To get thumbnails for any YouTube video, all you need is the video ID (the string after v= in the URL). YouTube automatically provides several thumbnail sizes for each video.

✅ Step-by-Step Guide
🔹 1. Find the Video ID
For a video like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
The video ID is:

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dQw4w9WgXcQ
🔹 2. Use the Thumbnail URLs
Replace VIDEO_ID in the following links:

Thumbnail Size	URL
Default (120x90)	https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/default.jpg
Medium (320x180)	https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/mqdefault.jpg
High (480x360)	https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/hqdefault.jpg
Standard (640x480)	https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/sddefault.jpg
Max Resolution (1280x720 or more)	https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg

📷 Example
For video ID dQw4w9WgXcQ:

High Quality Thumbnail:

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https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/hqdefault.jpg
Max Resolution (if available):

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https://img.youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg
⚠️ Note: Not all videos have a maxresdefault.jpg. If it doesn't exist, the image won't load or will appear blank.