YouTube Thumbnail Sizes & Dimensions
Two different questions live under this one topic: what size are existing thumbnails, and what size should you upload your own as? Both are answered below.
Available resolutions
Ready to downloadAuto-generated sizes (for downloading)
These are the fixed sizes YouTube creates for every uploaded video:
| Label | Size | Aspect |
|---|---|---|
| Max HD | 1280 × 720 | 16:9 |
| Standard | 640 × 480 | 4:3 |
| High Quality | 480 × 360 | 4:3 |
| Medium | 320 × 180 | 16:9 |
| Default | 120 × 90 | 4:3 |
Recommended size for uploading your own
If you're a creator setting a custom thumbnail in YouTube Studio rather than downloading one, YouTube's own guidance is:
- 1280 × 720 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio) — matches the player exactly
- Minimum width of 640 pixels
- Under 2MB file size
- Formats accepted: JPG, GIF, or PNG
Frequently asked
What size should I upload my own custom thumbnail as?
1280×720 pixels at a 16:9 aspect ratio, under 2MB, in JPG, GIF, or PNG format — this matches the video player exactly with no cropping.
Why does YouTube compress my uploaded thumbnail?
YouTube re-encodes every uploaded thumbnail to keep file sizes consistent across its CDN, which can introduce slight compression even from a clean source file.
What aspect ratio should thumbnails be?
16:9 is standard for regular videos and matches the player frame; Shorts thumbnails are still stored as flat images even though they display vertically in the app.