The cover of a YouTube video, or preview, is the image that users of the platform see next to the title of the video. You can create it in any graphic editor.
As practice shows, people first look at the cover of the video and the caption on this picture (it can be made larger than the title next to it), and only then read its title. Therefore, the cover for the video should be noticeable and reflect its entire essence.
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What is a preview
Previews are images that, like book covers, viewers see before starting the video.
Videos on the channel, designed in the same style:
Most people look at the cover before even reading the title of the video, so a good picture will attract the attention of more viewers.
The cover must meet a number of criteria: be bright and loud, perhaps even shocking. Have readable text, match the theme and style of the channel, and not violate the requirements of the service.
What is it and who can insert it?
A preview is a video thumbnail in one picture. The image that the viewer sees before starting playback. Example ⇓
Once included in recommendations, videos are still subject to fierce competition.
Here the decisive factor is the design: title, preview, channel avatar. The main attention of the viewer is drawn to the preview, so it is necessary to select the image so that it interests the audience and conveys as accurately as possible what the video will be about.
A freeze frame most often does not give the best solutions, so before publishing a new video on YouTube, it is better to put a beautifully designed preview on it; there are ways to do this on both a PC and a phone.
To do this, several conditions must be met…….
Conditions allowing you to use the “preview” function:
1. Confirm your account.
2. Prepare the cover, edit the image.
3. Check if the selected picture complies with YouTube rules.
How to put a preview on a video
By default, YouTube asks you to choose one of three random frames from your video to use as your cover photo. This method has significant disadvantages:
- Random shots are rarely successful.
- They don't brighten the picture or use text or visual effects.
However, there is a way to gain more control over your thumbnails.
Only users with a verified account can upload images. To verify your account, you must go to www.youtube.com/verify and indicate your country and phone number. Within a few seconds you will receive an SMS with a code that you must enter to confirm the number.
To change the cover image of a YouTube video, go to Creator Studio and select Video Manager from the menu on the left.
Select a video from the list and click “Edit”.
On this page you select a frame or add your own icon.
The picture is installed.
How to put a picture as a video icon on YouTube
To put a picture as a preview, you need to perform the following algorithm of actions:
- Go to the video manager and click on the “Video” tab.
- Next to the video where you want to change the cover, click on the “Edit” button and in the drop-down menu click “Information and Settings”.
- After this, a menu will open in front of you where you can edit the selected video. To change the preview, click on the “Change Image” button, where several cover options are presented and you can upload your own.
- After this, the computer will prompt you to select a file.
- When it is successfully added, you need to wait a few seconds for the update and click on the “Save” button.
But if you want to change the video icon when it loads, you should not leave the page until the video is completely processed. When processing is complete, you can select available video icons from below or click on the “Custom Icon” button and select the prepared file on your computer.
After downloading, you need to click on the “Save” or “Publish” button.
This is interesting: Cool ideas for videos on YouTube
YouTube preview size
The recommended cover size for YouTube is 1280 x 720 pixels. Previews can be larger or smaller than the recommended size, as long as the aspect ratio is 16:9 and the minimum width is 640.
Follow the recommended YouTube preview sizes so that the image does not lose quality when reduced. Check in advance how the picture will look in a reduced size. Make sure all elements are easy to read.
Note! YouTube channel covers 2560 x 1440 and 2048 x 1152 are not the correct preview sizes for YouTube. These are the dimensions of the channel header banner.
How to add a preview on video hosting
Once you have a preview ready for your YouTube video, you need to add it to the future clip.
To do this, log in to Google and open the creative studio. Then:
- At the top next to your avatar there will be an icon for adding a new video. Click it to load the video;
- While uploading the video, you will be able to add a preview. The download button is at the bottom of the page. By clicking on it, Windows Explorer will open, where you need to select the finished image;
- The image file size should not exceed 2 MB. Immediately after downloading, the cover will appear in the corresponding window. And you can see what it will look like when you search on the YouTube page.
YouTube preview pictures
As a picture for a video on a gaming channel, you can take a screenshot from a computer game, or use ready-made pictures.
Cover images can be downloaded from our website. They are in thematic sections: minecraft, anime, boys, girls.
You can create an image either from scratch or using ready-made templates. On the Internet you can find a ready-made preview template for YouTube in PSD and edit it in Photoshop, replacing the background and text with your own. The easiest option is to use online editors.
Successful and unsuccessful examples of video previews
Your own picture can either attract the attention of a YouTube visitor or scare it away. To understand what not to do, here is a list of several not very successful examples of previews.
- Using text on top of an already poor quality picture. At the same time, it is simply impossible to read such text against the background.
- Using the same and not particularly high-quality icons for each video. Yes, the distinctive features of the channel should be present, but this does not mean that it is time to turn your channel into a “find ten differences” game.
- There is a downside when the previews, as well as the titles, are dissonant with the theme of the channel. Such previews do not add information individually, but together they turn the channel into a concrete mess.
Here is an example of high-quality previews that can attract attention:
- On a contrasting background there is a cut egg of obvious gigantic size and the enthusiastic emotions of the girls. Although the picture does not shine with quality, you can roughly understand the direction of the video from it and there is a desire to see what kind of miracle of nature this is.
- When you visit a new channel, you can see from the preview that the entertaining videos touch on sensitive topics that are quite interesting to a wide audience. The title of the video will be supplemented by the preview, and the preview will be supplemented by the title. Quality, contrast and nothing more.
You can put a preview on a video both while uploading a video to the channel, and later, on already uploaded videos. There is no time limit. Recommended parameters for photos are 1280x720 pixels and 2 MB size. It is advisable to initially set the aspect ratio to 16:9, otherwise the editor will crop it automatically, removing “extra” pieces of the photo from the field of view.
Cover photo on YouTube
People, inspired by popular video bloggers, upload home photos to hosting. Personal photos make the channel individual.
Example of photos on rollers:
You can use photos if they correspond to the content of the video. In addition, photographs must be of high quality and meaningful. You should not use selfies taken with the front camera of your phone.
You can use photos downloaded from the Internet if they are freely available and do not violate copyright.
What to choose for a YouTube channel logo
The channel logo is similar to an avatar on social networks and is displayed on YouTube and Google.
YouTube channel logos in search
A channel logo is important because it appears in more places on YouTube than any other design element.
Where the icon appears:
- search results on YouTube;
- channel page;
- comments on behalf of the channel;
- list of user subscriptions;
- list of recommended channels;
- list of related channels;
- "community" tab.
For many users, the logo will be the first contact with your channel, so you need to grab attention.
Channel logo image
The choice of image depends on the theme of the channel, the presence of speaking characters and the nature of the videos themselves.
What to choose for your YouTube channel avatar:
- Faces or characters
If this is the author's channel of one person whom the audience recognizes, you can use his photo. This creates a feeling of contact with the author, making him more sincere and open to the audience.
On the avatar of the “Speak English With Vanessa” channel, Vanessa placed a photo of herself with a friendly smile.
Channel icon with speaker photo
If the channel is a group channel and the authors appear in the video, you can put the entire group of people on the icon. For example, this was done by a family who runs a blog, “The ACE Family,” where they share videos from their lives. It would be strange to see only one of the family members or some kind of logo on the cover of a family lifestyle channel.
Family channel icon
The authors of the food channel “Viwa Food World” reflected the theme of the channel in their avatar, and showed themselves as they appear in each of their videos.
Channel icon with photos of authors
If the channel is dedicated to creativity, in which a recognizable character appears, then we recommend choosing him for the avatar. This is what Oleg Kuvaev, the author of cartoons about Masyanya, which air on the Masyanya Kuvaeva channel, did.
Logo with a recognizable character
It is worth putting images of video speakers and characters on the channel icon if they appear in the video, if the video was filmed from the perspective of a specific speaker. If the person in the avatar does not appear anywhere else, the user will likely have no connection between the channel and that person.
- Logo of a company, organization
The logo as a channel icon is used by many companies that develop their brand. This will make it easier for the user to go to your company’s channel if he is looking for it in a search, and to remember the logo if he often watches the video.
The channel icon under the video and comments is quite small, so if the entire logo does not fit into the avatar circle, select a recognizable part of it.
Fragment of the company logo on the channel icon Full company logo
- Related image
Some channels don't have a logo, so they use a third-party image on the topic. In this case, the picture should reflect the theme of the videos, attract attention and be different from competitors.
For example, DIY blogs often use bright colors and a light bulb to symbolize an idea. Such an avatar is unlikely to be remembered as a distinctive icon for your blog.
Creative channel icons
The Moslektory channel uses a yellow background with black dots for the icon. By itself, it doesn’t mean anything, but it is built into the overall design style and echoes the design of the site, so that users may have an associative connection between the site, the channel in the general list, and the lecture videos that they watch.
Icon in the general style of the channel
The channel avatar must not violate the rules and guidelines of the YouTube community, otherwise the channel will be blocked. The rules are described in the Help, they are standard: nudity, discrimination, disguise as another person, copyright infringement, content that encourages life-threatening actions, explicit images of cruelty, and more are not allowed.
Channel avatar size
The channel icon should be 800 x 800 pixels in size, with the edges cropped in a circle, so choose an image that will look good in a circle and in a 98 x 98 pixel thumbnail like the comment icon.
How to upload a new avatar: go to the “My Channel” section - “Customize the channel view”, edit the thumbnail.
Preview font
You can download a million fonts on the Internet with your own style and features. But not every font is suitable for the cover of a video or the header of a YouTube channel.
If you look at the bulk of covers, you will notice that most use bold sans serif fonts: Impact, Gotham Black, Helvetica Condensed Black and the like. Serif fonts such as Times New Roman should be avoided. Another category that doesn't fit is decorative fonts.
When choosing a font, pay attention to its readability against the background for the cover of a YouTube video. Don't choose a font that is too light and will be barely visible against the background. The text should be a color that contrasts with everything else. Please note that the preview will be reduced, so the text should occupy at least 1/3 of the image.
You should not place a large amount of text so that it does not crowd out the rest of the image elements. You can adjust the letter spacing in Photoshop to fit more text into the image.
Video cover templates
You can use ready-made cover templates for YouTube videos by changing the text, color, and image.
Remember that Russian fonts do not always match the beautiful fonts that are often used in Canva layouts. Still, the number of Cyrillic fonts is too limited. However, you can choose the right one among them.
Read about fonts in Canva and their editing in the article about FONTS.
So, we added the selected template. How can I change it?
All templates consist of individual elements, each of which can be edited. For example, in the template I have chosen, you can select and change the yellow corners, the photo itself and the font.
To learn about editing templates, read the article “ How to create a template, ” which describes in detail how to use layouts, how to move from layer to layer, etc. Here I will limit myself to demonstrating the results of the transformation
How to make a preview online
If you don’t know how to work in Photoshop or it’s not installed on your computer, you can create a cover for YouTube online using the free service Canva.com.
Create an account on this site and scroll down the main page to the “social networks and email headers” section. Select "YouTube Thumbnail". In the editor that opens, a number of ready-made layouts will appear to choose from, in which you can easily change the background and text, and then save the result to your computer.
You can find backgrounds for YouTube on the Internet by request that matches the theme of the channel.
How to create a picture for a YouTube video: step-by-step instructions
If you do not know graphic editors, you can create preview images using the Canva service.
Step 1. Go to the main page of the site: canva.com and activate a trial subscription (later you can cancel it and use the service for free).
Step 2. Template tab. Here you can choose a cover for your badge. The templates include special covers for YouTube on various topics. If you click on the “All” button, more designs will appear. There is no theme with animals here, so we will go below and find a suitable template from those proposed.
Scrolling below we saw pictures with animals; we’ll take the bottom picture with a dog as the basis for the preview.
To upload your image instead of the dog, you need to click on the “Downloads” tab and drag the image from your computer.
Step 3. Elements Tab. Here you can add an image for your cover. We had little space left in the image, so we decided not to overload the preview and did not add elements.
Step 4. Text tab. In this tab, you can add an inscription to your cover by selecting the font style, size and color. We left the template style, changing only the font size and shade.
Step 5. Background Tab. In this column you can select a background for your image. We selected the background of grass, which is associated with nature and animals. And so that it does not overlap the text, the inscription was raised a little higher.
Step 6. The preview image is ready for it to appear on your computer, click on the “Download” button. You can choose different image formats, but for uploading to YouTube it is better to use the first option.
After this, the picture will be saved to your computer. All that remains is to put it in the video.
Article on the topic: How to make a YouTube channel header
How to download
There are ways to download YouTube video cover to your computer. The simplest of them is to use a special service.
For example, the Thumbnailsave.com service will help you pull out previews from YouTube in a matter of seconds. You just need to copy the link to the YouTube video from your browser, go to Thumbnailsave.com and paste the link there. The image will be available for download in several resolutions.
Other ways to extract cover art in a short video:
You can use other people's previews for personal purposes. Under no circumstances should you download other people's covers for your videos, because this will be a violation of copyright, which will entail unpleasant sanctions from the video hosting site.
Ultimately, creating a cover for a video and uploading it to YouTube is not that difficult, and lack of Photoshop skills is not a problem at all. It is important to make the picture interesting and recognizable in order to attract as many viewers as possible.
Why is this necessary?
When the video is loaded, a variation of the cover will be proposed by the system automatically. Of course, you can accept and use it without hesitation, but it would be much better to create a special image with your own hands. Now let's explain why:
- A picture taken separately will correspond to the style direction. If the video blogger is not lazy and makes the cover himself every time he uploads, all previews will be designed in the same style. Visitors will definitely appreciate such efforts and the overall attractiveness of the channel.
- When creating your own images, you can only use high-quality images, which is definitely a plus. Since video hosting often offers users rather mediocre pictures. They can be unclear, blurry, and do not always reflect the essence of what is happening. And users first of all pay attention to the preview.
- It is possible to use several background images at once. To improve quality, you should make two backgrounds for the video cover. The background needs to be slightly darkened so that the emphasis can be shifted to the foreground. With automatic selection, it is impossible to achieve a similar effect.
- You can use inscriptions. So that visitors immediately grasp the meaning of the video when they first look at the picture, it’s a good idea to write out the keywords in a beautiful, eye-catching font. This move will have the best impact on the number of views.
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