AI thumbnail generator
Describe your video in a line, or add your own photo or a product shot, and get one 16:9 thumbnail made to read at a small size: one clear subject, a simple contrasting background and, if you write one, a short headline in big, thick letters kept clear of faces. Use it for tutorials, reviews, vlogs, cooking, travel and gaming videos.
Thumbnail examples created with GPT Image 2.5
How it works
Say what the video is about, who or what should be in the picture, and the colors and mood you want. Write the headline word for word in capitals, one to three words, or leave it out for a thumbnail with no text. Add your own photo or a product shot if it should be the subject.
Every run returns one 1K image in a 16:9 frame, 1376 × 768 pixels, and costs 8 credits. Words alone, a photo alone or the two together all work.
Read the headline one letter at a time, then look at the image at a small size, roughly as it will sit in a list of videos. If the subject or the words stop reading, adjust the prompt and generate again before you download.
What goes into each thumbnail
Write the exact words and they are set in large, thick lettering, placed in open space away from faces. Keep to one to three words, because longer headlines are more likely to come back with wrong letters. AI lettering can misspell, so check every letter. Write no headline and none is added, though a screen or sign in the scene can still show small words.
Add one photo of yourself and it is restaged for the thumbnail, aiming to keep you recognizable, rather than left as the original shot with words on top; compare the face with your photo, because the whole image is redrawn. A product shot becomes the subject in the same way. Use your own photo or one you have permission to use; there is no face swap.
Thumbnails are usually seen small, so the image keeps to one clear subject on a simple background that contrasts with it. It adds no play button, progress bar, channel name, view count or platform logo, and the only headline is the one you wrote.
Prompt ideas
Name the subject, the setting, one or two colors and the expression, then give the headline word for word in capitals, one to three words. Describe invented people and original game worlds rather than naming a celebrity, a creator, a game or a brand.
A guitar lesson thumbnail: a man in his fifties holding an acoustic guitar and smiling at the camera, plain warm orange wall behind him, headline THREE CHORDS in thick white letters with a dark outline on the right.
A review thumbnail: a woman in her forties beside an unbranded espresso machine on a kitchen counter, one eyebrow raised, soft cream background, headline BEFORE YOU BUY in thick red letters on the left.
A vlog thumbnail: a man in his thirties laughing as he carries a tall stack of cardboard boxes into an empty, sunlit apartment, pale green walls, headline MOVING DAY in big yellow letters across the top.
Ways to use it
Write a line about what the video shows, add the headline you plan to use, and you have a thumbnail to review before publishing, with no photo shoot to set up. Add a photo of yourself when the video is about you.
Reuse the same words for the background color, lettering color and framing on every episode, and change only the subject and the headline. Results still vary from run to run, but a shared description helps a series look related.
Try one headline over a close-up of your face, the product on its own and a wide shot of the setting, then keep whichever still reads when it is small. Each version is a separate run.
A thumbnail does not need a person in it. Make a dish, a tool, a product or a landscape the subject, or show someone from behind, like the HIDDEN LAKE example above.
This generator uses 8 credits for one 1K image. Membership credits work across YouArt image, video, audio, and workflow tools.
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Frequently asked questions
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