Many people want to set the video thumbnail to something different than what Google picks for you. Here is how to do it.
You need to pull a screenshot or frame grab of your footage. It has to be under 2mb and should be at least 1280×720.
YouTube has a good support article that I will quote from here.
If your YouTube account is verified and in good standing (no copyright strikes), you may have the ability to upload custom thumbnails for your video uploads.
How to uploading custom thumbnails
Start the standard video upload. At the bottom of the info page you will see a choose a Custom thumbnail under the “Video thumbnails” section. Pick your thumbnail and it will upload. Sometimes this doesn’t work so stay on the page until you see the correct thumbnail.
To upload a custom thumbnail for an existing video:
- Go to your channel Video Manager.
- Locate a video and click the Edit button.
- Click the Custom thumbnail button and upload a thumbnail.
- Once the thumbnail is uploaded, don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button.
Google recommends that your thumbnail be as large as possible and having a resolution of 1280×720 (with minimum width of 640 pixels). The thumbnail needs to be uploaded as a JPG, GIF, BMP, or PNG. And it needs to be smaller than 2MB.
I teach a course about getting more subscribers and views on YouTube by using the tools Google gives you. One of the sections of the course goes into depth on how to pick and create the best thumbnail that converts. Check out my YouTube course here.
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I’m not seeing a Custom thumbnail button. I only see three images with the option Set as thumbnail.