# Youtube Thumbnail Downloader (`devon_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader`) Actor

Get every thumbnail for any list of YouTube videos - bulk, all five sizes, existence-verified. Accepts full URLs, youtu.be, Shorts links or bare IDs. Returns direct URLs for each size that actually exists plus bestAvailable, with automatic fallback so nothing 404s. No API key or quota.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/devon\_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader.md
- **Developed by:** [Devon Kellar](https://apify.com/devon_gtme) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## YouTube Thumbnail Downloader — Bulk, All Sizes

Get the thumbnail for **any list of YouTube videos** — in bulk, in every size, **verified to actually exist**. Paste full URLs, `youtu.be` short links, Shorts/embed links, or bare video IDs, and get back clean, structured thumbnail data (and optionally the image files themselves).

### Why "verified" matters

YouTube thumbnails live at predictable URLs — but **`maxresdefault.jpg` does not exist for every video**. Older videos, low-res uploads, and many auto-generated videos 404 on it. Naive tools just construct the URL and hand you a broken link; your gallery or CMS then shows grey placeholder boxes.

This actor **checks every URL** and automatically falls back down the size ladder (maxres → sd → hq → mq → default), so `bestAvailable` is always a real, working image at the highest resolution that exists for that video.

### Sizes

| Size | Dimensions |
|---|---|
| `maxresdefault` | 1280 × 720 |
| `sddefault` | 640 × 480 |
| `hqdefault` | 480 × 360 |
| `mqdefault` | 320 × 180 |
| `default` | 120 × 90 |

Select one or several — you get every requested size that exists, plus `bestAvailable`.

### Use cases

- **Content curation & newsletters** — pull crisp cover images for the videos you feature
- **Video galleries & landing pages** — build thumbnail grids without a single broken image
- **CMS & blog imports** — bulk-fetch cover images when migrating or embedding video libraries
- **ML / computer-vision datasets** — collect labelled thumbnail images at known resolutions
- **YouTube tooling & analytics** — thumbnails for dashboards, competitor research, A/B swipe files

### What you get

One record per video:

```json
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "bestAvailable": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg",
  "bestAvailableSize": "maxresdefault",
  "bestAvailableWidth": 1280,
  "bestAvailableHeight": 720,
  "thumbnails": {
    "maxresdefault": { "url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg", "width": 1280, "height": 720 }
  }
}
````

- **Deleted / private / non-existent videos are skipped** — logged as a warning, never pushed to the dataset, so you're **never charged for them**
- Duplicate URLs are deduped automatically
- Turn on **Download images** to also save each thumbnail into the run's key-value store — each record then includes a direct `kvsUrl` you can hotlink or download

### Input formats accepted

- `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ`
- `https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ`
- `https://www.youtube.com/shorts/...`, `/embed/...`, `/live/...`
- Bare 11-character video IDs: `dQw4w9WgXcQ`

### Export & integrations

Results land in an Apify dataset — export **CSV, Excel, JSON**, or connect Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, Slack, and webhooks via Apify integrations.

No API key, no YouTube Data API quota, no login — thumbnails are served from YouTube's public image CDN.

***

**Need something more custom?** Channel-wide thumbnail pulls, video metadata (titles, view counts, durations) alongside the images, WebP variants, or a fully managed pipeline into your CMS — message me via my Apify profile and I'll build it.

# Actor input Schema

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

YouTube videos in any format: full URLs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...), short links (https://youtu.be/...), Shorts/embed/live links, or bare 11-character video IDs. One per line.

## `sizes` (type: `array`):

Which thumbnail sizes to return. maxresdefault = 1280×720, sddefault = 640×480, hqdefault = 480×360, mqdefault = 320×180, default = 120×90. Every URL is verified to exist — sizes that 404 are omitted and bestAvailable falls back down the ladder automatically.

## `downloadImages` (type: `boolean`):

When on, each existing thumbnail image is downloaded into the run's key-value store and the output includes a direct kvsUrl per size (plus one for bestAvailable). Leave off if you only need the URLs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0",
    "jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "sizes": [
    "maxresdefault"
  ],
  "downloadImages": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0",
        "jNQXAC9IVRw"
    ],
    "sizes": [
        "maxresdefault"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("devon_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
        "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0",
        "jNQXAC9IVRw",
    ],
    "sizes": ["maxresdefault"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("devon_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0",
    "jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "sizes": [
    "maxresdefault"
  ]
}' |
apify call devon_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=devon_gtme/youtube-thumbnail-downloader",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Youtube Thumbnail Downloader",
        "description": "Get every thumbnail for any list of YouTube videos - bulk, all five sizes, existence-verified. Accepts full URLs, youtu.be, Shorts links or bare IDs. Returns direct URLs for each size that actually exists plus bestAvailable, with automatic fallback so nothing 404s. No API key or quota.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "U46SGIzL74cXfAGFr"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/devon_gtme~youtube-thumbnail-downloader/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-devon_gtme-youtube-thumbnail-downloader",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/devon_gtme~youtube-thumbnail-downloader/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-devon_gtme-youtube-thumbnail-downloader",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/devon_gtme~youtube-thumbnail-downloader/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-devon_gtme-youtube-thumbnail-downloader",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "videoUrls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "videoUrls": {
                        "title": "Video URLs or IDs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "YouTube videos in any format: full URLs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...), short links (https://youtu.be/...), Shorts/embed/live links, or bare 11-character video IDs. One per line.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "sizes": {
                        "title": "Thumbnail sizes",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Which thumbnail sizes to return. maxresdefault = 1280×720, sddefault = 640×480, hqdefault = 480×360, mqdefault = 320×180, default = 120×90. Every URL is verified to exist — sizes that 404 are omitted and bestAvailable falls back down the ladder automatically.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "maxresdefault",
                                "sddefault",
                                "hqdefault",
                                "mqdefault",
                                "default"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "maxresdefault (1280×720)",
                                "sddefault (640×480)",
                                "hqdefault (480×360)",
                                "mqdefault (320×180)",
                                "default (120×90)"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "maxresdefault"
                        ]
                    },
                    "downloadImages": {
                        "title": "Download images to key-value store",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When on, each existing thumbnail image is downloaded into the run's key-value store and the output includes a direct kvsUrl per size (plus one for bestAvailable). Leave off if you only need the URLs.",
                        "default": false
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```