How to Screenshot a YouTube Video
Paste a video link to grab the frame YouTube already uses as its thumbnail. For any other moment, pause the video and screenshot it, as shown below.
Paste a video link to grab the frame YouTube already uses as its thumbnail. For any other moment, pause the video and screenshot it, as shown below.
People search for how to screenshot a YouTube video for two different reasons, and the right method depends on which one you mean. Sometimes you want the picture YouTube already shows as the video's preview, the thumbnail. Other times you want a still of a specific moment in the video that is not the thumbnail at all. The first is a direct download; the second is a capture you make yourself. This guide covers both, starting with the fastest one. Paste a link above to grab the thumbnail image, or read on to capture any exact frame.
If you want the image YouTube uses as the thumbnail, paste the link above and download it, or read how to find a YouTube thumbnail. If you want one of YouTube's auto-generated candidate frames, open i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/1.jpg and try 1.jpg, 2.jpg, and 3.jpg. If you want a specific moment at full resolution, play to that point, pause with the K key, and use your system's screenshot tool.
The word screenshot gets used for both jobs, so it helps to separate them. A thumbnail is the one preview image attached to a video: either a custom image the creator uploaded, or a frame YouTube picked automatically. It sits at a fixed address like i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg, which is why a tool can fetch it in one click. A screenshot of a moment is any frame you choose while watching. YouTube does not host those as files you can request, so you capture them on your own screen. Knowing which one you need saves time: one is a download, the other is a capture.
Every video has three frames YouTube grabbed automatically, taken from roughly the start, middle, and end. They live at predictable addresses:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/1.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/2.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/3.jpgSwap VIDEO_ID for the 11-character ID in the video's link and open each one. When a creator has not set a custom thumbnail, YouTube usually promotes one of these frames to be the default thumbnail, which is the image the grabber above returns. The catch is size: 1.jpg, 2.jpg, and 3.jpg are only 120x90 pixels, fine as a quick reference but too small for anything printed or full-screen. The 0.jpg frame is larger at 480x360. For the full list of every stored file and its dimensions, see the thumbnail URL guide.
When the frame you want is not one of those three, capture it directly from the player. Play the video to the moment you want and pause it. On YouTube, the K key and the spacebar both pause and play, and while the video is paused the , and . keys step backward and forward one frame at a time, so you can land on the exact frame. Then use your operating system's built-in screenshot tool:
Windows Key + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool, then drag a box around the video.Command + Shift + 4 and drag to select the video area.Capturing just the video area keeps the file clean. If you grabbed the whole window, crop off the controls and any surrounding page in an image editor afterward.
A screenshot can only be as sharp as what you are watching, so set the quality first. Open the gear menu and pick the highest option the video offers, 1080p or 4K, then wait a second or two before you pause, because YouTube starts each video on a lower-resolution stream and upgrades it once the sharper version loads. Switch to theater or full-screen mode so the video fills your display and uses every available pixel, and move the mouse away so the on-screen controls fade before you press capture. If the still still looks soft, the cause is usually the playback resolution or an already low-quality upload rather than your screenshot; the same reasons a saved thumbnail can look fuzzy are covered in why a YouTube thumbnail looks blurry.
If your goal is the marketing image on the video, the one shown in search and the sidebar, that is the thumbnail: grab it above, or in the largest available size from the thumbnail grabber homepage. If your goal is a moment inside the video, a reaction, a diagram on screen, a specific scene, that is a screenshot you capture yourself with the steps above. And if you already have a still and want to know which video it came from, run it through a reverse image search instead. Whichever you save, remember it is the creator's copyrighted material; the thumbnail copyright guide explains where personal use ends and permission begins.
A thumbnail is the single preview image attached to a video, either a custom image the creator uploaded or a frame YouTube auto-selected. A screenshot is a picture of any moment you choose while the video plays. The thumbnail lives at a fixed image URL you can download directly; an arbitrary moment does not, so you capture it yourself by pausing and using a screenshot tool.
Only three specific frames are available as direct downloads: YouTube auto-generates candidate frames at i.ytimg.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/1.jpg, 2.jpg, and 3.jpg, taken from near the start, middle, and end of the video. They are small, only 120x90 pixels. For any other moment, or a full-resolution image, you pause the video at that point and take a screenshot.
Pause the video, then move your mouse off the player so the progress bar and buttons fade out before you capture. Use theater or full-screen mode so the video fills the frame, which removes most of the black bars, and crop any that remain in an image editor afterward.
They are the three candidate frames YouTube automatically grabs from every video, at roughly the start, middle, and end. When a creator does not upload a custom thumbnail, YouTube usually promotes one of them to be the default thumbnail. Each is 120x90 pixels, so they work as a quick reference but are too small for print or a full-screen image.
Set the quality to the highest available option, 1080p or 4K, in the gear menu before you pause, and wait a moment for YouTube to load the sharp version, because it starts with a lower-resolution stream. Go full screen so the video uses every pixel of your display, then capture. The screenshot can only be as sharp as the resolution you are watching at.
A screenshot of someone else's video is still their copyrighted material, the same as a downloaded thumbnail. Personal reference is generally fine, but publishing or reusing it can require permission or a valid basis such as fair use. When in doubt, credit the source and check our guide on YouTube thumbnail copyright.
Need the thumbnail rather than a frame? Paste the link above, or open the YouTube thumbnail grabber homepage.