(2024) Fixed: YouTube Thumbnail Has Black Bars

• You’ve uploaded a YouTube video;
• With a custom thumbnail (or auto-generated);
• But for whatever the reason, there’s black bars in the image.

This guide tells you exactly how to fix that.

Fix: How to Get Rid Of Black Borders on Thumbnails

To remove black borders, crop your thumbnail to 16:9 aspect ratio in PNG format — or create a new 1920×1080 PNG image to avoid YouTube’s resizing.

1. Open the Image in an Editing Tool: Use an image editing software like Photoshop, GIMP, or an online tool like Canva or Pixlr.
2. Select the Crop Tool: Most image editors have a crop tool.
3. Set the Aspect Ratio: Choose 16:9 — it’s the best format for thumbnails.
4. Adjust the Crop Area: Cut out the black borders from your image.
5. Apply & Save: Download your new image.

Why is YouTube Adding Black Bars to Thumbnails?

YouTube adds black bars to thumbnails to fit them into the standard 16:9 aspect ratio if they are uploaded in non-standard sizes.

But there could be one more reason — the JPEG file format.

1. Wrong Aspect Ratio

• YouTube thumbnails are meant to be in 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the same as most widescreen videos.
• If your thumbnail is a different size, like a square (1:1) or even a close-up from a 4:3 video, YouTube will add black bars to fit it into the 16:9 space.

2. JPEG Compression

YouTube’s compression can sometimes cause black bars to appear when uploading JPEG thumbnails.

Thank you for reading this,
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