YouTube thumbnail maker, 1280x720

Crop any photo to an exact preset or custom size, add a title in one of five styles, and get a JPG under 2 MB, small enough for YouTube from a phone.

Drop your files here

.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .gif · up to 50 MB

Choose files

How to Make the Thumbnail

1
Add your image
JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF, up to 50 MB. Anything larger or smaller than the target is fitted to the frame for you.
2
Pick a preset and add the title
YouTube, Shorts, Twitch, a square podcast cover or your own size. Then type the title and choose one of five styles.
3
Download the JPG under 2 MB
The file is encoded at quality 88 and, if it lands over the limit, re-encoded at lower quality, up to six tries in all.

Exact sizes, and what YouTube recommends

YouTube's help page on custom thumbnails, viewed on October 20, 2026, recommends 3840 x 2160 pixels for a video and 2160 x 3840 for a Short, and no less than 640 pixels wide for a video or 640 tall for a Short. The YouTube preset here is 1280 x 720 and the Shorts preset 1080 x 1920, the same 16:9 and 9:16 shapes; for 3840 x 2160, pick Custom size. The Twitch preset is also 1280 x 720, and the podcast preset is a 3000 x 3000 square, the size Apple Podcasts lists for a show cover and the 1:1 shape YouTube asks for on podcast playlists. The canvas is created at exactly those numbers, never approximately: cover mode scales your photo up or down until it fills the frame and crops the overflow evenly from both sides, and contain mode fits the whole picture inside and pads what is left with a colour you choose. If your source is smaller than the preset in both directions the tool says so before you download, because enlarging is what makes a thumbnail look soft.

Five title styles, each solving a different background

Outline is the safe default: white letters with a heavy black stroke, readable on almost anything. Solid block puts the text on a filled rectangle in your chosen colour, with the letters flipped to black or white automatically depending on how bright that colour is. Gradient fills the letters from yellow to orange and reads best over dark, cool footage. Drop shadow keeps the letters clean and lifts them off the picture with a soft offset copy. Rounded badge sets the text inside a dark pill with a coloured border, which stays legible over the busiest frames.

Staying under two megabytes without you thinking about it

Two megabytes is YouTube's limit for a video thumbnail uploaded from a phone, the smallest on its help page; from a computer the limit is 50 MB. Every preset here, Custom size included, is held under 2 MB, so the file works either way. The thumbnail is encoded as JPEG at quality 88 first: in our check on October 20, 2026, a 1280 x 800 photo of 86 kB became a 1280 x 720 thumbnail of 42 kB. If the result is over 2 097 152 bytes, quality drops five points and the encode repeats, up to six tries in all, the last at quality 63. If even that is too heavy, you are told the smallest size reached and pointed at Compress Image, where you can name the exact weight, rather than handed a file over 2 MB.

Made entirely in your browser

Your image is decoded, composed and encoded on your own machine using a canvas and WebAssembly codecs. Nothing is uploaded, so an unpublished thumbnail for an unpublished video never sits on anyone else's storage. Close the tab and every trace is gone.

Frequently asked questions

What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?

YouTube's help page, viewed on October 20, 2026, recommends 3840 x 2160 pixels in a 16:9 shape, at least 640 pixels wide, in a format such as JPG or PNG; the file limit is 2 MB from a phone and 50 MB from a computer. The default preset here is exactly 1280 x 720, the same shape; for 3840 x 2160, pick Custom size. Either way you get a JPG under 2 MB.

Why is there a 2 MB limit, and what if I go over it?

It is YouTube's limit for a video thumbnail uploaded from a phone; from a computer, the limit is 50 MB. Every file here stays under 2 MB, so it works from either. If the JPEG at quality 88 is heavier, quality drops in steps of five, up to six tries in all; if none fits, the tool tells you the smallest size it reached and points you at Compress Image, where you can name the exact weight.

Can I use it for Shorts, Twitch or a podcast cover?

Yes. The Shorts preset is 1080 x 1920, the 9:16 shape YouTube recommends; YouTube currently lets you add a custom Shorts thumbnail only in YouTube Studio on a computer. The Twitch preset is 1280 x 720 and the podcast preset 3000 x 3000. Custom lets you set any size from 320 to 4096 pixels per side.

What if my source image is small?

It is scaled up to fill the frame and you get a warning saying so. Upscaling cannot invent detail, so a 640 x 360 screenshot will look soft at 1280 x 720 no matter what tool you use. Shoot or export larger where you can.

Which font is used for the title?

Anton for the outline, block and badge styles, and Montserrat for the gradient and shadow styles, both open SIL OFL faces, with this site's own Noto Sans as the guaranteed fallback. Impact is not shipped: its licence does not allow a website to redistribute it.

Does the file get uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser tab, which is also why the tool works with no account and no queue.

What is the difference between cover and contain?

Cover fills the whole frame and crops whatever does not fit, keeping the picture edge to edge. Contain shrinks the picture until all of it is visible and fills the leftover space with a colour you pick, which helps when nothing in the shot can be cropped away.