How to change your video thumbnail

Get your viewers to click play with a compelling thumbnail 🎯

The thumbnail image is the gateway to your video and the best way to entice viewers to click play.

For each video that you record or upload, you can select from a static or animated thumbnail (automatically chosen by Vidyard), or add your own custom thumbnail. 

• 🎯 Select a pre-generated static or animated .gif thumbnail
• ⬆️  Upload your own thumbnail image
• 📸  Take a picture with your webcam
• 🖼️  Select a new thumbnail from the video timeline

Choose a thumbnail for your video

1. Sign in to your Vidyard account, then select Library
2. Select a video from your library to edit its thumbnail
3. Scroll down to the Thumbnail section
4. Select one of the following thumbnail options:
   
   • • A pre-generated static or animated .gif thumbnail taken from your video (max of 10 seconds)
     • Add your own custom thumbnail

Add your own custom thumbnail

Prefer to use your own thumbnail image? No problem. You can add your own custom thumbnail to the video if you don't like the static or animated thumbnails that Vidyard chooses for you.

• Select Upload to use an image from your computer (.jpeg, .png or .gif, maximum 5MB in size). Vidyard will automatically resize the image to fit the video.
  
  
• Select Take a picture to use your computer's webcam and take a photo 
  
  
• Click on Select from Video to select a frame from the video timeline 

Select a thumbnail from your video

Use Select from Video to pick a frame from the video timeline as your new thumbnail. You can choose a static image or create an animated .gif from a segment of the video.

1. Under the Thumbnail section, click on Select from Video
2. Select the type of thumbnail you want (either Static or Animated)
   • Move the slider bar to select a frame from the video timeline
   • If you select Animated as the thumbnail type, click and drag the bars at either end of the video to frame the section that you want to turn into a .gif (10 seconds maximum)
3. Click Select to apply the thumbnail

Update your thumbnail preference

When you select the static or animated thumbnail for your video, Vidyard remembers your choice and updates it as your thumbnail preference.

Your thumbnail preference is used whenever you record a new video with the browser extension. That way, you don't have to open the edit page for each new video that you record to change the thumbnail image. Instead, your current thumbnail preference is automatically applied.

To change your thumbnail preference, go to the edit page for any video in your library, then choose either the pre-generated static or animated thumbnail options.

Change the thumbnail for a playlist

When you combine videos together in a playlist, the video thumbnail is taken from the first video in the list. To change the playlist thumbnail, you can either:

• a) Re-order the list to change which video occupies the first position
• b) Change the thumbnail of the first video in the list
  • • Select the title of any video in the playlist to edit its thumbnail

FAQ

How does Vidyard select images for the static and animated thumbnail?

When a new a video is added to your library, Vidyard automatically creates a static and animated thumbnail from the frames in the video.

The table below demonstrates how default thumbnail images are selected: