A thumbnail
resource identifies different thumbnail image sizes associated with a resource. Please note the following characteristics of thumbnail images:
- A resource's
snippet.thumbnails
property is an object that identifies the thumbnail images available for that resource. - A
thumbnail
resource contains a series of objects. The name of each object (default
,medium
,high
, etc.) refers to the thumbnail image size. - Different types of resources may support different thumbnail image sizes.
- Different types of resources may define different sizes for thumbnail images with the same name. For example, the
default
thumbnail image for avideo
resource is typically 120px by 90px, and thedefault
thumbnail image for achannel
resource is typically 88px by 88px. - Resources of the same type may still have different thumbnail image sizes for certain images depending on the resolution of the original image or content uploaded to YouTube. For example, an HD video may support higher resolution thumbnails than non-HD videos.
- Each object that contains information about a thumbnail image size has a
width
property and aheight
property. However, the width and height properties may not be returned for that image. - If an uploaded thumbnail image does not match the required dimensions, the image is resized to match the correct size without changing its aspect ratio. The image is not cropped, but may include black bars so that the size is correct.
Methods
The API supports the following methods for thumbnails
resources:
- set
- Uploads a custom video thumbnail to YouTube and sets it for a video.
Resource representation
The following JSON structure shows the format of a thumbnails
resource:
{ "default": { "url": string, "width": unsigned integer, "height": unsigned integer }, "medium": { "url": string, "width": unsigned integer, "height": unsigned integer }, "high": { "url": string, "width": unsigned integer, "height": unsigned integer }, "standard": { "url": string, "width": unsigned integer, "height": unsigned integer }, "maxres": { "url": string, "width": unsigned integer, "height": unsigned integer } }
Properties
The following table defines the properties that appear in this resource:
Properties | |
---|---|
default |
object The default thumbnail image. The default thumbnail for a video – or a resource that refers to a video, such as a playlist item or search result – is 120px wide and 90px tall. The default thumbnail for a channel is 88px wide and 88px tall. |
default.url |
string The image's URL. |
default.width |
unsigned integer The image's width. |
default.height |
unsigned integer The image's height. |
medium |
object A higher resolution version of the thumbnail image. For a video (or a resource that refers to a video), this image is 320px wide and 180px tall. For a channel, this image is 240px wide and 240px tall. |
medium.url |
string The image's URL. |
medium.width |
unsigned integer The image's width. |
medium.height |
unsigned integer The image's height. |
high |
object A high resolution version of the thumbnail image. For a video (or a resource that refers to a video), this image is 480px wide and 360px tall. For a channel, this image is 800px wide and 800px tall. |
high.url |
string The image's URL. |
high.width |
unsigned integer The image's width. |
high.height |
unsigned integer The image's height. |
standard |
object An even higher resolution version of the thumbnail image than the high resolution image. This image is available for some videos and other resources that refer to videos, like playlist items or search results. This image is 640px wide and 480px tall. |
standard.url |
string The image's URL. |
standard.width |
unsigned integer The image's width. |
standard.height |
unsigned integer The image's height. |
maxres |
object The highest resolution version of the thumbnail image. This image size is available for some videos and other resources that refer to videos, like playlist items or search results. This image is 1280px wide and 720px tall. |
maxres.url |
string The image's URL. |
maxres.width |
unsigned integer The image's width. |
maxres.height |
unsigned integer The image's height. |