Link formats this page accepts
youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID— extra parameters such as&t=or&list=are ignoredm.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID— the mobile hostyoutu.be/VIDEO_ID— the short link, with or without?t=youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID— the embed linkyoutube.com/shorts/VIDEO_IDyoutube.com/live/VIDEO_IDyoutube.com/playlist?list=…&v=VIDEO_ID— thev=video is used- A bare 11-character video ID, e.g.
dQw4w9WgXcQ
Two kinds of link are recognised but cannot produce a thumbnail: a playlist link without a v= video, and any channel link (/@handle, /channel/…, /c/…). Neither has a single thumbnail of its own. The page tells you so instead of guessing.
Thumbnail sizes
YouTube serves a fixed set of thumbnail files per video. Which of them exist depends on the video itself. This page asks the image server for each one, and lists only the files that came back with HTTP 200 — then measures the pixels of the file it received. The size on each card is the real one, not an assumed one.
| File | Measured size | Availability |
|---|---|---|
maxresdefault.jpg | 1280 × 720 | Highest file offered. Missing on many older uploads. |
hq720.jpg | 1280 × 720 | Present on the videos we tested. |
sddefault.jpg | 640 × 480 | Present on recent uploads, missing on some old ones. |
hqdefault.jpg | 480 × 360 | The one file essentially every video has. |
mqdefault.jpg | 320 × 180 | 16:9 crop. |
default.jpg | 120 × 90 | 4:3 crop, smallest file. |
Measured on 2026-09-21 against four public videos (dQw4w9WgXcQ, 9bZkp7q19f0, kJQP7kiw5Fk, jNQXAC9IVRw) by downloading each file and reading its header. Nothing in that set measured 1920 × 1080. If YouTube serves a larger file for the video you paste, the card shows that larger number — the card is never filled in from this table.
WebP versions of these files exist on YouTube's image host, but they are served without CORS headers, so a browser page cannot reliably check whether one exists or hand it to you as a file. Rather than list a format it cannot verify, this page lists the JPG set only.
How it works
- The video ID is read out of the link you paste.
- Each thumbnail file is requested from
img.youtube.com. YouTube answers missing resolutions with HTTP 404 plus a grey 120 × 90 placeholder image, so the status code — not the picture — decides what is listed. - Every file that came back is decoded in your browser and measured. Two files with identical pixel dimensions are listed once.
- Download saves the bytes the page already fetched; Copy link puts the direct
img.youtube.comURL on your clipboard.
No upload, no account, no history, no batch queue. Your link never leaves the browser tab except for the two requests above.