YouTube content requires precise dimensions at each touchpoint — from the 1280×720 thumbnail that drives click-through rate to the 2560×1440 channel banner that spans every screen size. The YouTube preset generates correctly sized placeholders for every format so you can design and test layouts before the final assets are ready.
| Name | Dimensions | Description |
|---|---|---|
| thumbnail | 1280x720 | Video thumbnail — 1280×720 (16:9), the standard recommendation for maximum quality |
| channel_banner | 2560x1440 | Channel banner — 2560×1440, displayed at different crops depending on device |
| end_screen | 1920x1080 | End screen — 1920×1080 (16:9), used for subscribe buttons and video cards at the end of a video |
| shorts_cover | 1080x1920 | Shorts cover — 1080×1920 (9:16), the vertical cover shown in the Shorts feed |
YouTube thumbnails are the single biggest lever for click-through rate. The recommended 1280×720 size fills the feed slot on all devices, but the center 1235×338px area is the safe zone for text and faces after cropping. Channel banners display differently on TV (2560×1440), desktop (2560×423), tablet (1855×423), and mobile (1546×423) — designing with a placeholder at full resolution lets you verify the safe zone before uploading. End screens require a 16:9 canvas at 1920×1080. Shorts covers match the 9:16 ratio of the Shorts player.
Create thumbnail layout templates at 1280×720 in Figma or Photoshop before the video is filmed. Placeholder images let you test text placement, contrast, and cropping.
Upload a placeholder channel banner to verify that key content stays within the safe zone across TV, desktop, tablet, and mobile crops before committing to the final design.
Use placeholder images to storyboard end screen layouts and Shorts covers during pre-production, so the editing team knows exactly where CTAs and subscribe buttons will appear.
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