Free YouTube thumbnail maker: both shapes from one design.
Make both thumbnails
Layout
Words
Tone
Problems outnumber answers in a channel that grows. The accent is the only saturated thing in the frame, so it is where the eye lands.
Long video
1280 x 720Short
1080 x 1920Both files are rendered by the same route, so the pair always matches. YouTube keeps a separate thumbnail for a Short and does not accept the 16:9 one for it, which is why this gives you both rather than making you crop.
Related tools
Questions people ask before signing up
What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?
1280 by 720 for a normal video, which is 16:9, under 2MB. A Short wants 1080 by 1920, which is 9:16. Those are two different files and neither works in place of the other, which is why this renders both from one design rather than making you crop.
Can I set a thumbnail on a Short?
Yes, in YouTube Studio. The Data API writes the 16:9 thumbnail, and Shorts surfaces read a separate vertical slot that is set by hand, so download the 9:16 file here and upload it in Studio.
How is the picture made?
On this page the words are set as type, so they come out crisp, every change re-renders instantly and the page stays free. The AI thumbnail designer is the other way round. It draws the whole thumbnail, words included, from a description of the video, and each image spends one from your account's allowance, so changing a word means drawing again. Through Runsheet's MCP server a model can also draw only a background and have your words set over it as type by this same renderer, which spends an image for the background and nothing for each rewrite of the headline.
Do I see a drawn picture before it is used?
Yes, every time. Runsheet shows you each picture the image model draws and lets you redraw it, so the one that gets attached is the one you picked.
How many words should a thumbnail have?
Three or four. Most thumbnails are seen at about 120 pixels wide in a sidebar or on a phone, and past roughly six words the whole thing stops being read and becomes a shape. The tool tells you when a headline has crossed that line, and which word is costing you the most.
Why did my text get smaller when I added one word?
The longest word sets the type size for the whole headline, because it has to fit the frame without breaking. Swapping one long word for a shorter synonym makes everything else bigger. That is usually a better edit than shortening the sentence.
Does it avoid the bits YouTube covers up?
It keeps the bottom clear. YouTube puts a duration badge over the bottom right of a 16:9 thumbnail, and a Short gets the title, the channel name and a column of buttons along the bottom and right. Both shapes here keep their bottom margin clear for that, which is why the vertical one has more space under the type than looks necessary.
Do I need an account?
No. The previews have no limit and need no account, and you can download 2 a day without one. A free account raises that to 4 a day and needs no card. Only downloads are counted, one per file, so a thumbnail in both shapes is two, and the count resets at midnight UTC. What you type is not stored; a download without an account is counted against your IP address. Signing in also gets you the rest of the product: the posting schedule, the upload that attaches the thumbnail and the playlist in one pass, and the daily view curve.