YouTube Thumbnail Size (16:9, 3840 × 2160 px)
In your browser, no upload
3840 × 2160 px
Ratio 16:9
Crop
3840 × 2160 pxYour photo opens only in this browser. Takes JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF. A JPEG is cropped by copying its DCT blocks, so it is not re-encoded and the output is byte-identical to jpegtran. PNG, GIF and lossless WebP are re-saved without loss, every pixel unchanged, animated GIFs frame by frame. A lossy WebP is re-saved at quality 90. The badge next to the result says which happened.
Specification
6 rows| Item | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ratio | 16:9 | Videos. Shorts are 9:16 |
| Pixels | 3840 × 2160 px | Recommended; minimum width 640 px |
| File format | JPG / PNG | |
| File size | 2 MB mobile · 50 MB desktop | Video thumbnails |
| Shorts thumbnail | 9:16, 2160 × 3840 px | Minimum height 640 px |
| Source | YouTube Help | checked 2026-09-22 |
Why this size
3What happens, and why
YouTube Help says a custom thumbnail should be as large as possible, since it also serves as the preview image in the embedded player. The recommended resolution is 3840 × 2160 px for video thumbnails and 2160 × 3840 px for Shorts, with a minimum width of 640 px for videos and a minimum height of 640 px for Shorts. The aspect ratio is 16:9 for videos and 9:16 for Shorts; podcast playlists use 1:1.
The long-familiar 1280 × 720 px is also 16:9 and above the 640 px minimum, so it still uploads. The recommendation, though, is 3840 × 2160, and the difference shows on 4K screens and large previews. Formats are JPG and PNG, and the size limit depends on where you upload from: on mobile, 2 MB for video thumbnails and 10 MB for podcasts; on desktop, 50 MB for video, Shorts and podcast thumbnails.
This page crops at 16:9 with the size box set to 3840 × 2160. Most phone photos are about 4000 px wide, so that size is usually available; a smaller photo gives the largest 16:9 crop it allows. The JPEG is not re-encoded, so the quality is the original's, and a file over the 2 MB mobile limit needs a resize.
FAQ
3Is 1280 × 720 still fine
Yes. It is 16:9 and wider than the 640 px minimum. YouTube Help recommends 3840 × 2160, so if the original is large, crop at that size.
How is a Shorts thumbnail different
It is portrait 9:16, recommended at 2160 × 3840 px with a minimum height of 640 px. Open the other ratios here and pick 9:16.
Will a file over 2 MB fail to upload
On mobile, video thumbnails are limited to 2 MB; on desktop the limit is 50 MB. If a lossless crop comes out over 2 MB, upload from a desktop or resize it first.
Related specs
3Spec source: YouTube Help · checked 2026-09-22