YouTube thumbnail downloader
Paste a YouTube link — or just the video ID — and get the video's thumbnail in every size YouTube publishes, from HD 1280×720 down to the 120×90 icon. Works with watch links, youtu.be short links, Shorts, live and embed URLs.
Batch mode — several videos at once
One link or ID per line. Each video gets its own set of size cards below.
How this works: YouTube serves every public video's thumbnails from its public image CDN, img.youtube.com, at predictable addresses built from the video ID. ThumbFetch parses the ID out of your link and builds those addresses — nothing is uploaded to, stored on, or proxied through this site. Your browser loads the images directly from YouTube.
The five sizes, at a glance
| Size name | Pixels | File name | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| HD | 1280 × 720 | maxresdefault.jpg | Blog heroes, presentations, design study — when it exists |
| SD | 640 × 480 | sddefault.jpg | A solid fallback; 4:3 frame with the 16:9 picture letterboxed |
| HQ | 480 × 360 | hqdefault.jpg | Embeds and cards; exists for essentially every video |
| MQ | 320 × 180 | mqdefault.jpg | Clean 16:9 at small display sizes, lists and sidebars |
| Default | 120 × 90 | default.jpg | Icons and placeholders; the smallest YouTube serves |
Full comparison, including when each size exists and when it doesn't: YouTube thumbnail sizes explained.
Why does the HD size sometimes say "no HD thumbnail"?
Not every video has a 1280×720 thumbnail. Older uploads and videos posted at low resolution never got one — and when that happens, YouTube's CDN quietly returns a tiny 120×90 placeholder image at the HD address instead of an error. ThumbFetch checks the actual pixel size of what loaded, not just whether something loaded, so a placeholder is labelled honestly as "no HD thumbnail for this video" instead of being handed to you as a fake HD file. The same check applies to the 640×480 size. More causes and fixes on the troubleshooting page.
Making your own thumbnails?
If you're downloading your thumbnail because you're redoing it, the specs that matter are on our YouTube thumbnail size guide: 1280×720 canvas, the corners and bottom-right strip to keep clear of overlays, and how big text needs to be to survive being shrunk to phone size. Making Shorts? Shorts covers work differently — see Shorts thumbnails explained.
And when you're ready to think about the money side: Creators: estimate a channel's earnings with YTMoneyCalc →
Common questions
Is this legal?
Fetching a publicly served image is not the issue — what you do with it is. Thumbnails are their creators' copyrighted work. Downloading your own, or saving others' for private study and reference, is the widely accepted use; republishing, selling, or passing someone else's thumbnail off as your own is not. This page is a tool description, not legal advice.
Do you store the links I paste or the images?
No. There is no server component and no account. The parsing happens in your browser, the images load from img.youtube.com to your browser, and downloads go from YouTube to your device. See the privacy page.
Why did the download open a new tab instead?
Downloads are fetched and saved directly when your browser allows it. If the direct fetch is blocked (some browsers and networks are strict about cross-site requests), the button falls back to opening the full-size image in a new tab, where you can right-click or long-press to save it — and the card says so when that happens.
Can I get thumbnails for private videos?
No. Only public and unlisted videos have publicly reachable thumbnails. A private video's images are not on the public CDN.
ThumbFetch Pro — coming soon
Planned at $9/month: channel-wide thumbnail audits, bulk ZIP export across a whole playlist, and side-by-side competitor comparisons. The single-video downloader above stays free. No sign-up yet — this is a preview, not a checkout.