YouTube thumbnails

Add your video on the Media step and Deploy picks a cover frame for you. You'll find it under Choose a thumbnail.

1. Click the cover to open Edit cover. You can do this once the video has finished uploading.
2. Scrub to the frame you want. The arrows beside the scrubber step one frame at a time.
3. Select Add text for a title on top. Pick its font, color, pill background and drop shadow, and drag it where you want it.
4. Click Save cover.

Like a text style? Save it under Style templates and use it on your next video.

Already have a cover? Select Add your own under Choose a thumbnail, or drop the image on it. JPG, PNG and WebP all work. Your image becomes the cover right away.

To swap it, use Replace your own. To go back to a frame, click the cover and save one. Select Custom to switch back to your image.

Click Continue when you're happy with it. Deploy saves the cover with the video, so it's still there if you use the video again from your Library.

Posting several videos at once? In Advanced, select a video's row and choose Edit cover. It's the same editor.

Your cover goes to YouTube, where Deploy sets it as the video's custom thumbnail right after the video goes live. Covers for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are coming soon.

YouTube only lets a channel use custom thumbnails once it has verified a phone number. If your cover doesn't show up, verify your channel in YouTube Studio and set it there for that video.