How to get HQ youtube thumbnails?

Question

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/0.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/1.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/2.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/3.jpg

That works for small thumbnails.

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/mqdefault.jpg

That works for HQ but only 1 image. Question is how to get 4 HQ thumbnail images?

possible duplicate of [How do I get a YouTube video thumbnail from the YouTube API?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2068344/how-do-i-get-a-youtube-video-thumbnail-from-the-youtube-api) — Salman A, Nov 12 '14 at 06:57

score 158 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

158

Are you referring to the full resolution one?:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault.jpg

I don't believe you can get 'multiple' images of HQ because the one you have is the one.

Check the following answer out for more information on the URLs: How do I get a YouTube video thumbnail from the YouTube API?

For live videos use https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault_live.jpg

- cornips

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Oct 08 '12 at 19:38

Nate-Wilkins

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Thanks for the asnwer, but the link you gave to me is just for 1 maxresdefault.jpg image, how can i get 3 others in that high res? – Alexander Kim Oct 08 '12 at 19:43
I'm pretty sure you can't. Besides getting the other ones – Nate-Wilkins Oct 08 '12 at 19:44
So there's only one high res thumbnail? – Alexander Kim Oct 08 '12 at 19:45
Yea, not sure if the api can though. Looking into it a bit. Edit: I only found 1 highres thumbnail for the specified video id. – Nate-Wilkins Oct 08 '12 at 19:47
damn, i need 4 thumbnails (300x300 aprox), any advice? – Alexander Kim Oct 08 '12 at 19:49
hmm look farther into the API not sure if they'd have exactly what your looking for but that would be the place that would have it. Besides that I'm out of information haha good luck @Heihachi! – Nate-Wilkins Oct 08 '12 at 19:55
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The maxresdefault thumbnail does not always exist. – Salman A Nov 12 '14 at 06:58
is there any way to get thumbnail from audio file – Harsha Mar 24 '15 at 11:55
This does not work for me. I tried: http://img.youtube.com/vi/tadyoeSn2xE/maxresdefault.jpg – Name is Nilay Apr 09 '15 at 07:39
@NameisNilay I suspect that is because your video is only available at 360p resolution. – AllInOne Jun 01 '15 at 19:22
How can we check if the max resolution thumbnail is available?? – Rohit Nair Jul 04 '18 at 07:01
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For live videos use `https://img.youtube.com/vi//maxresdefault_live.jpg` – cornips Jul 12 '18 at 10:00

score 26 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '18 at 11:28

26

YouTube resolutions and images

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<video-id>/<resolution><image>.jpg

Resolution
- lowest resolution
sd - Standard Definition
mq - Medium Quality
hq - High Quality
maxres - MAXimum RESolution

Image
default - Default image (1, 2, 3 shot from video, or custom uploaded)
1 - First shot from video
2 - Second shot from video
3 - Third shot from video

answered Jul 13 '18 at 11:28

vacsati

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This works. I don't understand why isn't this the accepted answer. No answer really provided that info which the question was is really about. WEIRD. What am I missing? for example, this works just fine: `http://img.youtube.com/vi//hq3.jpg` – Ibrahim Mohamed Oct 22 '19 at 16:05

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 17 '16 at 10:04

12

You can simply get HQ youtube thumbnails..

http://img.youtube.com/vi/YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID/hqdefault.jpg

answered Feb 17 '16 at 10:04

Chandra Kumar

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What's the difference between "maxresdefault.jpg" and "hqdefault.jpg"? I've noticed that while "maxresdefault.jpg" seems more commonly used, YouTube videos often don't have a "maxresdefault.jpg", but they usually have a "hqdefault.jpg". – Neil Hillman Mar 31 '17 at 11:06
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Just noticed that (depending on the format thought) "hqdefault.jpg" adds black borders on top and bottom, whereas "maxresdefault.jpg" doesn't.. – Alchem Apr 13 '17 at 08:20
also maxres can be bigger than HQ. – My1 Jun 08 '17 at 09:42

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 23 '18 at 07:47

Depending on the resolution you need, you can use a different URL:

Default Thumbnail

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/default.jpg

High Quality Thumbnail

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/hqdefault.jpg

Medium Quality

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/mqdefault.jpg

Standard Definition

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/sddefault.jpg

Maximum Resolution

http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault.jpg

Note: it's a work-around if you don't want to use the YouTube Data API. Furthermore not all videos have the thumbnail images set, so the above method doesn’t work.

Maciej Bledkowski · Answer 5 · 2021-10-13T06:18:00.680

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You need to get id from:

youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

And put it in:

i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg

I hope that I helped :D

edited Oct 13 '21 at 06:18

answered Dec 16 '18 at 01:26

Maciej Bledkowski

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How to get HQ youtube thumbnails?

5 Answers5