YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

FREEUtilities

TOOLYouTube Thumbnail Downloader

YouTube video URL or ID

Thumbnails appear here

Paste a YouTube link above to grab them.

100% freeNo signupRuns in your browser

TL;DR

Free YouTube thumbnail downloader — paste any video URL or ID and download the HD (1280x720), SD, and HQ thumbnails.
No watermark, no signup — direct image links from YouTube CDN.

About YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

Every YouTube video exposes its thumbnail images on a public image CDN at predictable URLs. This downloader parses the video ID from any link — watch pages, youtu.be short links, Shorts, embeds — and shows each available resolution from 1280×720 HD down to 120×90, with one-click download and direct-URL copy. It runs entirely in your browser.

How It Works

YouTube serves thumbnails at https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/QUALITY.jpg, where QUALITY is maxresdefault, sddefault, hqdefault, mqdefault or default. The tool extracts the 11-character video ID with a set of URL patterns, then builds those five URLs.

Each image is previewed inline. When you click Download, the browser fetches the image, converts it to a blob and saves it with a clean filename; if the fetch is blocked it falls back to opening the image so you can save it manually. Sizes that a particular video never generated (commonly maxres for older uploads) return an error and are hidden automatically, so you only see thumbnails that actually exist.

Who Is This For

A creator studying the thumbnail style of top-ranking videos in their niche before designing their own.

An editor pulling a high-res thumbnail to use as a reference frame or comparison in a review video.

A social manager grabbing a video’s thumbnail to build a link preview or carousel post.

A researcher archiving thumbnails to track how a channel’s branding changes over time.

How to Use

Copy a YouTube video link (watch, youtu.be, Shorts or embed) or its 11-character ID

Paste it into the box — the video ID is detected automatically

Preview every available thumbnail resolution

Click Download to save an image, or copy its direct URL

Frequently Asked Questions

Paste the video URL or ID. The tool shows the maxresdefault (1280×720 HD) image plus SD, HQ and MQ sizes. Click Download on the resolution you want — it saves the JPG straight from YouTube’s image CDN.

Yes. It parses watch?v=, youtu.be/, /shorts/, /embed/ and /live/ URLs, and also accepts a bare 11-character video ID.

Not every video has a 1280×720 upload — older or low-resolution videos may only expose HQ (480×360) and below. The tool automatically hides sizes that do not exist for that video.

Completely free with no signup. The video ID is parsed in your browser and thumbnails load directly from YouTube’s CDN — WOWHOW never stores anything.

Thumbnails are copyrighted by their video owners. Use them for reference, analysis or fair-use commentary — do not re-upload someone else’s thumbnail as your own.