How to Download YouTube Thumbnails with Ease

To attract viewers to click on their videos, many video publishers on YouTube have created impressive video thumbnails that are entertaining, pleasing, or informative. Therefore, it's not strange that many of you want to download YouTube thumbnails sometimes to get these wonderful snapshots. Even if it's your own video, you may need to download the thumbnail at one time or another.

But how can you download YouTube thumbnails?

Given that many of you want to grab thumbnails from YouTube but don't know how to do it, here is a collection of proven ways to download YouTube thumbnails. Whether you are going to download thumbnail images of your own or others' videos, you can apply one of the ways below to get it done effortlessly.

How to Download YouTube Thumbnails Online

The commonest way to download a YouTube thumbnail is undoubtedly using an online YouTube thumbnail downloader. Such tools have the advantage of being convenient and fast. And you don't need to download and install any program on your computer.

There are numerous YouTube thumbnail downloaders that will help you to get thumbnails from YouTube successfully. Here I'd like to take one of them as an example. If you are not satisfied with this one, you can search the Internet for more choices. It's worth mentioning that most online tools may redirect you during the process. Thus, be careful picking up the website you'd like to use.

To download YouTube thumbnails online:

Step 1. Copy the URL of the video you want to download the thumbnail image from.

Step 2. Go to the YouTube thumbnail grabber, paste the link into the address box, and then click "Get thumbnail images."

Step 3. Now you can see a list of thumbnail images of different qualities and sizes.

Step 4. Click one of the download options according to your own preference to save the image to your computer. For example, click "Download HD Thumbnail Image" and then you will get an image in 1280x720 in your "Downloads" folder.

How to Download Thumbnails from YouTube by Changing URL

Another similar way to download a You thumbnail is to change the video URL. By doing so, you can get the address of the thumbnail image. Afterward, you can visit the image address and save it to your computer. Here are the details:

Step 1. Go to copy the URL of the YouTube video. It could be like "https://youtube.com/watch?v=-32npUfJjUQ."

Step 2. Copy the characters after the equal sign, namely "-32npUfJjUQ."

Step 3. Now replace the ID section in the URL "https://img.youtube.com/vi/ID/maxresdefault.jpg" with the characters you get above. Then you will get the image address: https://img.youtube.com/vi/-32npUfJjUQ/maxresdefault.jpg.

Step 4. Visit the address via a browser and you will see the YouTube thumbnail in its highest resolution by default.

Step 5. Right-click the image and choose "Save Image As."

Step 6. Choose a folder on your computer to save the YouTube thumbnail.

How to Download YouTube Thumbnails with a Versatile Video Downloader

There are video downloaders that not only enable you to download YouTube thumbnails but also help you to download YouTube video/audio files in the format and quality you need. It's enough to use either of the ways above if you only want to download YouTube thumbnails rarely. While if you are in need of downloading videos, audio files, and thumbnails from YouTube often, getting a video downloader like EaseUS Video Downloader is advisable.

With it installed on your computer, you will be able to:

• Download online videos and audio files
• Convert YouTube videos to MP3 directly
• Download video thumbnails

To download YouTube thumbnails:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Video Downloader on your Windows or Mac. Click "Quick Search" from the left sidebar.

Step 2. Paste the copied link of your video to the input box of EaseUS Video Downloader. Then, you'll see your video and a download button under it, click "Download" to continue.

Step 3. Select an output format for your video and check the "Download Thumbnail" under the "Advanced Options" section. Click "Download."

Step 4. Once it's done, you can check the downloaded items in the "Finished" section. Click "Open" next to your video to locate the downloaded item and its thumbnail.

Disclaimer: Please make sure that your download behavior is legal in your country! EaseUS does not advocate downloading any video/audio for sale, distribution, or other commercial purposes.

The Bottom Line

If you don't have a requirement on the quality of the YouTube thumbnail, you can also choose to take a screenshot of the thumbnail image. That can be easily achieved using apps or browser extensions with the screenshotting feature.

To sum up, it's no tough job to download YouTube thumbnails. But you can't re-edit or re-use these pictures for copyright issues, especially when you get these thumbnails from others' videos.