How To Get: YouTube Thumbnail Link (2024)

The quickest way to get a YouTube thumbnail’s URL: right-click it and select “Copy Link Address”.

Join us, and let’s see how to get the link of a thumbnail on both mobile and desktop devices.

What is a Thumbnail Link?

A thumbnail link on YouTube is a URL that directly leads to the image used as the preview or cover for a video — a.k.a. the thumbnail. Each YouTube video has a unique thumbnail link, which can be used to view or download the thumbnail image.

Related: What does ‘maxresdefault’ mean in thumbnail links?

How to get a YouTube thumbnail URL

1. Open YouTube: Go to the YouTube and find the video you want.
2. Copy the Video Link:
   • On PC, right-click the video and select “Copy video URL“.
   • On mobile, tap “Share” and “Copy link“.
3. Paste in the Thumbnail URL:
   • The URL format is https://youtu.be/watch?=VIDEO_ID
   • Modify this URL to get the thumbnail by changing it to https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg
4. Hit “Enter” to access it

This is the video ID we’re talking about:

• Copy that and put it in the other URL we’ve mentioned.
• Hit enter, and you’ll get the link for the thumbnail at its highest quality.

The method we’ve shown you is considered the manual way — it’s also a method that will never not work. It’s here to stay.

However, if you want an automated approach, check this out…

YouTube Thumbnail Link Generators

There are online thumbnail grabbers that help you get the thumbnail image — not the URL, but the image itself.

Most of them work this way:

1. Copy your video’s thumbnail
2. Paste it in the grabber (e.g. the tool’s website)
3. Download the thumbnail

Related: Thumbnail Download Tools.

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