How do you create a thumbnail on youtube

Create Your Thumbnail It’s free and easy to use.

Social Media Graphics > YouTube Thumbnails

Free YouTube Thumbnail Maker for Professional Thumbnails

Create Your Thumbnail It’s free and easy to use.

• Easy-to-customize thumbnail maker with tons of templates.
• Add your own visuals and choose your fonts to promote your video.
• Download as a JPEG or PNG image and upload to YouTube.

Chosen by brands large and small

Our thumbnail maker is used by over 17,103,456 marketers, communicators, executives and educators from over 120 countries that include:

Features of the Thumbnail Maker

Create beautiful custom thumbnails with a template, customize it completely by updating fonts, colors, photos and more, and download the end product to upload to your YouTube channel.

Beautiful thumbnail templates

Jumpstart your YouTube video thumbnail creation process by getting started with one of our pre-designed templates. Find a template that fits your vision and add in your brand fonts and colors to match it to your video.

Create Your Thumbnail

Build your thumbnail

Visme makes it easy to design YouTube thumbnails to look exactly how you want them. Search for shapes, icons, photos and more to bring your design to life. Upload screenshots or still shots from your video to match your thumbnail to your content.

Create Your Thumbnail

Customize every aspect of your thumbnail to match your brand and video

Use your brand’s colors and fonts to create custom thumbnails for your video. Changing the fonts, backgrounds and shapes is easy in the thumbnail maker. Apply a color scheme with one click or create your own. The online YouTube thumbnail maker allows you to conveniently choose from millions of images and apply color overlays and filters.

Create Your Thumbnail

More Great Features of the Thumbnail Maker

What is a Thumbnail?

A thumbnail is the cover photo of a video that appears in search and on your channel on YouTube before clicking through to watch your video. This means you want to make your thumbnail as enticing as possible, to get as many users to click through and watch your video as possible.

Take a look at some of the YouTube thumbnails you see in top search results to get inspiration for the types of designs that work so that you know what kind of template you'll want to get started with.

Create Your Thumbnail

Use the thumbnail maker to create beautiful video covers in minutes.

Choose one of the customizable video cover templates in the YouTube thumbnail maker. Add your visuals and the title of your video. Place your information into the template by selecting the corresponding area and pasting it in. All sections can be edited for shape, location and size. New sections for text, icons and graphics can be added from the left-hand panel.

More Than a Thumbnail Maker

Create custom YouTube thumbnails in minutes using all of the design elements available to you in the thumbnail maker. With a massive library of images, graphics, fonts and more, you’ll be able to create free custom thumbnails that are beautiful and effective.

BEAUTIFY YOUR CONTENT

Choose from over a million stock photos, icons, illustrations, characters, lines, shapes and more to add to your channel art design and grab attention.

VISUALIZE NUMBERS

Showcase sales and discounts with engaging data widgets and percentage radials. Easily visualize numbers in an engaging way.

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MAKE IT ENGAGING

Create fully animated GIFs for your YouTube channel with Visme’s YouTube thumbnail maker and custom animation features.

How to Use the Thumbnail Maker

• Organize the information to be placed on the thumbnail for your video. Gather the visuals you would like to add.
• To use our best free thumbnail maker, log in to Visme and click on the social graphics tab.
• Once inside the thumbnail generator, choose the template which best fits your purpose. You can also use a blank canvas.
• Add your visuals into the template. You can use your own or find some in the graphics tab on the left-hand panel.
• Enter your video title so it’s easy to read. Change the font and color to match your brand and video.
• If using shapes, icons or other graphics, customize their size and color until everything is balanced.
• Download your video thumbnail as a high resolution JPEG or PNG image.
• Upload and insert your thumbnail into the YouTube video editor and set it as the video cover.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much does it cost to create a video thumbnail with the thumbnail maker?

It’s completely free to design a video thumbnail with Visme. Download it easily as an image file.

Are the thumbnail templates fully customizable?

Yes. Everything inside the template can be changed, resized, moved, or removed.

Can I use my Brand Kit to create video thumbnails with Visme?

Yes, all the assets in your Brand Kit are available to use with the thumbnail generator. To have a Brand Kit, you’ll need to upgrade to a Standard Plan.

Is it easy to add the thumbnail I make into my YouTube channel?

It’s so easy! After you download the image from the thumbnail maker, you just have to add it as the thumbnail in your video settings.

Can I use a screenshot from my video as the thumbnail?

Yes, all you have to do is add it as an image when designing. Then you can add your text and information on top to finish the thumbnail.

What is the standard YouTube thumbnail size?

The optimal sizing for YouTube video thumbnails is 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall, with a minimum width of 640 pixels. A 16:9 ratio is ideal. If you use Visme’s thumbnail maker for YouTube, the templates are already optimal sizing.

How do I create a thumbnail image?

How do you make a free thumbnail on YouTube?

How do most Youtubers make thumbnails?

How do you make a good thumbnail for YouTube videos?