As part of our new YouTube channel we came across an interesting issue with regards to custom YouTube thumbnail. It was the case before that you had to have huge amounts off traffic to take advantage of this, but it’s not the case any more. So we created a template for a your custom YouTube thumbnail needs.
So the interesting part of this that you would think because these are thumbnails it would be a small in size. That’s not the case the the custom YouTube thumbnail should be large, because as Google says, “Your custom thumbnail image should be as large as possible”. The catch is it should be 16:9 with a minimum width of 640 pixels.
As per YouTube:
Custom thumbnail best practices
SizeYour custom thumbnail image should be as large as possible, as the image will also be used as the preview image in the embedded player. We recommend your custom thumbnails:
- Have a resolution of 1280×720 (with minimum width of 640 pixels).
- Be uploaded in image formats such as .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG.
- Remain under the 2MB limit.
- Try to use a 16:9 aspect ratio as it’s the most used in YouTube players and previews.
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Simon is a Product Designer and Front End Dev with over 20 years of experience. He started as a graphic designer and illustrator coding his first website in 1996. He has worked with brands like Publix, Microsoft, and Discovery Channel.
