YouTube thumbnail safe zones
YouTube draws things on top of your thumbnail. If your face, product or headline sits underneath, viewers never see it. Here's what gets covered and where to keep the important stuff.
Updated 2026-10-14
What YouTube puts on top of your thumbnail
- Duration badge — bottom-right corner on almost every surface. Never put text or a face there.
- Watch progress bar — a red line along the bottom edge for videos a viewer has partly watched.
- Hover and menu icons — "Watch later", "Add to queue" and the three-dot menu appear top-right or beside the card on desktop.
- Live and premiere labels — badges in the corners for live streams and premieres.
The Shorts crop
Shorts are shown in a tall 9:16 frame. If you design a wide 16:9 image, only the centre strip survives. Keep the subject and any text in the middle third. Use the Shorts thumbnail tool to see the 9:16 crop of any video.
A simple safe-zone rule
- Design at 1280×720 (16:9).
- Leave the bottom-right corner empty — roughly the last fifth of the width and height.
- Keep a small margin along the bottom edge for the progress bar.
- Put the face and the main words in the centre or left side.
- If it might appear in Shorts, check that the centre strip still tells the story.
Check it before you upload
Drop your image into the Thumbnail Preview tool. It shows the duration badge, feed, search, sidebar, mobile and Shorts layouts so you can spot covered text in seconds.
Test your thumbnail before you publish
See it in real feed, search, mobile and Shorts layouts. Free, no signup.