Turn Text & Screenshots into Thumbnails
Start with a title, idea, or video screenshot and let AI handle the design. Instantly turn rough concepts into polished, clickable YouTube thumbnails—no Photoshop, no templates, no design skills required.
Make scroll-stopping YouTube thumbnails from text, screenshots, or your own photos with AI. Powered by Gemini / Nano Banana Pro, Media.io generates sharp 16:9 thumbnails for YouTube videos and 9:16 thumbnails for Shorts, all optimized for clicks, quality, and visibility—instantly and watermark-free.
Upload & Generate. Free credits on login.
Start with a title, idea, or video screenshot and let AI handle the design. Instantly turn rough concepts into polished, clickable YouTube thumbnails—no Photoshop, no templates, no design skills required.
Gemini and Nano Banana Pro automatically compose bold text, clean framing, and punchy colors so your thumbnail stands out in feeds and suggested videos, helping improve clicks and watch starts.
Generate the perfect aspect ratio for every upload—classic 16:9 for long-form videos and 9:16 for YouTube Shorts, Reels, and vertical content, all with consistent style across your channel.
Export high-quality, watermark-free thumbnails in just a few clicks. Drop them straight into YouTube, or reuse them across social posts, channel banners, and promo graphics.
| Style | AI YouTube Thumbnail Prompt (Copy & Paste) | 9:16 | 16:9 | Copy & Create |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Viral Creator Strategy Thumbnail
#nano banana pro
#high CTR
#viral thumbnail
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Create a top-performing, high-impact YouTube thumbnail inspired by the strongest elements of
“Nano Banana Pro”, “Secret Method”, and top creator thumbnails. Make both the person and the
headline the two dominant focal points.
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Create |
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Cinematic Fitness Thumbnail
#fitness
#cinematic
#gym content
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Create a clean yet high-impact cinematic fitness YouTube thumbnail from the uploaded image, styled
after top-performing fitness creators. Make the man extremely prominent—enlarge the subject so he
occupies 45–65% of the entire frame. Boost brightness, contrast, and clarity on his face and physique
so he becomes the main visual anchor. Keep his face, eyes, hair, and upper chest fully unobstructed
and sharply visible.
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Create |
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Music Creator / Beat Maker Thumbnail
#music creator
#studio vibes
#beat maker
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Create a high-impact, music-creator style YouTube thumbnail optimized for trending YouTube music /
studio / beat-maker content. Use the uploaded image as the main subject. Extract the person with a
clean cutout and apply a subtle outline stroke around them to help the subject stand out sharply — but
keep it tasteful and not cartoonish. Ensure the face and upper body of the subject remain fully visible
and unobstructed.
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Create |
Media.io’s AI Thumbnail Generator is built for YouTube creators—but it also works perfectly for Shorts, TikTok, Reels, and more. Choose the right size and aspect ratio for your content, and let AI handle the design.
| Platform | Recommended Size | Aspect Ratio | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
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YouTube Video
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1280 × 720 px | 16:9 | Standard YouTube video thumbnails, livestream covers, playlists. |
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YouTube Shorts
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1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Vertical covers for YouTube Shorts and Stories. |
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TikTok
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1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Video covers and thumbnails for TikTok feed and profile grid. |
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Instagram Reels
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1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Reels covers and vertical Story-style previews. |
|
Facebook Reels
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1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 | Vertical covers for Facebook Reels and short videos. |
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Livestreams & Other 16:9 Platforms
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1280 × 720 px or 1920 × 1080 px | 16:9 | Thumbnails for YouTube Live, webinars, and horizontal video platforms. |
Go to Media.io/ai → Image-to-Image and upload your video screenshot, face shot, or any base image you want to turn into a thumbnail. You can also start from a blank prompt if you don’t have an image ready yet.
Copy a ready-made AI YouTube thumbnail prompt from this page or describe your video (gaming, vlog, tutorial, reaction, review, Shorts, etc.). Gemini / Nano Banana Pro understands your style and builds a high-impact thumbnail automatically.
Click Generate and let the AI create a sharp, clickable thumbnail in 1280×720 (16:9) or 9:16 for Shorts. When you’re happy, download your HD, watermark-free thumbnail and upload it directly to YouTube.
An AI YouTube thumbnail generator creates thumbnails automatically from your text, screenshots, or photos. Instead of designing manually, you simply describe your video and the AI generates a ready-to-upload, click-optimized thumbnail in seconds.
Media.io uses Gemini / Nano Banana Pro to analyze your prompt or uploaded screenshot and design
a thumbnail with eye-catching text, colors, and composition. Just upload an image, type your
idea, click Generate, and download your finished thumbnail.
Media.io is built for beginners, creators, and small businesses — what used to take hours in
Photoshop now takes just a few seconds with AI.
Yes. Media.io supports both 16:9 and 9:16 formats.
Use 16:9 for regular YouTube videos, and 9:16 for YouTube Shorts, Stories, or other
vertical content.
You can design thumbnails for almost any creator platform:
16:9 → YouTube videos, livestreams, playlists
9:16 → YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok covers, Facebook Reels, and vertical Stories
As long as the platform uses horizontal or vertical covers, you can create matching thumbnails with AI.
Yes, you can create thumbnails using free daily credits. Downloads are HD and watermark-free, so you can publish them immediately to your channel without extra editing.
You can generate thumbnails for almost any niche, including:
– Gaming and livestreams
– Vlogs and lifestyle
– Tutorials and how-tos
– Reactions and commentary
– Education and tech reviews
– Cooking, finance, travel, and more
Just type a prompt describing the mood, style, and topic — or choose from the
ready-made thumbnail prompts on this page.
Gemini / Nano Banana Pro generate cleaner facial details, sharper text, better lighting, and stronger compositions. The result is thumbnails that look more professional and often achieve higher click-through rates. They also understand prompts more accurately, giving you higher quality, more reliable results compared to older or simpler AI models.