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
- Sign in to your Vidyard account, then select Library
- Select a video from your library to edit its thumbnail
- Scroll down to the Thumbnail section
- 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
- A pre-generated static or animated
-
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.
- Under the Thumbnail section, click on Select from Video
- 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)
- Click Select to apply the thumbnail
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:
Recorded versus uploaded | How default thumbnail image is selected |
Recorded (via the browser extension, desktop app or mobile app) |
|
A file uploaded from your computer |
|
Can I have my videos default to a static thumbnail?
Vidyard videos start with an animated thumbnail by default, but you can change your video's thumbnail at any time. If you want your videos to default to a static thumbnail whenever you create them, please reach out to our Support team.