YouTube Thumbnail Previewer
See how your thumbnail and title look on YouTube's home page, search results, watch page, history, playlists, phone app, and TV, next to other videos, before you publish. Free to use, with no account, no limits, and your thumbnails never leave your device.
Your thumbnail
Saved in this browser for next time, except the title.
Preview options
Compare with real videos
Paste links to YouTube videos, one per line, to put their thumbnails and titles in the feed next to yours. Your browser asks YouTube for each video's title, channel, and thumbnail. Views, upload time, and length are made up, since YouTube doesn't share those without a sign-in.
FAQ
Is my thumbnail uploaded anywhere?
No. Your thumbnail is shown straight from your device and is never sent to our servers. It isn't saved either, so it's gone when you close or reload the page. This browser only remembers your settings and channel details for next time.
If you paste YouTube links to compare with, your browser asks YouTube for those videos' titles and thumbnails. Nothing about your own thumbnail is part of that.
What size should my thumbnail be?
YouTube's help page says to make it as large as you can, and recommends 3840 × 2160 pixels in a 16:9 shape, at least 640 pixels wide. It names JPG and PNG as the file types to use.
The file size limit depends on how you upload: 2 MB from the phone app, and 50 MB from a computer. This tool warns you about any of these, but still shows the preview. These numbers were checked in October 2026.
Why does my title get cut off?
YouTube shows at most two lines of a title in most places and hides the rest behind "...". How many words fit depends on where it shows up and how wide the screen is, so a title that fits in search results can still get cut off on the home page or on a phone. Put the most important words first.
How close is this to the real YouTube?
The parts that matter for a thumbnail, like the thumbnail sizes, corner rounding, the time label, fonts, text sizes, colors, and spacing, were measured on youtube.com in October 2026. The menus and buttons around them are simple stand-ins. The TV view is based on a screenshot of YouTube's TV app. YouTube changes its design from time to time and sometimes tests different looks on different people, so what you see on your own account may differ a little.
Can I compare different versions?
Yes. Select "Add a version" to load up to 4 thumbnails, each with its own title. "All in the feed" puts them next to each other, and "One at a time" swaps them in the same spot so you can flip between them. "Shuffle position" moves them around the feed.
Can I send the preview to someone?
Yes. "Download image" saves the preview as a sharp PNG, at twice YouTube's real size, so you can send it to an editor, a manager, or a friend. The image is made on your device, and nothing is uploaded.
What do "Fit to screen" and "Actual size" do?
The preview is drawn at the real size YouTube would be in a 1440-pixel-wide browser window (1920 for the TV view). "Fit to screen" shrinks the whole preview so it fits on your screen. "Actual size" keeps it at its real size, and you scroll sideways inside the preview to see the rest.
On a big enough computer screen, both look the same. The difference shows up on phones, tablets, and smaller laptops.
Where do the other videos come from?
The made-up videos around yours are simple landscapes drawn by this page, with made-up titles and channels, so they don't belong to any real creator. To compare with real videos, like ones from your niche, paste their links under "Compare with real videos".
Why are there ads on this site?
Ads keep this tool free for everyone. If you can, please turn off your ad blocker for this site to help keep it up and running.