4 Ways to Make Your YouTube Thumbnails Visible Again in Chrome

Get rid of missing or broken thumbnails issue on YouTube

by Loredana Harsana
Loredana Harsana
Loredana Harsana
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Loredana is a passionate writer with a keen interest in PC software and technology. She started off writing about mobile phones back when Samsung Galaxy S II was... read more
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Alex Serban
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After moving away from the corporate work-style, Alex has found rewards in a lifestyle of constant analysis, team coordination and pestering his colleagues. Holding an MCSA Windows Server... read more
Affiliate Disclosure
  • Your YouTube video thumbnails play an important role in the reception you get from your audience. 
  • They give your viewers an idea of what to expect when they click on your video and sometimes act as an appetizer for the things to come.
  • Issues such as internet speed, cached data on your browser, or simply not following YouTube's policies on thumbnails could affect how you see these thumbnails.
make your YouTube thumbnails visible again in Chrome
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Facing the issue of Chrome Youtube thumbnails not showing can be a little unnerving for you if you are trying to upload your content on YouTube.

If you are familiar with YouTube, you know that other than the title of the video, the thumbnail plays an important role in attracting viewers to your content, and the same can be said about how your page looks.

Like many YouTubers across the internet, you have probably spent a lot of time and resources creating content for your audience. 

The last thing you want happening is losing views because of this issue we are talking about. Your custom thumbnail is missing or not showing may occur on Chrome, Edge, or even Firefox as well.

We are going to explore why your thumbnails aren’t showing and what you can do to solve this issue.

Why are YouTube thumbnails not showing?

YouTube thumbnails not showing errors on Chrome may occur due to several reasons. These are:

  • Corrupted cache and cookies
  • Poor internet connection
  • Your browser is not compatible
  • YouTube is having some problems generating or loading thumbnails

There may be other reasons too. But, if you can ensure that the above reasons don’t exist, you will be safe from this type of issue.

YouTube Thumbnails are snapshots that represent your content. They give viewers an idea of what the video is about. 

There are 3 ways to add thumbnails to your video: 

  1. Through YouTube’s automatically generated thumbnails. 
  2. Use a custom-generated thumbnail if you have a verified account.
  3. Through the YouTube studio app on your mobile device. 

The size should be 1280×720 px with the JPG, GIF, or PNG formats. It should also be less than 2MB in size. If you choose the wrong size, the YouTube thumbnail does not show issues that may occur on platforms like Facebook and other social media.

YouTube also encourages users to try and maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio on all their thumbnails. 

Quick tip:

Chrome is known to use up quite a large amount of system resources, which can sometimes result in pages loading slowly and not being displayed correctly.

A well-performing alternative that is a perfect mix when it comes to ease of use, functionality, and privacy is Opera. It has a built-in ad blocker which can help load web pages faster as the task will not be hampered by annoying ads.

Opera

Opera is an excellent feature-rich, fast, and safe Chromium-based web browser compatible with YouTube and its tools.

How do I restore thumbnails on YouTube?

1. Check your internet speed

  1. Open your Google Chrome browser. 
  2. Go to this Speedtest page.
  3. Click on Run Speed Test and wait as the information on your internet speed shows up.ookla speed test chrome
  4. If your internet speed is slow, consider refreshing your internet and checking your thumbnails. 

2. Clear your browsing cache

  1. Open your browser.
  2. Press CTRL + ShiftDel on your keyboard.
  3. Choose All time as the time range.choose clear browsing data time range
  4. Check Cache images and files and then click on Clear data.metamask not showing balance

After that, go to YouTube and see if the thumbnails are still broken or not.

3. Use a YouTube Banner software 

If you are having problems creating a good thumbnail for your video, or if YouTube keeps rejecting your custom thumbnail, consider using YouTube banner software

There are several effective thumbnail makers on the internet today. 

These are professional tools that enable you to meet YouTube’s standards on thumbnails, allowing you to create content that is both visually appealing and acceptable. 

4. Use a YouTube thumbnail maker

Sometimes, the issue of Chrome YouTube thumbnails not showing won’t be your browser or the internet, but your thumbnails. 

It could be because your thumbnails don’t meet YouTube’s community guidelines or thumbnail policies for custom thumbnails.

When this happens, it is important to rely on a good thumbnail maker. This is usually a tool that allows you to create a visible thumbnail of the right size. 

Whatever you decide to have as a thumbnail, always ensure that you stay within YouTube’s policies regarding thumbnails. 

Also, make sure that your thumbnails are relevant and clear enough for your audience to get them to click on your video. 

This article has shown you how to fix YouTube thumbnail not showing problems on Chrome and other browsers, not only for particular videos but for playlists as well.

Feel free to share what method worked for you by using the comment section found below this article.

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