Thumbnails and ad budgets

    Sort the assets and the budget before you publish.

    Save any video's thumbnail in every size YouTube holds, and work out CPM, spend or impressions for a campaign when one of the three is missing.

    Explore Tools

    YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

    Extract and download high quality YouTube video thumbnails instantly in all available resolutions.

    Popular

    CPM Calculator

    Calculate cost per 1000 impressions and optimize advertising spend.

    How It Works

    Two utilities for the unglamorous parts of running a channel or a campaign: grabbing a video's thumbnail in every size YouTube offers, and finding the missing number in your ad costs.

    Reference material and ad maths for people who publish

    YouTube Thumbnail Downloader

    Paste a watch link, a youtu.be link, a Shorts link or just the 11-character video ID. The YouTube Thumbnail Downloader lists every resolution YouTube holds for that video, and you can download any of them or copy the direct image URL. There is no login and no API key.

    The largest size, 1280 by 720, only exists if the video was uploaded at 720p or higher. For older or lower-resolution uploads it simply is not there, and the High Quality version is the best you can get.

    Creators use it to back up their own thumbnails and to study what works in their niche, such as colour, text placement and face framing. Thumbnails belong to the people who made them, so use someone else's for reference rather than republishing it without permission.

    CPM Calculator

    CPM is the cost per 1,000 impressions, calculated as total cost divided by impressions, times 1,000. The CPM Calculator works in either direction. Give it a budget and impressions to get your CPM, a CPM and budget to see how many impressions you can buy, or a CPM and impressions to find the budget you need. Choose USD, INR, EUR or JPY.

    Reading CPM in context

    CPM changes with platform, audience and season, so there is no universal good number. A low CPM is not automatically a win, because cheap impressions in front of the wrong audience still cost you. Compare CPM next to click-through and conversion results, and when you compare campaigns, do it on the same basis so the numbers mean the same thing.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Common questions about our free creators tools and calculations.

    Downloading a thumbnail for personal reference, backup of your own work or analysis is generally fine. The image is still copyrighted by whoever made it, so do not use another creator's thumbnail in your own videos or commercial projects without their permission.

    YouTube only generates the 1280 by 720 maximum resolution thumbnail when the video was uploaded at 720p or higher. For older or lower-resolution videos that file does not exist, so the tool hides it and you should use the High Quality version instead.

    No login, account or YouTube API key is needed. Paste any public video URL, a Shorts URL or the video ID and the tool builds links to YouTube's public image servers. Shorts often have different aspect ratios, but the thumbnails come from the same place. Because the images are loaded from YouTube, your video link is used to request them.

    CPM stands for cost per mille, meaning the cost of 1,000 ad impressions. The formula is total cost divided by total impressions, multiplied by 1,000. If you spent 500 and got 200,000 impressions, your CPM is 2.50. The calculator also solves for the missing value when you know the other two.

    Not necessarily. A cheap CPM can still deliver the wrong audience. CPM prices impressions, CPC prices clicks and CPA prices a completed action such as a sale or sign-up. Most campaigns use all three: CPM to get noticed, CPC to bring people to your site and CPA to judge whether the spend paid off.