How To Upload A Thumbnail To A Youtube Video

Plenty of people say that y'all shouldn't guess a book by its comprehend, but when you're shopping for something new to read, what is going to grab your attention first? Information technology's more probable going to be a novel with a captivatingly designed embrace that gives you an idea of what you can expect.

The situation is similar when it comes to YouTube video thumbnails . Someone can make an amazing video , but when you're browsing through your feed, y'all're probably going to click on the one that looks promising based on what y'all tin see right away. If the video uses an engaging image and a text overlay that let you lot know that you're nearly to watch something that interests you, you lot're more likely to open information technology than, say, a prune with a vague shot of a street with no data on where information technology is and why yous should care.

There are several ways that you lot tin can add together a thumbnail to your YouTube video. Your choice depends on the kind of content your channel is based on. Sometimes, an centre-catching screenshot from the video can be enough. If your channel focuses on a specific blazon of educational or entertaining content, such as tutorial videos or highlight videos , you lot'll probably want to become the extra mile for a custom thumbnail.

How YouTube Creates Thumbnails

If you don't feel like making a video thumbnail yourself, YouTube makes the job easy for you. When you upload a video, the platform takes three screenshots from your footage automatically and suggests them equally thumbnails.

Depending on the type of video, the chances are that at least 1 of the suggested thumbnails volition work just fine. The problem is that if your video has plenty of move, the screenshots might end up blurry and await unprofessional. Even if you've recorded yourself talking to the photographic camera, YouTube might take captured you making funny or awkward facial expressions that you lot probably don't desire to represent your video.

To avoid using a default thumbnail that is unappealing, you'll want to come up with alternative solutions. Before we go to what you lot can do about it, let'due south take a look at the technical side of calculation a thumbnail to your YouTube video.

How To Change the Thumbnail of a YouTube Video

There are ii ways for you to add together a thumbnail to your YouTube video. You lot can do and so:

While uploading the video
When the video is published

How To Add a Thumbnail When Uploading the Video

YouTube Video Upload

You can add together a thumbnail when you upload a video to YouTube . When the platform is done processing your video, don't click on Publish just yet.

Nether the Title and Description fields, you can find the three suggested thumbnails that YouTube generated automatically. The middle option is selected by default, merely you tin click on 1 of the other two to change it. You can preview them in a slightly bigger size on the right and decide if they accommodate the video. If none of the options looks highly-seasoned, click on Upload thumbnail to import your ain.

How To Alter the Thumbnail When the Video Is Uploaded

YouTube Homepage

Regardless of if you've chosen or imported a thumbnail when uploading the video, y'all can change it afterward using YouTube Studio. To exercise and then, you lot need to:

Log in to your YouTube account
Click on your profile icon in the pinnacle-right corner
Cull YouTube Studio from the drib-down menu

Doing and so will accept you to YouTube Studio'due south dashboard.

YouTube Studio Dashboard

Next, yous demand to discover the video you desire to modify the thumbnail for and enter its settings. To do then, y'all should:

Open the Content tab in the card on the left
Wait for the video on the listing of your uploaded content
Open the contextual carte du jour by hovering your mouse over the video
Click on the Details icon that looks like a pen

YouTube Video Settings

When you open the settings for the video, scroll down until you notice the Thumbnail department. Pick the thumbnail that you want to use instead of the current one, or add a new image with the Upload thumbnail push button.

How To Ensure That You lot Can Add a Custom Thumbnail to Your YouTube Video

If you can't observe the option to add together a custom thumbnail to your YouTube video, it means that your account isn't verified. Just users with verified accounts have the selection to:

Upload custom thumbnails
Post videos longer than 15 minutes
Livestream to their audience
Appeal Content ID claims

To verify your YouTube business relationship, you commencement need to:

Click on your contour icon
Choose Settings from the drop-downwardly carte

YouTube Account Settings

Open the Account tab from the menu on the left. Look for the Your aqueduct section, where you can see your profile paradigm and several links for different settings. Click on Aqueduct status and features .

YouTube Aqueduct Condition and Features Settings

The Settings pop-up card for your channel'southward status and features will open up. Click on the Aqueduct tab , and get to Feature eligibility . Hither, you lot'll exist able to run into your default features and the ones that you need to activate past verifying your business relationship. The good news is that you don't need to take a specific number of views or followers to do so. Click on the Verify phone number push button to proceed to the next screen.

YouTube Account Verification Stride #1

The business relationship verification process consists of two steps. Showtime, you need to:

Select your country from the drib-down bill of fare
Choose how yous want to receive the verification lawmaking
Enter your telephone number

If needed, you tin change the language that you want to receive the message with the verification code in. When yous're done setting upwards the necessary information, click on Submit .

YouTube Account Verification Pace #2

Next, YouTube will inform yous that it has sent the verification code to your phone number. When you receive it, type it into the designated field and click on Submit .

Now that you've verified your account, you can add custom thumbnails to your videos. You also accept the power to livestream to your audience, for which you should consider uploading an appropriate thumbnail as well.

How To Add together a Thumbnail to a YouTube Video When Live Streaming

YouTube Livestream Options

When you're livestreaming, your audition will see your video with a default thumbnail. Earlier you create a new stream, yous tin can schedule it and set a multifariousness of options, such as:

Championship
Privacy
Music
Audition

To add a thumbnail that is going to grab your audition's attending, click on Upload custom thumbnail and import an prototype you lot've created.

How To Make an Attention-Grabbing YouTube Video Thumbnail

If y'all're not satisfied with the thumbnails that YouTube created for your video, you can take a screenshot that you call up best represents what the content is all about. If you're a Windows user, you can use the default Snipping Tool . Mac users tin rely on the Command+Shift+four shortcut to select a part of the video that they want to capture. If you're looking for a solution with boosted options, you can get a free screenshot tool such as Lightshot .

Creating a Thumbnail That Is More than a Screenshot

For most content creators with a significant number of followers, a simple screenshot isn't enough. You want your videos to stand up out from the crowd.

If the video focuses on a particular subject field, you should raise the message by overlaying engaging textual and visual elements on top of your prototype. This style, a person browsing YouTube for relevant videos is more likely to spot yours. Open Canva or Photoshop and get creative with your thumbnail.

Take a look at the following examples:

Video Making Tips Thumbnail Examples

The offset thumbnail uses a generic photo of a camera that the writer is using to make videos. While it vaguely represents what the video is about, it doesn't grab the user'southward attention, and it might equally well be a video nearly something else, such as the best cameras in the manufacture. The second thumbnail uses a screenshot that is as cinematic as the title suggests and overlays it with engaging text that catches the eye right away.

The tertiary thumbnail relies on a solution that plenty of content creators use—cutting out a screenshot of themselves and using information technology equally an overlay for the background that consists of elements relevant to the video. You can combine a variety of elements from unlike images to create an engaging thumbnail that tells a story . What's important is that you don't overdo information technology and stop up with a disruptive mess.

Bonus Tips for Creating a Captivating Thumbnail

When creating a thumbnail for your video, you should keep in mind the following tips:

Consider the size
Make it consequent
Don't oversell the content
Keep the text concise

Consider the Size

The size of your thumbnail matters for several technical reasons. You lot should check the optimal YouTube video thumbnail size to ensure that it shows on different devices properly. If the thumbnail is too minor, it volition appear blurry to some users, making them assume that the video is poorly made equally well.

Y'all should too exist careful virtually what the thumbnail looks similar in YouTube'south feed and video suggestions. While the elements you've put together may look amazing on a full-size prototype in Photoshop, it doesn't mean that they will be as clear when the thumbnail is considerably smaller.

Make It Consistent

Every thumbnail that yous make needs to correspond your brand, which means that they should be as consistent as possible. If the majority of your thumbnails utilize the same font and an prototype of you as an overlay, that is what your audience will look from your future videos besides.

Fifty-fifty if you lot decide to make something different for the video to have a particular upshot, you should stick to some of the familiar, identifying elements, such equally your logo.

Don't Oversell the Content

You need to ensure that the thumbnail is in line with what the video has to offer. Information technology'southward similar to a movie affiche—if the motion-picture show doesn't await as expert and isn't as engaging, the viewers will be disappointed.

The video's thumbnail should portray the content accurately. If it doesn't, your viewers will come across it every bit clickbait and well-nigh likely avert your videos in your future.

Proceed the Text Concise

While text is one of the best ways to grab the viewer's attending by explaining what the video is virtually, it doesn't mean that you should overdo it. Keep information technology brusque and straightforward, and highlight the keywords to make it scannable. The person that is browsing YouTube for engaging content doesn't care nearly reading compound sentences on video thumbnails.

InVideo—The Best Solution for Making Your Video Content equally Awesome as the Thumbnail

InVideo Homepage

Now that you've got an eye-catching thumbnail, you'll want to ensure that your video content is every bit professional-looking as your audience would expect. InVideo—our powerful video editor—can help you amend your videos by calculation a multifariousness of fantastic features.

Our easy-to-use platform was made to enable even those that take never edited a video earlier to come up with stunning results in no time. InVideo's user-friendly interface allows you to brand dissimilar kinds of videos with trivial endeavour and astonish your audience with them. This includes:

Lyric videos
Music videos
Stop-move videos
Eye-communicable video loops
Picture and music collage videos

Nosotros've designed our platform to conform different kinds of approaches when it comes to video editing. When y'all open up InVideo, you tin can choose betwixt three editing methods:

InVideo Video Editing Methods
Premade Templates	Choose a professional-looking template for a specific type of video and customize it to your liking
Blank Canvass	Start making a video from scratch with a stripped-downwards template that y'all tin add whatsoever features to
Text-To-Video	Plough a text, link, or selection of video files into a series of scenes that you can work on in Storyboard and Avant-garde Editor modes

When it comes to templates, InVideo contains a library of over 3,000 high-quality solutions for all kinds of videos. You can browse our categories or use the search bar to look up a item theme. We've got themes made specifically for YouTube videos, such every bit:

Intro
Recommended Video
End Screen
Live Show

To start editing the template of your selection, all you need to exercise is:

Click on the template
Preview information technology to see if information technology fits your concept
Click on Employ this template

How InVideo Tin can Meliorate Your Videos

InVideo Video Editor

InVideo offers a multifariousness of features that can boost your video'due south visual appeal and make information technology more engaging. You can find most of the feature categories in the card on the left.

When y'all open the Stickers tab, you lot can discover plenty of solutions that can make particular sections of your video more than actionable, such equally CTAs and social media icons. You can too incorporate Twitter and Instagram links via the Social Posts tab.

If yous desire to add together special effects on summit of your scenes, such as snow, fume, confetti, or explosions, yous tin can observe them by opening the Overlays tab.

InVideo provides a variety of premade text elements, such as title cards and speech bubbles, that you can animate and customize. You tin can add captions to YouTube videos to make them more engaging to your viewers.

InVideo Timeline

Using the timeline, y'all can add various types of transition effects between your scenes. Click on the connecting arrows to open the carte du jour with the issue categories. This includes options such equally:

Animations
Overlays
Shutters
Glitches
Light leaks
Brushes

You can add an engaging voice-over to your video past clicking on the Add VO button in the top-left corner of the timeline. This pick enables you to:

Record your voice within the editor
Import a recording you lot've fabricated in some other program
Generate a voice-over using the text-to-spoken language feature

InVideo provides an extensive library of over a million royalty-gratuitous tunes, videos, and pictures that you can add to your project.

InVideo Pricing

Want to effort InVideo before you lot determine to spend any money? We provide a complimentary programme with no time limit. The complimentary version of InVideo allows y'all to export upwards to sixty videos per month with a watermark. You lot can as well utilize no more than than 300 of the premium media files from our library.

If you make up one's mind that you like our platform, you can cull between two paid plans:

Business Program	Unlimited Plan
The same restrictions equally the free programme, minus the watermark Almanac—$10 per month Monthly—$20 per month	You can use all the features InVideo has to offer with no restrictions Annual—$30 per calendar month Monthly—$60 per month