Alex Ruben
How To Change Your YouTube Shorts Thumbnail in 2025
Changing the thumbnail of a YouTube Shorts in 2025 isn’t as straightforward as it used to be, and honestly, it’s a bit of a pain. If you’ve tried editing the thumbnail directly through the app, chances are you noticed that options are pretty limited. So, here’s the thing: the workaround is to embed your custom thumbnail into the video itself before uploading, and then select that frame after. Kind of weird, but that’s how it is right now.
Step 1: Prepare your custom thumbnail
Before even thinking about editing the Shorts on YouTube, you gotta make your custom thumbnail image. It needs to be 1280 x 720 pixels, otherwise YouTube might reject it or just not display it properly. Use any decent image editor and keep it simple but eye-catching. Just don’t go crazy with text or tiny details; it might get lost.
Step 2: Insert the thumbnail into the video
This is the annoying part: you need to use a video editor to embed that image somewhere in your video timeline. Because of course, YouTube doesn’t let you upload a custom thumbnail directly, unless you do some pre-editing.
Some popular options include free tools like Shotcut, DaVinci Resolve, or even simpler ones like CapCut. Import your video, add the image at the very start or end — whatever works — and export a new video file with that image embedded in it.
Really, it’s a workaround that seems fragile, but it’s what you gotta do if you want a custom thumb on a Shorts post.
Step 3: Upload the video with embedded thumbnail
Next up, upload your video (that’s now got your custom thumbnail in it) as a new Short. After it uploads, go to the YouTube Studio. Here’s how to get to the part where you can pick the thumbnail:
- Navigate to Content from the left menu.
- Find the Shorts video you just uploaded and click on it.
- In the right sidebar, click on Edit Video.
Step 4: Choose your thumbnail frame
Once you’re in the editing mode, hit the Pencil icon on the video preview, which opens the thumbnail options. If your video has the embedded image in the part you want, drag the *timeline slider* to that point. Usually, the frame with your custom thumbnail should be at the very start or wherever you placed it during editing.
On some setups it works the first time, on others, you might need to re-upload or reselect the frame. Not sure why it’s so inconsistent, but keep trying if it doesn’t work immediately.
Step 5: Save and finalize
Once you’ve got the frame highlighting your custom image, click Done. Then, hit Save in the editor to apply your changes. If everything lines up, your Shorts thumbnail should now be the frame you embedded in your video. Yeah, not perfect, but it’s what you got.
Extra tips & troubleshooting
One thing to watch for: make sure your custom image follows YouTube’s recommended dimensions — otherwise, it might get cropped or distorted when you select it in the editor. Also, if you can’t see the option to set a custom thumbnail after upload, double-check your upload process. Sometimes, YouTube only allows this after verified channels or certain account types.
And yeah, if your saved thumbnail doesn’t seem to update right away, give it a moment or try re-uploading. On some devices or browsers, the change can be a bit sluggish to show up.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a kludge, but if you want your Shorts to look professional with a custom thumbnail, embedding the image beforehand seems to be the only way. Not once has it been perfectly seamless — on one setup it worked, on another… not so much. Still, it gets the job done.
Summary
- Create a 1280×720 image for your thumbnail.
- Use a video editor to embed that image into your video before uploading.
- Upload the edited video as a Short on YouTube.
- In YouTube Studio, select the frame with your custom thumbnail during editing, then save.
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours for someone. Fingers crossed this helps.