YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
Download any YouTube video thumbnail in HD, SD and other sizes.
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Paste a YouTube video link and this tool displays the thumbnail images YouTube keeps for that video in four sizes, each with an Open / Save button. Creators use it to recover their own thumbnails, designers to study how successful thumbnails are laid out, and teachers or presenters to put a preview image into slides.
The four sizes you get
| Label | File name | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| HD | maxresdefault.jpg | 1280 × 720 |
| SD | sddefault.jpg | 640 × 480 |
| HQ | hqdefault.jpg | 480 × 360 |
| MQ | mqdefault.jpg | 320 × 180 |
Each image loads directly from YouTube's image server at an address of the form https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg. The tool accepts watch links, youtu.be links, Shorts, live and embed links, or the bare video ID; it reads the ID in your browser and requests nothing from our server.
Saving an image
Open / Save opens the full-size JPEG in a new tab. On a computer, right-click it and choose "Save image as". On a phone, long-press the image and choose the download or save option. The file name will be the size name, such as maxresdefault.jpg, so rename it if you save several.
Why a size may look wrong
A small grey box in the HD slot
YouTube does not create the 1280 × 720 version for every video; it is often missing for older or lower-resolution uploads. When it doesn't exist, YouTube serves a small grey placeholder instead. Use the SD image in that case.
Black bars on SD and HQ
The SD and HQ files are 4:3 frames, so a normal 16:9 thumbnail sits inside them with black bars at the top and bottom. On the 640 × 480 SD image, the picture occupies the middle 640 × 360, with 60 pixels of black above and below. Cropping to 640 × 360 from the centre removes the bars, and the image cropper crops from the centre, so entering those dimensions there gives a clean 16:9 image. The MQ file is already 16:9 but only 320 pixels wide.
An old design after a thumbnail change
Thumbnails are cached, so shortly after a creator uploads a new one you may still see the previous image for a while.
Using thumbnails responsibly
A custom thumbnail is the creator's own design and is protected by copyright like any other image. Downloading your own thumbnails, or keeping someone else's for private reference and design study, is a different matter from publishing it. Before using another creator's thumbnail on a website, in a video or in marketing, ask for permission. If you want to feature the video itself, embedding it with the embed code generator shows the thumbnail through YouTube's own player.
If you are designing your own, YouTube recommends a 16:9 image of 1280 × 720 pixels with a minimum width of 640 pixels.