What is the vidIQ Thumbnails feature?
Creating professional-quality thumbnails is now easier than ever with our AI Thumbnail Maker. This new feature saves you time and effort, allowing you to focus on what you love most—creating content.
For the tutorial video, check out How to Use the vidIQ Thumbnail Maker Tool. In it, we break down how to use the Thumbnail feature and how it can help you.
How do you access the Thumbnails feature?
If you're using a computer: First, log in to your vidIQ account. Once you're in, click "More tools" in the left sidebar. Then, click on "Thumbnails".
Getting Started – Choose Your Starting Point
Our Thumbnails feature gives you a few easy options to begin your thumbnail creation:
Upload a Video
For the most accurate results, you can let the AI analyze your video to extract key visuals and create thumbnails aligned with your content.
You can:
Upload a video file directly.
Paste a YouTube link from your public or unlisted video.
Choose from recommended or trending public videos as inspiration.
Once selected, the AI will analyze the visuals to ensure your thumbnails represent your content effectively.
Pro Tip: Uploading a video gives the most accurate results since the AI can directly use visual elements from your content.
Text Input
If you don’t have the video ready, describe your ideal thumbnail. Use concise, descriptive sentences to get better, more accurate results. Here are a few short examples:
“A cat in a backpack with a mountain background and bold text.”
“A sunset beach with large title text that says ‘Meditation Guide.’”
Attach
To make your thumbnail more engaging, consider adding faces, objects, or other eye-catching elements using the Attach feature. You can also reference your videos or those of other creators for inspiration.
For example:
Adding your own photo to personalize the thumbnail.
Including specific objects like an iPhone, book, or roller coaster to highlight a topic.
Uploading multiple faces or objects to showcase reactions, emotions, or product features.
Providing reference videos or thumbnail references from YouTube videos.
Note: Only JPEG and PNG images are recognized by the Thumbnails feature.
Select Your Favourite Thumbnail
Once you’ve chosen your method, click "Create" and watch the magic unfold right in front of your eyes. We will generate one thumbnail based on your input for you to choose from.
Thumbnails availability depends on your plan and account setup. Free plans include a limited number of thumbnails per month, while higher-tier plans provide significantly more generation capacity.
If you want to edit, customize, or do more iterations of your thumbnail, you have a few tools available inside the Thumbnails feature after you click on the thumbnail you'd like to work on:
Text: The Text Tool allows you to add, edit, style, or rearrange text directly on your thumbnail:
Move text forward or behind other elements.
Choose from multiple styles and fonts available.
Duplicate or delete any text element if needed.
Image: Add images from your computer directly to your thumbnail or replace existing ones. These can include logos, screenshots, or other visual elements that help your thumbnail stand out.
Sticker: Highlight key parts of your thumbnail with stickers and visual markers. Arrows, highlights, and other elements are actually available to help point viewers toward the focus of your content, so feel free to adjust their position and opacity as well.
Face swap: Personalize your thumbnails by replacing or inserting faces:
Upload a clear bust-style image (shoulders and above) for best results.
Use the highlight tool to select the area or face you want to swap. You can also adjust the highlight size when selecting faces or objects for more precision.
The feature will seamlessly insert the uploaded face into the thumbnail.
Undo/Redo changes: If any of your manual changes didn’t hit the mark or you simply want to revert them, use the redo and undo buttons to go back.
If these buttons are grayed out, it means:
No manual changes were made.
Changes were made via Smart Commands. In this case, you would need to select a previous thumbnail from the preview gallery.
Download: Once you’ve completed your design, it’s important to save and download your thumbnail to ensure your work isn’t lost. Click the Download button to save your high-resolution thumbnail, optimized for YouTube.
FAQ of the Thumbnails feature
1. What file formats are supported for the “Start with a video” option?
MP4, MOV, and QuickTime files are supported.
2. I see a face or object I didn’t add. Why?
Faces and objects may automatically be suggested based on your existing video thumbnails. These suggestions are designed to give you quick access to relevant elements, but can be erased or replaced anytime.
3. Why is my subject rotated in the thumbnail?
This can happen if the original image contains orientation data from when the photo was taken. You can rotate the image before uploading, choose a different image, or manually adjust it after generating the thumbnail.
4. What are some tips to make my thumbnails stand out?
To create thumbnails that grab attention, keep your design clean and simple, focusing on one key message. Use high-contrast colors and large, bold text to ensure your title is readable even on small screens. Expressive faces or recognizable objects help make thumbnails more clickable, while testing different designs lets you find what performs best.
5. Why does my thumbnail look different from my prompt?
The Thumbnails feature sometimes interprets prompts creatively, which can lead to unexpected results. You can improve accuracy by providing more details, adding a reference thumbnail, or refining your design using Smart Commands.
6. Can I upload my own images or logos?
Yes! You can upload images, logos, or custom graphics to personalize your thumbnail. For best results, use high-resolution PNG or JPEG files.
7. Can I combine multiple tools when creating a thumbnail?
Absolutely. You can mix text, faces, objects, video analysis, and reference thumbnails to make your design unique. The more details you provide, the more tailored your result will be, but you can also keep it simple and just use one option.
8. Can I edit thumbnails after they’re generated?
Yes. Use the Refine & Smart Commands, erase elements, replace images, or edit text, stickers, and colors. You have complete flexibility to fine-tune your thumbnail before downloading it.
9. What should I do if I see the “Something went wrong – Try again” error after adding a subject image?
This error can appear for a few different reasons. One common cause is uploading the entire 16:9 frame (for example, a full video screenshot) as the subject image. In that case, the AI doesn’t detect a clear object or face to work with, and the generation may fail. To fix this, try cropping or uploading a distinct subject instead.
10. What’s the difference between Likeness and Face Swap?
Likeness is a toggle you use before generating. Your thumbnails are created with your face already in them (great for consistent branding across options). Face Swap is an after-generation edit that replaces a face in one specific thumbnail. If you want many options with you in them, choose Likeness; if you just want to put yourself into a single design you already like, choose Face Swap.
Friendly Tips for Creating Thumbnails
A great thumbnail starts before you click Create. Spend one minute setting the brief:
Focus on the promise of your thumbnail. What single idea should the image communicate at a glance? (e.g., “I tried X so you don’t have to”.)
Pick the emotion. Shocked, delighted, curious. Choose one and aim your face/objects toward it.
Gather assets. You should have a clear face photo (shoulders-up) if you want to use the vidIQ likeness features, any subject/product/scene images you want to include, and 2–3 example thumbnails you like to have as reference.
Draft 3–5 words of text. Keep it bold, high contrast, and complementary to your title (not a duplicate of it).
These tiny prep steps make the generation results dramatically more on-brief.
What are some limitations of the Thumbnails feature?
While the Thumbnails feature is designed to make thumbnail creation seamless, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Generated thumbnails may not always perfectly match your prompt, but you can refine them using Smart Commands or by uploading references.
Subject positioning can sometimes be unpredictable and may require manual adjustments.
Some customization options may vary depending on your subscription plan.
Image generation quality can depend on file resolution and available data, so clearer, high-quality inputs yield better results.