Resize Image for YouTube

• Thumbnails are seen small: big faces and three or four words of large text work best.
• Avoid the bottom-right corner, where YouTube shows the video length.
• For banners, put everything important in the centre strip; TVs show the whole image, phones only the middle.

These are each platform’s recommended upload sizes, last checked in October 2026. Platforms accept other sizes too, but then crop or scale your image themselves.

• Crop to fill fills the whole frame and cuts off what does not fit. Drag the preview (or use the arrow keys) to choose what stays, and zoom in to frame tighter.
• Fit whole image keeps the entire photo and fills the gaps with a blurred copy of it or a solid colour. Use it for group photos, screenshots, artwork and anything with text near the edges.

Tick several sizes to download them all at once as a ZIP, for example a square post, a portrait post and a Story from the same photo.

• Start from the largest version of the photo. Enlarging a small image always looks soft; the tool warns you when that happens.
• Upload at exactly the recommended size, so the platform does not resize it again.
• Use JPG for photos and PNG for graphics with text. If a platform has a file size limit, use the image compressor afterwards.

• Letting the platform crop for you

  Upload a photo in the wrong shape and the app picks the crop, often cutting off heads or text. Crop it yourself first.

• Text too close to the edges

  Covers and Stories are cropped differently on phones and computers, and app buttons sit over the edges. Keep text and faces near the centre.

• Resizing an already small image

  A 400-pixel image enlarged to 1080 looks blurry. Find the original photo instead.