How to get HQ youtube thumbnails?

Alexander Kim picture Alexander Kim · Oct 8, 2012 · Viewed 142.8k times · Source
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/0.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/1.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/2.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/3.jpg

That works for small thumbnails.

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

That works for HQ but only 1 image. Question is how to get 4 HQ thumbnail images?

Answer

Nate-Wilkins picture Nate-Wilkins · Oct 8, 2012

Are you referring to the full resolution one?:

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

I don't believe you can get 'multiple' images of HQ because the one you have is the one.

Check the following answer out for more information on the URLs: How do I get a YouTube video thumbnail from the YouTube API?

For live videos use https://img.youtube.com/vi/<insert-youtube-video-id-here>/maxresdefault_live.jpg

- cornips