Make a YouTube thumbnail with big bold text, a cut-out photo and your colours on a 1280 by 720 canvas, with a guide that keeps words clear of the timestamp. Thumbnails are drawn on your device. Your photos are not uploaded or stored. It is free.
How to make a thumbnail, step by step
- Press Try an example to see a finished thumbnail, or start with your own.
- Type a short Headline. Choose Capital letters, an Outline, Shadow or a Box, and pick a Font.
- Choose which side the text goes on, and set an Accent colour and an optional Corner tag.
- Pick a Background: Gradient, Solid or Photo. Darken a photo if the text is hard to read.
- Add a PNG cut-out of a face or product, and your logo if you like.
- Check At list size, then press Download thumbnail.
Made to be read small
Most people see a thumbnail at the size of a stamp, in a sidebar or on a phone. The preview below the canvas shows it at that size, so you can check the words still read. Three to five big words beat a full sentence, and a cut-out face or product on one side with the text on the other is the layout that works best.
Tips for thumbnails that get clicked
- Use high contrast between the text and the background.
- Keep text out of the bottom-right corner, where the video length appears.
- Show a clear face or a clear object, not a busy scene.
- Use the same fonts and colours across a channel so your videos look related.
- Make the headline add to the title rather than repeat it.
Who uses it
Creators, teachers sharing lessons, small businesses with product videos, and clubs and churches posting events. For the cut-out, remove a photo's background first with the background remover.
Questions
What are the safe zones?
YouTube puts the video length in the bottom-right corner, and the orange box marks that area so you keep words out of it. The white line shows a margin that stays visible when the thumbnail is cropped or rounded. The guides are only in the preview, never in the saved file.
What size and format does YouTube need?
1280 × 720 pixels in 16:9, as JPG, PNG or GIF, under 2 MB. The JPG option lowers the quality only as far as needed to stay under 2 MB.
How do I put myself on the thumbnail?
Open a photo in the background remover to get a PNG with a transparent background, then add it here as the cut-out. It sits on the opposite side to your text, and the size slider makes it bigger or smaller.
Can it use my brand colours?
Yes. If you have saved colours in Your Snowkit, the background and accent start in your colours, and you can add your logo to the corner.