Your Easy Guide to Making a YouTube Thumbnail

Sometimes your YouTube thumbnail just won’t crop it. You could have uploaded the most interesting video to YouTube, but it may not get the views it deserves if you rely on a simple still image to tell viewers what it’s about.

Thumbnails, the small, clickable snapshots viewers see when they search for videos on YouTube, can be as important as the title of a video. They preview your video and invite viewers to click:

Creating vibrant YouTube thumbnails can also instantly grab people’s attention – the brain is programmed to respond to eye-catching graphics – and you can differentiate yourself on a platform that is crammed with standard thumbnails that everyone is after Shouting attention.

Thumbnails can also affect your search ranking on YouTube. Since your video’s click-through rate is one of the most important ranking factors in YouTube’s search algorithm, especially during the first hour on the platform, an eye-catching thumbnail can make a huge difference in the number one ranking for a query rather than all.

If your video has normal or sub-par thumbnail, it won’t entice anyone to click through. YouTube may find the video irrelevant and not rank it in search results or post it through the Recommended Videos feed.

Fortunately, getting still images from your YouTube videos isn’t the only way to create thumbnails. There are tools online that are specially designed for people who may not have a great deal of design experience that you can use to create custom thumbnails – all for free.

Below, we’ll walk you through a simple five-step process of creating visually engaging YouTube thumbnails that will reduce noise, increase your video’s click-through rate, and improve your rankings.

1. Visit a free online YouTube thumbnail maker.

There are seven free online YouTube thumbnail makers listed below. However, we introduced FotoJet in this guide because it is one of the few YouTube thumbnail manufacturers that you don’t sign up for a free account with before you can create a thumbnail. The robust thumbnail maker allows you to customize and download your thumbnails for free – no email address required.

2. Upload a photo or choose one of the templates from the thumbnail manufacturers.

YouTube allows you to upload any image from your computer as a thumbnail of your video. But if you don’t have a vivid image on your computer or need inspiration, Fotojet is the place for you. You have over 23 free templates to use as the basis for your thumbnail.

If you want to make a thumbnail in Fotojet, consider adding a talking head. Humans are naturally drawn to human faces as this is a deeply ingrained survival mechanism that allows us to quickly assess a person’s emotions and determine whether they are a threat or a friend. Research Gate also found that Instagram photos with faces were 38% more likely to get likes and 32% more likely to get comments.

3. Add text, clip art, or a background to your thumbnail.

Once you’ve chosen your image or template, you can make your thumbnail even more standout by adding text, clip art, or a background.

To further clarify the subject of your video, consider adding the title of your video to the thumbnail. If your photo, graphic, or text is light, consider placing it on a dark background. The color contrast makes your thumbnail pop. The same logic applies to dark objects and light backgrounds.

4. Download the finished product to your computer.

After you’ve polished your thumbnail, click the Save button at the top of the page.

Next, title your thumbnail and save it as a JPG or PNG. The resolution already corresponds to the resolution recommended by YouTube – 1280 x 720 pixels – so you don’t have to worry about resizing.

7 YouTube Thumbnail Maker

In addition to Fotojet’s free online YouTube thumbnail maker, there are seven other thumbnail makers that you can use to customize your own YouTube thumbnails. However, before you can use these tools to create a thumbnail, you need to sign up for a free account on their websites.

1. Canva

With over 2 million images in the library, hundreds of fonts, and customizable backgrounds and colors, Canva has more than enough resources to help you unleash your creativity.

2. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark lets you choose from thousands of photos on the web and a variety of built-in themes with their own layout, colors, and fonts to create eye-catching YouTube thumbnails.

3. Crello

Crello lets you create beautiful thumbnails by combining a variety of designs, photos, backgrounds, text, and objects.

4. Visme

Choose from a large selection of templates, photos, graphics, colors and fonts to create a miniature view in Visme.

5. Fotor

Fotor offers templates on specific topics that you can use to create fascinating thumbnails.

6. Picmaker

With over 100,000 graphics, 1,000 photos, stickers, frames, backgrounds, texts, symbols and filters, as well as an automatic background remover, you can create a gripping thumbnail on Picmaker in a variety of ways.

7. Snappa

Snappa has 500,000+ stock photos, a selection of professionally designed templates, and customizable graphics, shapes, and text that you can use to create a YouTube thumbnail. They also have a drag and drop feature that allows you to create your own custom thumbnail.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for completeness.