Runs in your browser
Reel cover and thumbnail maker
Drop a video, step to the frame you want and pick what you need: a Reel cover, a TikTok cover, a Shorts thumbnail or a YouTube thumbnail. The tool crops the frame to the right shape, shows the square a Reel shows in the feed, and saves the frame at full size. The video stays on your device.
Drop a video to make a cover
It stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
How to make a cover or thumbnail from a video
Add your video
Drop a video in the box above, or choose the file. MP4, MOV and WebM videos work in most browsers.
Find the frame
Drag the bar under the video, or step one frame at a time with the arrows. Play the video to find the moment, then pause on it.
Pick the cover
Choose Reel cover, TikTok cover, Shorts thumbnail or YouTube thumbnail. The outline shows what stays in the image. When your video has another shape, move the crop with the slider. For a Reel cover, the dashed square is what the feed shows.
Make and download
Press the Make button. The tool reads the frame from the file at full size, not from the screen, and saves it as a JPEG or a PNG. It shows the size of the file next to the limits each app publishes.
Frequently asked questions
Is my video uploaded?
No. The tool reads the frame in your browser. Nothing is sent to Vidova or anywhere else.
What size is a Reel cover?
Meta's developer docs recommend a 9:16 JPEG of up to 8 MB in sRGB, and crop a cover of another shape to its middle 9:16 part. Instagram Help gives 420 × 654 pixels as the recommended size. The tool makes a 9:16 JPEG at the full size of your video, for example 1080 × 1920.
What does the feed square show?
Meta's developer docs say a Reel shared to the feed uses the middle square of its cover. Keep the title, the face and the product inside the dashed square, so they stay in view when the cover is cropped.
What size is a YouTube thumbnail?
YouTube Help asks for 3840 × 2160 pixels for videos and 2160 × 3840 for Shorts, as JPG or PNG. A video thumbnail must be at least 640 pixels wide. The file limit is 2 MB from a phone and 50 MB from a computer. You add a custom Shorts thumbnail in YouTube Studio on a computer.
Why is my thumbnail smaller than 3840 × 2160?
The tool saves the frame at the size of your video and never makes it larger, because a larger copy adds no detail. A frame from a 1080p video is 1920 × 1080. Export the video at 4K to get a 3840 × 2160 frame.
What size is a TikTok cover?
TikTok publishes no cover size. In the app you pick the cover from a frame of the video, and TikTok Studio on the web lets you select a cover image. The tool saves a 9:16 frame at the full size of your video.
JPEG or PNG?
JPEG makes a much smaller file. PNG keeps every pixel, and a 4K PNG can be larger than the 2 MB limit for thumbnails from a phone. A Reel cover is always a JPEG, because Meta asks for one.
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With a Vidova account
Vidova AI video editor
Want the whole video edited?
Describe it and Vidova does it. It opens in a new project in the editor, where you add your video.