YouTube thumbnail: 1280 × 720
The frame is already set. Drop an image in and it is scaled to fill 1280 × 720 exactly, with the overflow trimmed from the centre instead of the picture being stretched.
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Nothing here is uploaded. See how the page enforces it.
Why 1280 × 720
YouTube renders thumbnails at wildly different sizes: a few hundred pixels wide in a sidebar, most of the screen on a television. It asks for 1280x720 because that is the smallest 16:9 frame that still looks sharp on the largest surface it will appear on.
Anything under 1280 px wide is rejected outright as a custom thumbnail. The file must also be under 2 MB and in JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP.
What happens to an image that is not 16:9
Three things can be done with a photograph that does not match the frame, and only one of them is usually right.
| Mode | Result | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Fill exactly | Scaled up until it covers 1280×720, then trimmed from the centre. Nothing is distorted; the edges are lost. | Almost always. It is the default here. |
| Fit inside | Scaled until the whole picture fits. You get the full image but smaller than 1280×720 on one axis. | Nothing may be cropped, and you will add your own background. |
| Exact (stretch) | Squashed to 1280×720. Faces and circles distort. | Practically never. |
The ratio here is 16:9. The closer your source is to it, the less the fill mode has to trim. A photograph shot in the right orientation loses almost nothing.
Weight, as well as dimensions
YouTube also caps the file at 2 MB. Dimensions and weight are separate limits and it is possible to satisfy one and fail the other. If your file comes out over the cap, drop the quality slider or send it through the exact size compressor afterwards.
Questions
+ Will my image be stretched?
No. The default mode scales the image until it covers the frame and then trims the overflow from the centre, so proportions are kept. Stretching is available in the mode selector, but it distorts anything recognisable and is almost never what you want.
+ What if my photo is smaller than 1280×720?
It is enlarged to fill the frame. Enlarging cannot add detail that was never captured, so the result will be softer than a photograph taken at that size. The frame will be correct, but start from the largest original you have if you can.
+ Are my images uploaded?
No. The resizing happens in your browser on your own processor. Nothing is sent, there is no queue, and the page carries on working if you disconnect from the internet.
+ Can I resize a whole folder at once?
Yes. Drop in as many as you like, or on Chrome and Edge use "Open a folder" to read every image in a folder and write the results straight back into a folder you choose, with no ZIP in between.
+ Is there a watermark or a sign-up?
Neither. There is no account and no watermark, and nothing is capped.