Free · no signup · nothing uploaded
The feed shows image posts as a square, whatever shape you upload. Drop your image to see exactly what gets cropped and whether it passes YouTube's size and format rules.
Or drag it here. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded anywhere.
From YouTube's “Create a post” help page, plus one recommendation of ours, marked as such.
Most “community post size” guides argue about pixel dimensions. The thing that actually changes what viewers see is the ratio: the feed cuts everything to a centred square, and a landscape image loses almost half its width before anyone decides whether to click. Crop it yourself, keep the subject in the middle, and pixel size only has to be big enough to stay sharp when someone expands it.
Square. YouTube's own guidance is a 1:1 ratio because that is how the feed displays image posts; people only see the full image if they click it. There is no published pixel size, so export at 1080×1080 or larger, under 16 MB, as JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP.
Yes, but the feed will crop it to a centred square and cut about 44% of the width. A thumbnail with text at the sides loses the text. Either crop it to 1:1 yourself, choosing what stays, or put the important part in the middle third.
The 16 MB limit, the formats and the 1:1 suggestion are from YouTube's help page "Create a post". The 1080-pixel recommendation is ours: YouTube does not publish a minimum, and smaller images look soft on phones.
Yes, GIF is an accepted format and animation plays in the feed. The same 16 MB limit applies, which for a GIF is easy to hit; keep it short and small.
No. Your browser reads the file to measure it and draw the crop preview. Nothing leaves your computer and we keep nothing.
Posts are unavailable on channels set as Made for Kids, on supervised accounts, and currently in Germany. Access can also change with your channel role. If none of those apply, check YouTube Studio for a limit-reached message: there is a cap on posts per 24 hours.
YouTube thumbnail size checker — 1280×720, 16:9 and 2 MB checks, plus the safe-zone overlay.
YouTube thumbnail tester — see it in the feed, in search and on a phone next to real videos.
Built by Elevate — a community for people building faceless YouTube channels.