This tool grabs every available thumbnail image for a YouTube video from its URL, so you can preview and download each resolution — from HD (1280×720) down to the small default — in one click, right in your browser.
How it works
Paste a YouTube link (or the bare video ID). The tool reads the 11-character video ID from the URL and loads YouTube's public thumbnail images for that video. Each size that exists shows a preview with its real pixel dimensions and its own Download and Copy URL buttons. Sizes YouTube never generated (often Max-res on older uploads) are marked "not available".
Nothing is uploaded to us: the video ID is parsed in your browser and the images come straight from YouTube's image servers.
Steps
- Copy the YouTube video URL (watch,
youtu.be, Shorts, embed, or live). - Paste it into the box above.
- Browse the resolutions that appear.
- Click Download on the size you want, or Copy URL to grab the direct image link.
Thumbnail resolutions
YouTube stores a fixed set of thumbnail sizes per video. The larger two are only created when the source video is big enough, so they can be missing.
| Size | Pixels | File | Always available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max-res (HD) | 1280×720 | maxresdefault.jpg | No — only for HD uploads |
| SD | 640×480 | sddefault.jpg | Usually |
| HQ | 480×360 | hqdefault.jpg | Yes |
| MQ | 320×180 | mqdefault.jpg | Yes |
| Default | 120×90 | default.jpg | Yes |
Which size should I use?
- Blog headers, slides, high-quality reuse → Max-res (HD) when present, otherwise SD or HQ.
- Thumbnails in a list / small UI → HQ or MQ.
- Favicons / tiny previews → Default.
If Max-res isn't listed, the video simply wasn't uploaded in HD — there is no way to reconstruct a higher-resolution thumbnail than YouTube generated.
Example
Paste https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ → you get five preview cards. The Max-res card shows a 1280×720 image with a Download button that saves dQw4w9WgXcQ-maxres.jpg.
Runs in your browser
The thumbnail images are public and load directly from YouTube; the tool never sends your URL or the images to our servers, and there's no signup. Thumbnails belong to the uploader — download only what you have the right to use.
