Free tool
YouTube thumbnail preview & tester
Upload a thumbnail, type your title and see how it looks next to other videos — at the sizes viewers actually see. Your image never leaves your device.
Home feed (desktop)
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Your video title goes here — make it count
Your Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Mobile feed
Your video title goes here — make it count
Your Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Another creator’s video title in the feed
Other Channel · 12K views · 3 days ago
Suggested videos (small)
Another suggested video title
Other Channel
Your video title goes here — make it count
Your Channel
Another suggested video title
Other Channel
Another suggested video title
Other Channel
Why preview your thumbnail before publishing
You design thumbnails at full screen, but viewers see them small — sometimes the width of a thumb in the suggested sidebar. Details that look great in your editor can vanish, and text that felt big can become unreadable.
Previewing in context shows you whether the subject stands out, whether the text reads at a glance and whether the duration badge covers anything important. See safe zone.
What to check
- Can you tell what the video is about in one second?
- Is the text readable in the small sidebar view?
- Does it stand out from the grey placeholders around it?
- Does anything important sit under the timestamp?
- Does it work in both dark and light mode?
Frequently asked questions
Is my thumbnail uploaded anywhere?
No. The preview runs entirely in your browser; the image isn’t sent to our servers.
Does it show the real YouTube layout?
It’s a close approximation of YouTube’s feed sizes and styles, designed for checking readability — not a pixel-perfect copy.
Make your next thumbnail in minutes
Tell the AI agent what your video is about — it proposes a thumbnail, you approve it, and you can tweak it by asking.
Keep exploring
Thumbnail best practices
12 practical rules for thumbnails that earn clicks without clickbait.
Learn more →Thumbnail resizer
Resize any image to 1280×720, 1920×1080 or 9:16 Shorts — free, in your browser.
Learn more →Safe zone
The safe zone is the area of a thumbnail that won’t be covered by YouTube’s overlays.
Learn more →