Creator Guides
The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Thumbnail Sizes & Resolutions
Everything you need to know about maxresdefault, sddefault, hqdefault, mqdefault and when they are available.
The 5 Thumbnail Resolutions YouTube Stores
When a creator uploads a custom thumbnail to YouTube, Google's media pipeline generates several resized assets on their CDN (img.youtube.com / i.ytimg.com):
- maxresdefault.jpg (1280 x 720) - Full High Definition (HD). Only present if the original source upload met HD resolution criteria.
- sddefault.jpg (640 x 480) - Standard Definition thumbnail.
- hqdefault.jpg (480 x 360) - High Quality 4:3 preview.
- mqdefault.jpg (320 x 180) - Medium Quality widescreen preview.
- default.jpg (120 x 90) - Smallest fallback thumbnail.
Why does maxresdefault sometimes return 404?
Older YouTube videos or videos uploaded at 480p or lower often do not have a 1280x720 thumbnail generated. YTSnap dynamically verifies HTTP availability so you never download a broken or missing image placeholder!