YouTube Thumbnail: How To See in FULL SIZE (2024)

• You probably like a YouTube video’s thumbnail
• Want to see it at a higher resolution (larger size)
• Or you want to see it in full screen

This guide answers all questions.

Is there a Way to View YouTube Thumbnails?

Yes, there are 3 ways to view YouTube thumbnails in their full-size:

1. Copy the video’s ID → Paste in img.youtube.com/vi/YourVideoID
2. Use a Chrome Extension for thumbnails
3. Right-click > Open in New Tab

How to View YouTube Thumbnail in Full Size

The official way to view a large YouTube Thumbnail is to copy everything after “v=” in the video’s link and paste in this link:

img.youtube.com/vi/PasteHere/maxresdefault.jpg

This is the official way because it doesn’t require installing an extension or any 3rd party software.

Method #1: YouTube URL

1. Open a YouTube video
2. Click the Link/URL in the search bar
3. Copy everything after “v=”

Everything that comes after “v=” is the unique ID for the video.

• What next: you want to paste that in the link below.
• In our case: We’d paste this: “jgrXIfJTT2I“.

img.youtube.com/vi/PasteHere/maxresdefault.jpg

You should then see the thumbnail in full size:

There you go!

Now you can copy the video’s thumbnail at its highest-quality.

Method #2: Chrome Extension

For this example, we’re using View Youtube™ Thumbnail. The process is the same for any other extension:

1. Open the extension in Chrome Web Store
2. Click Add to Chrome
3. Find your desired YouTube Video
4. Right Click > Open YT Thumbnail

The thumbnail will now open in a new tab.

It’ll look like this:

Essentially: All extensions apply Method #1, but automatically. They do it in seconds so you don’t have to do all of this yourself.

Pretty cool, huh?

Method #3: Open in New Tab

1. Find a video
2. Right-click its thumbnail
3. Select Open Image in New Tab

The picture will open as requested.

One issue with this option: Thumbnail won’t open in full-screen, or at the largest quality. This is why we’ve ranked “Open in New Tab” as the last option.

That’s it.

Looking for High-Quality YouTube Thumbnails?

You might want to see a video’s thumbnail in full-size so you can properly look at it and get inspiration for your own thumbnails.

ThumbnailTest can help you figure out which thumbnail is best for your videos.

Here’s how it works:

1. Connect your YouTube channel
2. Upload 2 → 10 thumbnails
3. The tool sends Thumbnail #1 to a few users…
4. Thumbnail #2 for a few other viewers…
5. And so on
6. Whichever thumbnail’s performing best remains set for the video.

Conclusion

This guide studied the 3 most reliable ways to see a YouTube video’s thumbnail in full size.

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Thank you for reading this,
ThumbnailTest