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YouTube Shorts thumbnail previewer

See one thumbnail beside other Shorts, or compare up to four drafts with their own titles. Check what gets cropped and how each title wraps. Your images and titles stay in this browser.

EDIT

Your Short

Drop up to four thumbnails or choose local images JPG, PNG or still WebP · No upload

Add up to four finished 9:16 drafts.

Short title 0/100

Each draft keeps its own title in this page session.

View full artwork

Your original image, without the Search crop.

How privacy works

The selected images, filenames and titles stay on this device. They are never uploaded or sent to analytics. The drafts clear when you reload or close this page.

The host receives the ordinary page request. There is no image-upload service, account or advertising script.

We count anonymous page views, feature use and broad time-on-page ranges to improve this site. We do not store visitor IDs or browsing histories. You can turn these counts off in Privacy & usage counts at the foot of this page. Cloudflare and our host process ordinary connection information to deliver and protect the site; We use aggregate page, referral-source and crawler counts; we do not build visitor profiles.

PREVIEW

Beside other Shorts

A centered 2:3 crop, observed in desktop YouTube Search on 14 September 2026. Actual crops and layouts can vary. This checks appearance, not measured CTR or audience response.

Shorts

Your Short title

12K views

A burger stacked with lettuce and cheese

The burger I make every Friday

84K views

Take the longer way home

206K views

Two musicians playing a guitar and a drum

One chord change, a different sound

37K views

A desk with a computer and colorful lighting

A small desk after dark

119K views

Your selected draft is first. Scroll the row to compare.

CURRENT GUIDANCE

What YouTube currently recommends

As checked on 14 September 2026, YouTube recommends a 2160 × 3840 image at 9:16 for Shorts, with a minimum height of 640 pixels, formats such as JPG or PNG, and a desktop file size under 50 MB. Custom Shorts thumbnails currently require a verified account and YouTube Studio on a computer. Read the current YouTube thumbnail requirements before publishing.

Shorts thumbnail questions

What size should a YouTube Shorts thumbnail be?

YouTube currently recommends 2160 × 3840 at 9:16. This previewer preserves the complete image, then shows how a centered 2:3 Search shelf crop may look.

Can I upload or change a custom Shorts cover?

Yes. With a verified account, open YouTube Studio on a computer, go to Content → Shorts and select your Short. Under Thumbnail, choose Upload file, then save. Changes may take time to appear.

Is the thumbnail the same as Shorts playback?

No. The Shorts feed is a vertical video player. This tool previews static discovery artwork and does not recreate playback, swipe behavior or viewer response.