How do I get a YouTube video thumbnail from the YouTube API?

user_241654 0
Viewed 1911692

If I have a YouTube video URL, is there any way to use PHP and cURL to get the associated thumbnail from the YouTube API?

youtube-data-api youtube-api youtube curl php
32 Answers

Each YouTube video has four generated images. They are predictably formatted as follows:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/0.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/1.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/2.jpg
https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/3.jpg

The first one in the list is a full size image and others are thumbnail images. The default thumbnail image (i.e., one of 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg) is:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/default.jpg

For the high quality version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/hqdefault.jpg

There is also a medium quality version of the thumbnail, using a URL similar to the HQ:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/mqdefault.jpg

For the standard definition version of the thumbnail, use a URL similar to this:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/sddefault.jpg

For the maximum resolution version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault.jpg

All of the above URLs are available over HTTP too. Additionally, the slightly shorter hostname i3.ytimg.com works in place of img.youtube.com in the example URLs above.

Alternatively, you can use the YouTube Data API (v3) to get thumbnail images.

user_1663390

You can use YouTube Data API to retrieve video thumbnails, caption, description, rating, statistics and more. API version 3 requires a key*. Obtain the key and create a videos: list request:

https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?key=YOUR_API_KEY&part=snippet&id=VIDEO_ID

Example PHP Code

$data = file_get_contents("https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?key=YOUR_API_KEY&part=snippet&id=T0Jqdjbed40");
$json = json_decode($data);
var_dump($json->items[0]->snippet->thumbnails);

Output

object(stdClass)#5 (5) {
  ["default"]=>
  object(stdClass)#6 (3) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(46) "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T0Jqdjbed40/default.jpg"
    ["width"]=>
    int(120)
    ["height"]=>
    int(90)
  }
  ["medium"]=>
  object(stdClass)#7 (3) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(48) "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T0Jqdjbed40/mqdefault.jpg"
    ["width"]=>
    int(320)
    ["height"]=>
    int(180)
  }
  ["high"]=>
  object(stdClass)#8 (3) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(48) "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T0Jqdjbed40/hqdefault.jpg"
    ["width"]=>
    int(480)
    ["height"]=>
    int(360)
  }
  ["standard"]=>
  object(stdClass)#9 (3) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(48) "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T0Jqdjbed40/sddefault.jpg"
    ["width"]=>
    int(640)
    ["height"]=>
    int(480)
  }
  ["maxres"]=>
  object(stdClass)#10 (3) {
    ["url"]=>
    string(52) "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T0Jqdjbed40/maxresdefault.jpg"
    ["width"]=>
    int(1280)
    ["height"]=>
    int(720)
  }
}

* Not only that you need a key, you might be asked for billing information depending on the number of API requests you plan to make. However, few thousand requests per day are free.

Source article.

user_870150

If you want the biggest image from YouTube for a specific video ID, then the URL should be something like this:

http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/SomeVideoIDHere/0.jpg

Using the API, you can pick up the default thumbnail image. Simple code should be something like this:

//Grab the default thumbnail image
$attrs = $media->group->thumbnail[1]->attributes();
$thumbnail = $attrs['url'];
$thumbnail = substr($thumbnail, 0, -5);
$thumb1 = $thumbnail."default.jpg";

// Grab the third thumbnail image
$thumb2 = $thumbnail."2.jpg";

// Grab the fourth thumbnail image.
$thumb3 = $thumbnail."3.jpg";

// Using simple cURL to save it your server.
// You can extend the cURL below if you want it as fancy, just like
// the rest of the folks here.

$ch = curl_init ("$thumb1");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_BINARYTRANSFER,1);
$rawdata = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

// Using fwrite to save the above
$fp = fopen("SomeLocationInReferenceToYourScript/AnyNameYouWant.jpg", 'w');

// Write the file
fwrite($fp, $rawdata);

// And then close it.
fclose($fp);
user_5508420

You can get the Video Entry which contains the URL to the video's thumbnail. There's example code in the link. Or, if you want to parse XML, there's information here. The XML returned has a media:thumbnail element, which contains the thumbnail's URL.

user_1876970

YouTube is serving thumbnails from 2 servers. You just need to replace <YouTube_Video_ID_HERE> with your own YouTube video id. These days webP is best format for fast loading of images due to small image size.

https://img.youtube.com https://i.ytimg.com

Examples are with https://i.ytimg.com server just because it’s shorter, no other particular reason. You can use both.

Player Background Thumbnail (480x360):

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/0.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/0.jpg

Video frames thumbnails (120x90)

WebP:
Start: https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/1.webp
Middle: https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/2.webp
End: https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/3.webp

JPG:
Start: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/1.jpg
Middle: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/2.jpg
End: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/3.jpg

Lowest quality thumbnail (120x90)

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/default.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/default.jpg

Medium quality thumbnail (320x180)

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/mqdefault.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/mqdefault.jpg

High quality thumbnail (480x360)

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/hqdefault.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/hqdefault.jpg

Standard quality thumbnail (640x480)

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/sddefault.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/sddefault.jpg

Unscaled thumbnail resolution

WebP
https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/maxresdefault.webp

JPG
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YouTube_Video_ID_HERE>/maxresdefault.jpg
user_27279930

You can get the video ID from the YouTube video url using parse_url ,parse_str and then insert in to the predictive urls for images. Thanks to YouTube for the predictive URLs

$videoUrl = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zy7wGbQgfw";
parse_str( parse_url( $videoUrl, PHP_URL_QUERY ), $my_array_of_vars );
$ytID = $my_array_of_vars['v']; //gets video ID

print "https://img.youtube.com/vi/$ytID/maxresdefault.jpg";
print "https://img.youtube.com/vi/$ytID/mqdefault.jpg";
print "https://img.youtube.com/vi/$ytID/hqdefault.jpg";
print "https://img.youtube.com/vi/$ytID/sddefault.jpg";
print "https://img.youtube.com/vi/$ytID/default.jpg";

You can use this tool to generate YouTube thumbnails

https://youtube-thumbnail-tool.com

user_5107540

I think there is a lot of answers for thumbnail, but I want to add some other URLs to get YouTube thumbnail very easily. I am just taking some text from Asaph's answer. Here are some URLs to get YouTube thumbnails:

https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/default.jpg

For the high quality version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:

https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/hqdefault.jpg

There is also a medium quality version of the thumbnail, using a URL similar to the high quality:

https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/mqdefault.jpg

For the standard definition version of the thumbnail, use a URL similar to this:

https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/sddefault.jpg

For the maximum resolution version of the thumbnail use a URL similar to this:

https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault.jpg
user_63108900 
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<--Video ID-->/default.jpg

Image Size Weight 120px Height 90px

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<--Video ID-->/mqdefault.jpg

Image Size Weight 320px Height 180px

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<--Video ID-->/hqdefault.jpg

Image Size Weight 480px Height 360px

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<--Video ID-->/sddefault.jpg

Image Size Weight 640px Height 480px

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<--Video ID-->/maxresdefault.jpg

Image Size Weight 1280px Height 720px

user_145854220 
    function get_video_thumbnail( $src ) {
            $url_pieces = explode('/', $src);
            if( $url_pieces[2] == 'dai.ly'){
                $id = $url_pieces[3];
                $hash = json_decode(file_get_contents('https://api.dailymotion.com/video/'.$id.'?fields=thumbnail_large_url'), TRUE);
                $thumbnail = $hash['thumbnail_large_url'];
            }else if($url_pieces[2] == 'www.dailymotion.com'){
                $id = $url_pieces[4];
                $hash = json_decode(file_get_contents('https://api.dailymotion.com/video/'.$id.'?fields=thumbnail_large_url'), TRUE);
                $thumbnail = $hash['thumbnail_large_url'];
            }else if ( $url_pieces[2] == 'vimeo.com' ) { // If Vimeo
                $id = $url_pieces[3];
                $hash = unserialize(file_get_contents('http://vimeo.com/api/v2/video/' . $id . '.php'));
                $thumbnail = $hash[0]['thumbnail_large'];
            } elseif ( $url_pieces[2] == 'youtu.be' ) { // If Youtube
                $extract_id = explode('?', $url_pieces[3]);
                $id = $extract_id[0];
                $thumbnail = 'http://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $id . '/mqdefault.jpg';
            }else if ( $url_pieces[2] == 'player.vimeo.com' ) { // If Vimeo
                $id = $url_pieces[4];
                $hash = unserialize(file_get_contents('http://vimeo.com/api/v2/video/' . $id . '.php'));
                $thumbnail = $hash[0]['thumbnail_large'];
            } elseif ( $url_pieces[2] == 'www.youtube.com' ) { // If Youtube
                $extract_id = explode('=', $url_pieces[3]);
                $id = $extract_id[1];
                $thumbnail = 'http://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $id . '/mqdefault.jpg';
            } else{
                $thumbnail = tim_thumb_default_image('video-icon.png', null, 147, 252);
            }
            return $thumbnail;
        }

get_video_thumbnail('https://vimeo.com/154618727');
get_video_thumbnail('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwU0I7_5Cmc');
get_video_thumbnail('https://youtu.be/pbzIfnekjtM');
get_video_thumbnail('http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5thjyz');
user_15183890

This is my client-side-only no-API-key-required solution.

YouTube.parse('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3DGwyl0mJQ').then(_ => console.log(_))

The code:

import { parseURL, parseQueryString } from './url'
import { getImageSize } from './image'

const PICTURE_SIZE_NAMES = [
    // 1280 x 720.
    // HD aspect ratio.
    'maxresdefault',
    // 629 x 472.
    // non-HD aspect ratio.
    'sddefault',
    // For really old videos not having `maxresdefault`/`sddefault`.
    'hqdefault'
]

// - Supported YouTube URL formats:
//   - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8
//   - http://youtu.be/My2FRPA3Gf8
export default
{
    parse: async function(url)
    {
        // Get video ID.
        let id
        const location = parseURL(url)
        if (location.hostname === 'www.youtube.com') {
            if (location.search) {
                const query = parseQueryString(location.search.slice('/'.length))
                id = query.v
            }
        } else if (location.hostname === 'youtu.be') {
            id = location.pathname.slice('/'.length)
        }

        if (id) {
            return {
                source: {
                    provider: 'YouTube',
                    id
                },
                picture: await this.getPicture(id)
            }
        }
    },

    getPicture: async (id) => {
        for (const sizeName of PICTURE_SIZE_NAMES) {
            try {
                const url = getPictureSizeURL(id, sizeName)
                return {
                    type: 'image/jpeg',
                    sizes: [{
                        url,
                        ...(await getImageSize(url))
                    }]
                }
            } catch (error) {
                console.error(error)
            }
        }
        throw new Error(`No picture found for YouTube video ${id}`)
    },

    getEmbeddedVideoURL(id, options = {}) {
        return `https://www.youtube.com/embed/${id}`
    }
}

const getPictureSizeURL = (id, sizeName) => `https://img.youtube.com/vi/${id}/${sizeName}.jpg`

Utility image.js:

// Gets image size.
// Returns a `Promise`.
function getImageSize(url)
{
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) =>
    {
        const image = new Image()
        image.onload = () => resolve({ width: image.width, height: image.height })
        image.onerror = reject
        image.src = url
    })
}

Utility url.js:

// Only on client side.
export function parseURL(url)
{
    const link = document.createElement('a')
    link.href = url
    return link
}

export function parseQueryString(queryString)
{
    return queryString.split('&').reduce((query, part) =>
    {
        const [key, value] = part.split('=')
        query[decodeURIComponent(key)] = decodeURIComponent(value)
        return query
    },
    {})
}
user_9707690

Save this code in empty.php file and test it.

<img src="<?php echo youtube_img_src('9bZkp7q19f0', 'high');?>" />
<?php
// Get a YOUTUBE video thumb image's source url for IMG tag "src" attribute:
// $ID = YouYube video ID (string)
// $size = string (default, medium, high or standard)
function youtube_img_src ($ID = null, $size = 'default') {
    switch ($size) {
        case 'medium':
            $size = 'mqdefault';
            break;
        case 'high':
            $size = 'hqdefault';
            break;
        case 'standard':
            $size = 'sddefault';
            break;
        default:
            $size = 'default';
            break;
    }
    if ($ID) {
        return sprintf('https://img.youtube.com/vi/%s/%s.jpg', $ID, $size);
    }
    return 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/ERROR/1.jpg';
}

There are some thumbnails guaranteed to exist:

Width | Height | URL
------|--------|----
120   | 90     | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/1.jpg
120   | 90     | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/2.jpg
120   | 90     | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/3.jpg
120   | 90     | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/default.jpg
320   | 180    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/mq1.jpg
320   | 180    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/mq2.jpg
320   | 180    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/mq3.jpg
320   | 180    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/mqdefault.jpg
480   | 360    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/0.jpg
480   | 360    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/hq1.jpg
480   | 360    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/hq2.jpg
480   | 360    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/hq3.jpg
480   | 360    | https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<VIDEO ID>/hqdefault.jpg

Thanks.

user_5856260

Use img.youtube.com/vi/YouTubeID/ImageFormat.jpg

Here image formats are different like default, hqdefault, maxresdefault.

user_76515460

Although there are already many answers, but for new visitors I will leave mine with two options for obtaining a thumbnail.

Getting Thumbnail via YouTube Data API

  1. Register your app with Google Cloud Platform and activate YouTube Data API v3 library
  2. Create an API Key in the Credentials section. This way you will get a key to access the API
  3. And send a request for information about the video, including getting a thumbnail.
$api_key = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
$youtube_video_id = 'jNQXAC9IVRw';
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?key='.$api_key.'&part=snippet&id='.$youtube_video_id,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
    CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'GET',
)); 

$response = curl_exec($curl); 
curl_close($curl);

$response = json_decode($response,true); 

print_r($response); // result with video information and thumbnails

Getting a thumbnail from a direct link without an API

In addition to the API, thumbnails can be obtained via a direct link, like this:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jNQXAC9IVRw/hqdefault.jpg

Let's consider this option in detail:

 https://i.ytimg.com/vi/<YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID>/<SIZE_VALUE>.jpg

Where:

  • YOUTUBE_VIDEO_ID : Your video ID
  • SIZE_VALUE : Thumbnail size. The variable can contain such values: default, mqdefault, hqdefault, sddefault, maxresdefault
$youtube_video_id = 'jNQXAC9IVRw';
$size = 'hqdefault';

$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
    CURLOPT_URL => "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/{$youtube_video_id}/{$size}.jpg",
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
    CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'GET',
));
$response = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

// Write the file
$handle = fopen("image/filename.jpg", 'w'); // set your directory and filename
fwrite($handle, $response);
fclose($handle);
user_122963320

Here is a simple function I created for getting the thumbnails. It is easy to understand and use.

$link is the YouTube link copied exactly as it is in the browser, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ0mxQXmLsk

function get_youtube_thumb($link){
    $new = str_replace('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=', '', $link);
    $thumbnail = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $new . '/0.jpg';
    return $thumbnail;
}
user_74106630
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