretched across a desktop player is visibly soft.
Upload the larger file. YouTube makes every smaller copy it needs from it, and it cannot invent detail that was never in the file you handed over.
The 2 MB limit is a phone limit
This is the fact worth leaving this page with. The 2 MB ceiling everybody quotes applies to uploads made from a mobile device. Send the same image from a desktop browser and the limit is 50 MB. For a podcast thumbnail on a phone it is 10 MB.
It matters because 2 MB is a tight budget for an image that size, and people give up real quality getting under a number that was never binding on them. Compress it when your file is over the limit for the device you are actually uploading from, and not otherwise.
Vertical video gets its thumbnail replaced
Upload a vertical video with a 16:9 thumbnail and the home, explore and subscriptions pages will not show it. They show an automatically generated 4:5 crop instead. Your image still appears in the watch feed, in watch history and on desktop.
The practical consequence is about where you put things. Anything at the far left or right of a 16:9 thumbnail falls outside a 4:5 crop, so a title pushed to one edge is a title that disappears on the surface where most people scroll.
Design for the smallest place it appears
The thumbnail you are looking at while you make it is not the thumbnail anyone else sees. In a sidebar recommendation on a phone it is about two centimetres across. Three or four words is the realistic budget, at a weight that survives being shrunk, with enough contrast against whatever sits behind them that they do not dissolve into it.
There is a check that takes five seconds and that almost nobody does: shrink your own thumbnail to roughly 120 pixels wide and look at it. If you cannot read it there, neither can anyone scrolling past it.
Getting any picture to 3840 by 2160
Drop it into the resizer, set the size, download it. It runs on your own machine, nothing is uploaded, and it keeps working with the network off, so a thumbnail carrying a title you have not announced yet stays where you made it.
If your file really is over the limit for the device you upload from, the compressor takes it down in bytes rather than in pixels. That is the trade you want here: the image keeps its full size and gives up a little quality, rather than staying sharp and giving up half its dimensions.
More guides
- What Is a WebP FileThe format you did not choose, saved from a web page, and now something will not open it.
- AVIF vs WebPAVIF wins on size. Size is not the only thing you are choosing between.
- JPEG vs PNGOne rule decides almost every case. The exceptions are the part worth reading.
FAQ
- What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?
- 3840 by 2160 pixels at 16:9. The minimum width YouTube accepts is 640 pixels, so smaller images do upload, but the recommended size is the one that survives being shown inside an embedded player.
- Is 1280 by 720 still acceptable?
- Yes. It is well above the 640 pixel minimum and it will upload without complaint. It is no longer what YouTube recommends, and it looks soft when a viewer meets it as the preview frame of a full width player rather than as a small tile.
- What is the maximum file size for a YouTube thumbnail?
- It depends on what you upload from. 2 MB from a phone, or 10 MB there for a podcast thumbnail. 50 MB from a desktop browser, for video and podcast thumbnails alike.
- Which file format should I use?
- JPG or PNG. YouTube accepts GIF as well and there is no reason to use it for a still image. PNG suits flat graphics and hard edged text, JPG suits photographs.
- What size is a Shorts thumbnail?
- 2160 by 3840 pixels, which is 9:16. The same figure covers Shorts ads.
- Does resizing it here upload my image?
- No. The resizer runs in your browser and the file never leaves your machine. Watch the network panel while you use it, or cut the network first and watch it keep working.
Resize one to 3840 by 2160
Exact pixels, or a ready made size. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account.
Open Resize ImageON YOUR DEVICE · FREE