Thumbnails

  • A resource's snippet.thumbnails property contains an object, and each of these objects has properties such as default, medium, and high, which identify the different available thumbnail image sizes for that specific resource.

  • Thumbnail image sizes can vary significantly between different resource types (e.g., videos vs. channels), and even among resources of the same type, based on the resolution of the original uploaded content.

  • Each thumbnail image size object contains a url, width, and height property, but the width and height may not always be returned.

  • When a custom thumbnail image is uploaded, it's resized to match the required dimensions without changing its aspect ratio, which may result in black bars being added.

  • The thumbnails resource offers various image size options, such as default, medium, high, standard, and maxres, each with distinct resolutions to accommodate different display needs.

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 a video resource is typically 120px by 90px, and the default thumbnail image for a channel 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 a height 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.