How To Change Thumbnail On YouTube?

Default thumbnail too boring for you? No worries! See how you can change it.

There are many factors that differentiate a good YouTube video from a great one. And an eye-catching thumbnail definitely contributes to a video’s greatness. So how to change thumbnail on YouTube when the default thumbnail isn’t expressive enough?

Before we get to the how let’s understand why a thumbnail is so important to a YouTube video. For starters, it is your video’s first impression on the audience. If your thumbnail is exciting enough people are most likely to click through to get to the video. Thumbnail is also great to make your video stand apart. You can decide on the color palette, the fonts, and the placement of images and objects, and continuing that with all your videos will make your videos more recognizable to the audience.

So let’s see how to change thumbnail on YouTube, how to pick the right YouTube thumbnail size, and what to do if YouTube thumbnail’s not showing up:

What Is The Right YouTube Thumbnail Size?

Picking a good YouTube thumbnail starts with picking the right size of YouTube thumbnail.youtube-thumbnail-size If your thumbnail is off in dimensions the final image will look stretched or compressed. Similarly, if you pick a too large size for the image, YouTube will not accept your image as thumbnail.

So the right thumbnail size for YouTube is under 2MB with a ratio of 16:9. The dimensions for this will be 1280 x 720. We would also advise you to save your image in JPEG format as it maintains the quality of the image while keeping the size at its minimum.

Now that we have the size of the YouTube thumbnail, let’s move on to creating and adding the eye-catching thumbnail to our YouTube video.

How To Add Thumbnail To YouTube Video?

You made a really interesting video for your YouTube channel but in the hurry to upload the video you forgot to add in your customized thumbnail. Now you’re wondering whether you have to take down the entire video and re-upload it with the proper thumbnail. No need for such drastic measures.

Follow these simple steps to add a thumbnail to your YouTube video:

  1. Click on your profile icon and go to ‘Creator studio’.
  2. Then open the content/videos tab.youtube-creator-studio
  3. Click on the pencil next to the video you want to change the thumbnail of.
  4. Scroll down to find the thumbnail tab and hover over your current thumbnail until you see the three dots.youtube-edit-thumbnail
  5. Click on the three dots and then click on Change.youtube-change-thumbnail
  6. Next just choose your thumbnail from your computer and click Open.
  7. And finally, click on Save.youtube-add-custom-thumbnail

This is how you change thumbnail on YouTube when you don’t want to stick with the default one. New YouTubers can also create a ‘welcome to my channel’ thumbnail for their first YouTube video. This way your video will definitely stand out as a new video by a new creator and people will most likely click on it out of curiosity.

How To Create A Thumbnail On YouTube?

To create a thumbnail on YouTube you will need photo editing software. In this article we will see how to create a thumbnail using Canva:

  1. Open Canva and find a template with the dimensions 1280 X 720.canva-background
  2. Add the elements you want and edit it the way you want.
  3. Once you’re done, click on Share and select Download.canva-design-youtube-thumbnail
  4. Select the file type as JPG and click on Download.canva-design-youtube-thumbnail-download

Once your thumbnail is created and downloaded on your device you can add thumbnail to YouTube video.

Why YouTube Thumbnail’s Not Showing?

You might not even feel like clicking on a video if the thumbnails aren’t showing up. You need to identify the problem first whether it’s the thumbnail that’s faulty or this is happening with all YouTube videos for you. If it’s just 1 video all you have to do is change the YouTube thumbnail to one of a lower size. Maybe your thumbnail doesn’t follow the YouTube Thumbnail policy. You must ensure everything is proper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How To Edit Thumbnail On YouTube?

  • Open YouTube studio
  • Select Content
  • Go to the video
  • Edit thumbnail

Q2. How To Put Thumbnail On YouTube Video?

You can make a thumbnail and download it on your device. Then you can put thumbnail on YouTube video by editingg the thumbnail from YouTube studio.

Q3. How To Change YouTube Thumbnail On Phone?

  • Go to your channel
  • Manage videos
  • Edit video
  • Change thumbnail by choose one from the gallery

Q4. How To Add A Thumbnail On YouTube Mobile?

You can add a thumbnail while uploading the video from your phone. The thumbnail must be downloaded on your mobile ready to be uploaded.

Conclusion

If you were having troubles with your YouTube thumbnail hopefully this article helped you solve those troubles. So don’t freak out the next time you spend your precious time creating an amazing YouTube video and a thumbnail, even if you do forget to add it you will still be able to add it later or change it as per your liking.

Just go to the YouTube studio and find the option to change the thumbnail in edit video. You can change the thumbnail from any device.

Now you know how to change thumbnail on YouTube. If you’re making good videos that make you proud you should even know how to make and change thumbnails to go with your YouTube channel.

Make sure you’re not getting the dimensions wrong (1280 x 720), and are saving the image in the proper JPEG format. This way you won’t face any trouble later with your thumbnail image remaining blank.

If you’re a budding YouTuber you will need all the help you can get from the community! So we wish you luck on your YouTube journey and hope that you know about all the ways you can monetize your YouTube channel.