This method allows you to tailor your thumbnail. You can go all out on design by adding titles, captions, icons, and choosing a background image that doesn’t appear in your video. This is a great italy phone number for whatsapp option if you want to add additional context to help people know what your video is about, or if you want to add stylistic elements that make your videos stand out, and if you want to create a cohesive aesthetic or visual branding to your videos so your profile looks the same.
If you want a polished design, use a design app like Canva or Adobe Spark. Or, an easy hack is to use TikTok’s photo upload feature to select an image from your camera roll, add text and effects as needed, and save it back to your camera roll.
Create your custom thumbnail and save it to the device where you’re uploading your TikTok.
In the video settings panel, select Edit cover
Select Upload and choose the thumbnail you’ve created from your camera roll
Hit Save, then hit Post to publish your TikTok
TikTok thumbnail size
TikTok thumbnail size is the same as a TikTok video: That means the TikTok should
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Using smaller 9:16 dimensions might impact the image quality.
Are custom TikTok thumbnails worth the effort?
Thumbnails can play a huge role in your video’s reception, depending on the platform you post on. YouTube thumbnails can make or break your video — in fact, the app has releases A/B testing on thumbnails to allow creators to optimize for the highest performing cover images. And on Instagram, where many users still strive for an aesthetic and cohesive grid, thumbnails are a big part of your overall look.
But if Instagram is the aesthetic app, TikTok is its younger, messier cousin. It has always felt highly individualized and sometimes chaotic, so users have come to expect a certain raw and authentic look to videos. Super polished images might actually hurt your video because they don’t match users' expectations for the app.
