Thumbnails
Download YouTube thumbnails
Paste a YouTube link and save its cover image at the size you need — every rendition YouTube publishes, fetched straight from i.ytimg.com. A Vimeo link is answered by Vimeo itself, and a link from anywhere else by the same resolver the downloaders use; the cover that comes back is listed here.
Try it with an example:
At a glance
- Price
- Free
- Account
- None needed
- YouTube links
- Watch, youtu.be, Shorts and Live links
- Other platforms
- Vimeo, X, Instagram and the rest of the site's downloaders
- Sizes
- 320×180 up to 1280×720, in JPG
- Upload
- None — YouTube covers are fetched by your browser from i.ytimg.com
- Storage
- Nothing is kept
- Works on
- Any modern browser — Android, iPhone, Windows, macOS, Linux
How to download a YouTube thumbnail
Copy the link
Copy the video's address from your browser, or use Share → Copy link in the YouTube app. Watch, youtu.be, Shorts and Live links all work.
Paste and fetch
Paste it above and press Get thumbnails. Every cover YouTube publishes for that video is listed with its real pixel size and file size.
Save the picture
Press Download next to the size you want. The image comes straight from i.ytimg.com — nothing is cropped, watermarked or kept.
About this tool
Grabivo's thumbnail tool turns a link into the cover picture behind it. For YouTube that is a direct conversation with i.ytimg.com: the page asks for the renditions YouTube publishes for the video — maxresdefault at 1280×720 down to mqdefault at 320×180 — measures each answer and lists what really exists. Nothing in that exchange passes through a server of ours, and nothing is stored.
A Vimeo link is answered by Vimeo's own oEmbed endpoint, so a Vimeo cover never passes through a server of ours. Links to X, Instagram and the rest are read by the same resolver the downloader pages use: it reports the downloadable media a post carries and the address of its cover image, which your browser then fetches from the platform's own CDN. A post that platform will not serve — photo-only, private, or one the resolver cannot reach — comes back with that platform's own message instead, because the resolver answers for downloadable media, not for pictures alone. A thumbnail is somebody's copyrighted work — saving it for yourself is one thing, republishing it as your own is another; check the platform's terms and the rights holder first.
Thumbnail questions
How do I download a YouTube thumbnail?
Copy the video's link, paste it into the field above and press Get thumbnails. YouTube serves each cover from its own image host, i.ytimg.com, and the page fetches them itself — so the sizes you see are measured, not guessed. Press Download next to the one you want and the picture is saved.
Which sizes can I get?
Videos uploaded in HD or better have maxresdefault, 1280×720 — the largest cover YouTube publishes. Below it sit sddefault (640×480), hqdefault (480×360) and mqdefault (320×180).
Why do I sometimes see fewer sizes?
maxresdefault only exists for videos uploaded in HD or better. When it is missing YouTube answers 404 and the page simply lists the smaller covers that do exist. The same happens for sddefault on some older uploads.
Do other platforms work too?
Yes — and Vimeo needs no resolver at all: its cover arrives straight from Vimeo's own oEmbed answer. For every other platform the link is resolved exactly as the downloaders do it, and the cover image that comes back with that result is listed here. A post whose media the platform will not serve — a photo-only post, a private account, a video the resolver cannot reach — gives you that platform's own message, or this tool's own note that no cover could be read; either way it is never a guess. The resolver only looks up the link; the picture itself comes from the platform's own CDN to your browser.
Am I allowed to use someone else's thumbnail?
A thumbnail is someone else's copyrighted picture. Saving one for yourself — a preview, a note, an offline copy — is a personal decision; publishing it as your own, or using it commercially, generally is not. Check the platform's terms and the rights holder before you reuse it, and keep the credit where it is due.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The page is built for mobile browsers: on iPhone, long-press the picture and choose Save to Photos; on Android, the browser writes it to your Downloads folder. No app is needed on either platform.