How to Find Any YouTube Video's Thumbnail URL

Last Updated: January 2026 • 6 min read

Every YouTube video has a public thumbnail URL. Here's how to find it.

The URL Structure

• [VIDEO_ID] - The 11-character video identifier
• [QUALITY] - The resolution you want

Finding the Video ID

Standard URL

youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ → ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Short URL

youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ → ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Shorts URL

youtube.com/shorts/dQw4w9WgXcQ → ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Quality Options

Example URLs

For video ID dQw4w9WgXcQ:

• https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg
• https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg

Why maxresdefault Might Not Work

• Video was uploaded in low resolution
• No custom thumbnail was set
• Older video

Use hqdefault as a fallback.

Practical Uses

• Embedding in websites
• Email newsletters
• Social media posts
• Documentation

The Easy Way

Our YouTube Thumbnail Downloader does all this automatically. Just paste a URL!