HD YouTube Thumbnail — Download the 1280×720 Cover
The 1280×720 cover: how to get HD, and what to do when it is missing.
Quick answer: HD means 1280×720, which YouTube publishes as maxresdefault.jpg (and, on many videos, an equivalent hq720.jpg). This page fetches them, checks that the pixels are real rather than a placeholder, and if the video has no HD cover it tells you what the biggest available size is instead of failing silently.
Nothing fetched yet. Paste a link above — the page reads only the public cover images and the video's public metadata, and it never touches the video file itself.
| HD size | 1280×720 — the resolution YouTube recommends when uploading a cover |
|---|---|
| Two URL twins | maxresdefault.jpg and hq720.jpg; either may exist when the other does not |
| Fallback order | maxresdefault → hq720 → sddefault 640×480 → hqdefault 480×360 |
| Upload limit (for your own covers) | 2 MB maximum, 16:9 recommended |
What this tool does
A 1280×720 image is what most people mean by “HD” for a thumbnail: it fills a full-width hero on a desktop page without upscaling, and it downscales cleanly to any smaller slot. YouTube stores it only for videos whose creators provided artwork that large, which is why HD is common on modern uploads and rare on a channel's back catalogue.
Common uses
- Download the HD cover of a recent video for a press or blog page
- Find out whether a channel's older videos have HD covers
- Get the best available frame when HD is missing
- Verify a cover's resolution before paying for a design that mimics it