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How to Get Album Art from YouTube Music Videos

Sometimes a song only exists on YouTube — an obscure single, a live version, a regional release — and you want its artwork for your local library. Here are three honest methods, ranked from best to worst, plus the one thing you should try first.

Try this first: in most cases, the video thumbnail and the official album cover are the same image. Search the album on our free online tool or the cover sources list — you’ll usually find a higher-resolution version of the artwork without touching YouTube at all.

Method 1: Download the video thumbnail with yt-dlp

Every YouTube video has a public thumbnail image. The free, open-source tool yt-dlp can save just that thumbnail — no video download needed:

yt-dlp --write-thumbnail --convert-thumbnails jpg --skip-download "VIDEO_URL"

This writes the thumbnail as a JPG next to where you run the command. Thumbnails are typically 1280×720 (not square), so you may want to crop the center square before using it as cover art. This only fetches the publicly visible thumbnail — it does not download or convert the video’s audio.

Method 2: Screenshot a frame from the video

Pause the video on a clean shot of the artwork, go fullscreen, and take a screenshot. This works when the thumbnail isn’t the art (e.g. lyric videos where the cover appears mid-video).

Honest caveat: screenshot quality is mediocre — you’re capturing a compressed video frame, usually 720p at best, often with text overlays or motion blur. Fine as a placeholder, not as a keeper.

Method 3: Search for the album cover directly (recommended)

Nine times out of ten, the “YouTube-only” track belongs to an album whose cover is catalogued somewhere. Search the artist + album on:

A proper 1500px+ cover from these sources will always beat a 720p video thumbnail.

Then embed it in your files

Once you have the image, embed it in your MP3s with Mp3tag so the cover travels with the file — to your phone, your car stereo, everywhere. And check our size guide if you’re unsure what resolution to keep.

Copyright reminder: use downloaded artwork for your personal music library only — the same rule as everywhere else on this site. See is downloading album art legal?

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I save a YouTube video’s thumbnail as an image?
Install the free open-source tool yt-dlp and run: yt-dlp --write-thumbnail --convert-thumbnails jpg --skip-download "VIDEO_URL". This saves only the public thumbnail as a JPG, without downloading the video.
What resolution are YouTube thumbnails?
Typically 1280×720 (16:9, not square). That’s decent for a placeholder but lower quality than a real album cover — and you’ll need to crop the center square for most music players.
Is the video thumbnail the same as the album cover?
Often, yes — official music videos and YouTube Music uploads usually use the album artwork as the thumbnail. When they differ (lyric videos, fan uploads), search the album title directly on a cover art source instead.
Can I get album art from a YouTube video without downloading anything?
Yes: pause the video on the artwork frame and take a screenshot. Quality is limited (a compressed video frame), so treat it as a last resort — a proper cover from an archive will look much better.

Keep Going

Where to Find Album Covers7 free high-resolution sources.
Free Online Album Art DownloaderGrab a single high-res cover in your browser.
How to Add Album Art to MP3Embed covers so they show everywhere.

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