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.
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If you're using a computer: First, log in to your vidIQ account. Once you're in, you'll see a "Create" menu on the left. Then, click on "Thumbnails".
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Our Thumbnails feature gives you a few easy options to begin your thumbnail creation:

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:

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.

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:

If you want to make your thumbnail more dynamic: you can add faces, objects, or other elements that stand out and grab attention.

For example:

Note: Only JPEG and PNG images are recognized by the Thumbnails feature.

Use existing thumbnails to guide the thumbnails. Choose from:

The AI uses these references as inspiration to match styles, colors, and layouts while still keeping your content unique.
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Turn on Likeness to generate thumbnail options that already feature you. After you upload at least 5 photos, click on Continue and wait for vidIQ to create your likeness in a few minutes. Remember to check the Likeness toggle before generating your results, or you can create a new likeness if needed by clicking the upward pointing arrow next to the feature.

Once your photos are processed and your likeness created, you can use the feature with any prompt, with or without a video reference.

Upload tips (best results):

Once you’ve chosen your method, click "Create" and watch the magic unfold right in front of your eyes. We will generate three thumbnails based on your input for you to choose from.

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:

Refine, Select & Smart Commands: These tools allow you to easily edit your thumbnail. Just type what you want, and the AI takes care of the rest. You'll see three pre-filled Smart Commands related to your thumbnail to showcase possibilities and inspire your creativity. Choose one or use the input box to describe your preferred changes.

Alternatively, use the Select tool to highlight the area you want to change, then describe the adjustment you’d like in a brief prompt. Whether you want to brighten a section, blur a background, or recolor an object, the feature will carry out your edits. This works well for fine-tuning particular areas.

​Erase: Easily remove unwanted elements from your thumbnail while keeping the design seamless. You can adjust the eraser size for small details or bigger areas, and if you make a mistake, you can clear your edits instantly. When ready, click Erase to finalize the change, or select X to exit the tool without applying anything.

Text: The Text Tool allows you to add, edit, style, or rearrange text directly on your thumbnail:

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:

Copy prompt to clipboard: After refining or customizing your thumbnail, you can copy your final prompt to reuse it later. This is especially useful if you want to generate multiple thumbnails with a similar style or layout.

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:

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.

​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?
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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.

A great thumbnail starts before you click Create. Spend one minute setting the brief:

These tiny prep steps make the generation results dramatically more on-brief.

While the Thumbnails feature is designed to make thumbnail creation seamless, here are a few things to keep in mind: