Thumbnail Maker
A real canvas editor in your browser: start from a template or a blank 1280×720, add outlined text and shapes, drop in a photo and cut its background out locally, then export a file that is verified to decode and to fit under your platform's size limit. No account, no watermark, no uploads.
Editor
Templates — deterministic layouts, not AI (instant, free, private)
Click a layer to select it. Drag to move; use the round handles to resize and the top grip to rotate. Arrow keys nudge (Shift = 10px), Delete removes, Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y undo and redo.
Export
The export is re-decoded and dimension-checked before the download appears, and the real byte size is shown — never an estimate.
Everything runs on your device — verifiably
The entire editor is client-side: the canvas, the templates, the undo history, the autosave (this browser's localStorage), and — unusually — the background removal. The subject cutout runs Google's open-source MediaPipe selfie-segmentation model inside your browser, from model files this site hosts itself. Your face never leaves your browser. That is a checkable claim, not a slogan: open DevTools, watch the network panel while you edit and cut out a photo, and you will see no image bytes leave the page. The methodology page documents the model version, its Apache-2.0 license, and the exact security-policy change that running it required.
Templates, honestly: deterministic layouts, not AI
The 10 starting layouts — Shock, Versus, Tutorial, Drama, Listicle, Reaction, Before / After, Gaming, Minimal, Question — are what the industry calls "emotion presets", built the honest way: as fixed templates of generated primitives (gradients, outlined display text, arrows, badges, and clearly labeled photo slots). No AI generates them, and that is a feature. They load instantly, they are identical every time, they cost nothing to run, and no prompt or image is sent anywhere. Their descriptions tell you what each layout does — big outlined text that survives shrinking, one subject, high value contrast — and never promise click-through rates, because layouts don't guarantee clicks and anyone who says otherwise is selling something.
Exports that respect real platform limits
The default export cap is 2 MB because that is YouTube's upload limit from mobile — the one number that works everywhere — and the higher verified caps from our size guide (2 MB, 10 MB, 50 MB) are offered with their platform labels. For JPG, the maker binary-searches encode quality until the file fits under your cap, shows the real byte size, and tells you when even minimum quality cannot fit. Every export is re-decoded and dimension-checked before the download button appears — the same decode-verify rule the downloader applies to YouTube's files.
Three fonts, self-hosted, openly licensed
Impact text needs a heavy face: the maker ships 3 — Archivo Black for punch, Inter for clean small text, Baloo 2 for a rounded look. All are SIL Open Font License releases, served from this site (no fonts CDN, so your font choice can't be tracked), with versions and license texts pinned in the repository and summarized on the methodology page.
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo uploaded for the background removal?
No. The cutout runs on a segmentation model (Google’s open-source MediaPipe selfie segmenter, Apache-2.0) that this site hosts itself and your browser executes locally. Your face never leaves your browser — you can verify in DevTools that no image bytes are transmitted; the methodology page shows how.
Are the templates AI-generated?
No, and that is deliberate. The 10 templates (Shock, Versus, Tutorial, Drama, Listicle, Reaction, Before / After, Gaming, Minimal, Question) are deterministic layouts built from generated primitives — gradients, outlined text, arrows, badges, labeled photo slots. Because they are plain data, they load instantly, work offline once the page is cached, cost nothing, and involve no prompt going to any server.
Will these layouts increase my click-through rate?
Nobody can honestly promise that, and we don’t. The templates encode legibility habits — big short text with hard outlines, one clear subject, value contrast that survives shrinking — and the descriptions tell you what each layout does. Whether a given design earns clicks is decided by publishing it, not by a tool.
What sizes can I design and export?
Three platform canvases: YouTube — 1280×720; Shorts / Reels / TikTok — 1080×1920; Instagram post — 1080×1080. Exports are capped at a size you choose — 2 MB by default, because that is YouTube’s mobile-upload limit and the one number that works everywhere; the 10 MB (podcast) and 50 MB (desktop) caps documented on our size guide are available too. JPG exports step quality down automatically until the file fits.
PNG or JPG?
The maker recommends per design, honestly: photos compress far better as JPG (and thumbnails need no transparency); flat text-and-shape graphics stay crisper as PNG. If a PNG exceeds your cap, the tool says so and suggests JPG rather than silently shipping an oversized file.
Where is my design saved?
In this browser’s localStorage, automatically, as versioned JSON. Close the tab and come back — it restores. If the saved data is ever corrupted, the editor says so and starts fresh instead of crashing. Nothing is stored on a server.
Design responsibly: use photos you have rights to. The maker's engine — document model, transform math, history, templates, and the export planner — is pure, tested code documented on the methodology page.