30+ Best YouTube Thumbnail Templates in 2021
With over 500 hours of video content being uploaded every minute, it’s now tougher than ever to build a successful channel on YouTube. Creating quality content is not enough, you also need to market your videos effectively to get more views.
Using high-quality video thumbnails is one of the best ways you can use to attract attention to your videos. Think of it like fancy packaging for your video content.
The thumbnail cover you use for your YouTube video is the first thing users see when browsing videos on YouTube or searching on Google. By using creative and descriptive thumbnail covers, you’ll have a higher chance of getting more clicks and views for your channel.
Big brand channels on YouTube have their own dedicated designers creating unique thumbnail covers for each video. But, you don’t have to spend any money on designers when you have YouTube thumbnail templates.
In this collection, we’re bringing you some of the best custom YouTube thumbnail templates you can use to create attractive thumbnail covers for all kinds of videos. Have a look.
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If you have a YouTube channel covering gaming-related content, this set of thumbnail templates will help you design covers for your videos that attract more views. It includes 4 different designs that you can edit with Photoshop.
The thumbnail templates in this pack are designed with gym and fitness YouTubers in mind. It includes 4 styles of thumbnail layouts you can use to create covers for tips videos, fitness training classes, and more.
This is a must-have set of YouTube thumbnail templates for travel vloggers. There are 3 colorful and creative thumbnail designs in this pack for crafting amazing covers for your videos. The templates come in both PSD and AI file formats.
Tech YouTubers and bloggers will find the templates in this bundle most useful. It includes 4 different layout designs that are perfect for making covers for your tech tutorials, guides, news videos, and much more.
This is a free YouTube thumbnail template you can use to create a high-quality cover for business and professional videos. It’s especially suitable for channels for brands and agencies.
The YouTube thumbnails in this bundle are designed specifically for fashion and beauty vloggers. It includes 4 stylish designs to make attractive cover designs for your trendy videos. The templates are fully customizable.
If you have a YouTube channel covering kid-friendly videos, this set of thumbnail templates will come in handy. The pack includes 4 creative thumbnail templates that will make your videos appear more colorful in the user feeds.
Whether you’re a business promoting services or an agency covering marketing trends, this set of templates will help make your videos look more professional on YouTube. It includes 10 different thumbnail templates in PSD, AI, and EPS file formats.
You can use the templates in this pack to create simple and clean thumbnails for your fitness-related videos. There are 4 different design layouts in the pack. You can edit them with Photoshop to change colors and edit text.
Another free YouTube thumbnail template featuring a simple and effective design. This template is most suitable for bloggers for making covers for their tips and tricks videos.
Lifestyle videos need clean and minimal thumbnail covers that describes what the video is all about. This bundle of YouTube thumbnail templates has designs that are perfect for any type of lifestyle video. It includes 6 thumbnail templates for travel videos, reaction videos, daily routine videos, and more.
Whether you’re making an unboxing video or teaching self-help tips, this set of YouTube thumbnail templates will surely be useful to you. It includes multiple thumbnail cover designs featuring modern layouts with beautiful colors and shapes. They are perfect for all kinds of channels from solopreneurs to big brands.
Tutorial videos are a big niche on YouTube. In fact, you’ll find thousands of videos on the same topic when searching for tutorial videos. With the help of these thumbnail templates, you’ll have a better chance of ranking higher on YouTube and getting more views. They are professionally designed for various types of tips, guides, and tutorial video content.
Fashion and beauty vloggers will find this collection of YouTube thumbnail templates quite useful as it includes several high-quality designs that are ideal for various types of videos. The templates are available in easily editable PSD files with organized layers.
If you have a YouTube channel for food or drink recipes, this multipurpose YouTube thumbnail template will help you design more attractive thumbnail covers for your videos. It’s fully customizable so you can change its images, colors, and text to your preference. The thumbnail also comes in 720p to 8K resolution PSD files.
This is a set of free YouTube thumbnail templates specially crafted for gaming content creators. It includes multiple video game-themed thumbnail templates featuring popular multiplayer games such as PUBG, Overwatch, and more.
Another free bundle of YouTube thumbnail covers. This pack also includes 2 thumbnail templates for gaming videos as well as 2 templates for other types of content. The templates are easily editable and come in a high-resolution PSD file.
One of the best thumbnail templates in this collection is for travel videos. The bundle is worth downloading just for that template. However, there are many other thumbnail designs in this pack you can use to create covers for different types of YouTube videos. All of the templates are available in Full HD resolution and comes in editable PSD files.
This is a collection of multipurpose YouTube thumbnail templates that includes 6 beautiful designs for crafting all kinds of video thumbnail covers. The templates feature colorful and creative designs that are most suitable for design, fashion, and even tutorial videos.
You can use the thumbnail templates in this bundle to create professional thumbnail designs for your business and brand videos. It includes 6 professionally crafted thumbnails that are perfect for podcasts, business trends, customer success stories, and much more.
Want to create an effective thumbnail cover for a photography video? Or make an attractive thumbnail for a morning routine fitness video? Then grab this YouTube thumbnail templates pack. It includes several stylish thumbnail designs you can use with various types of videos.
This creative YouTube thumbnail template is ideal for creating covers for outdoor, travel, and adventure videos. It’s especially useful for making thumbnail covers for event and conference videos as well as live streams. The template comes in 4 resolutions and in an editable PSD file.
This free thumbnail template is perfect for making a cover for a simple sports training or fitness video. It comes in EPS file format, which allows you to even edit and customize the tiny shapes in the template. You’ll need Adobe Illustrator or a vector editor to edit this template.
This creative and colorful thumbnail design is ideal for making a cover for a music mix video or a soundtrack video. The template is free to download and it comes in an easily editable EPS file. Don’t forget to attribute the author when using this free template.
If you’re looking for a YouTube thumbnail cover template with a retro old-school design, this bundle will come in handy. It features 6 different templates with classic designs with subtle colors. The templates are easily customizable and you can change the colors and fonts to your preference.
The beautifully stylish thumbnail templates in this pack are simply perfect for all kinds of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle videos. It includes 6 templates with fully customizable PSD files. They are available in Full HD resolution and with free Google Fonts.
This YouTube thumbnail template is most suitable for creating covers for videos related to cake, cupcakes, and sweets. It will especially look great on baking recipe videos. And it will surely attract the attention of anyone who loves sweets and treats.
If you’re creating fitness videos to promote your gym on YouTube, this thumbnail template will be quite useful to you. It comes with a simple design that helps you include more information in the thumbnail to promote your videos and the business. It comes in multiple resolutions as well.
A bundle of more creative YouTube thumbnail templates for gym and fitness videos. This collection includes 7 different thumbnail designs in editable PSD files. They feature different styles of layouts to help get more views to your videos. All the text, shapes, and colors in the templates are editable as well.
You’ll never run out of stylish thumbnail designs for your travel and tour videos when you have this bundle of YouTube thumbnail templates at your side. It includes 5 different styles of thumbnail designs that are perfect for your outdoor and travel vlogs.
Grab this free YouTube thumbnail template to create a cover for your gaming videos. This template is ideal for making game review videos as well as podcast videos. The template is free to use with attribution. You can edit it using Adobe Illustrator.
This free YouTube thumbnail template comes with a simple and clean design. It’s perfect for making covers for food recipe videos as well as food review videos. The template comes in EPS file format and with fully editable components. Make sure to attribute its author when using the free template.
5 YouTube Thumbnail Tips for Generating More Clicks
The main goal behind using a YouTube thumbnail template is to drive more clicks and views to your videos. These tips will help you achieve that goal.
Branding is an important part of creating a successful YouTube channel. If you look at any popular YouTube channel, you’ll see how they have a consistent look across its profile, including the channel cover and thumbnails.
The easiest way to create a consistent look in your YouTube videos is to use a thumbnail template. Use the same template across all your videos. This will make your videos stand out in search results and make your brand instantly recognizable.
If all YouTube thumbnails have one thing in common that’s the giant title. Every thumbnail now uses big bold titles that grab attention. These big titles help the audience easily understand what the video is about and get them to click on the link.
Make sure that you also use big bold titles in your YouTube thumbnails. And, more importantly, create good contrast between the background and the text.
When talking about the title design of YouTube thumbnails, we can’t ignore the importance of using a great font.
Use a premium font, if you can, for your YouTube thumbnail text. There are YouTube fonts you can find with various designs. Use the right font that fits your channel content and brand.
The thumbnail of a YouTube video is all about summarizing the contents of the video. And you need to do it while using a very few elements to avoid clutter and distraction.
As a rule, avoid using too many images in your thumbnail. Use just one close-up image or a cropped-out portrait if possible. Usually, images with faces that show various reactions tend to get the most clicks. This is why you see a lot of YouTube thumbnails with mouths wide open, among many other funny reactions.
Plan your YouTube thumbnail design in a way that arouses the user’s curiosity. You need to get them intrigued and excited to click the link and watch your video.
In addition to refining the design, colors, and layout of your thumbnail, you should also experiment with different copy for the titles to find what works best for your channel.