Here's how you get thumbnail images from YouTube...
YouTube gathers a number of thumbnail images, by default, when a video is uploaded.
Users that upload videos now have the option of selecting thumbnail images which wasn't possible some time ago. There are many reasons why they would need
to access these thumbnails. Whatever the reason, I get asked often enough that I figured I'd share this info with you...
Here are the Thumbnails for the Video Above:
This is How I Got The Thumbnail Images from YouTube!
First off, YouTube keeps thumbs of all videos. These images are labeled according to the Video Id. The Video Id in the video above is b0okSCBqw18.
They keep 7 images as shown above. They are actually 4 unique screen captures that are used, formatted and sized for different purposes.
These images are saved by YouTube as follows:
hqdefault.jpg = High Quality Default - 480x360 pixels
mqdefault.jpg = Medium Quality Default - 320x180 pixels
default.jpg = General Default - 120x90 pixels
Their location is as follows: http://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/FILE_NAME
For example.... The first thumbnail at 120x90 is linked as:
<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/b0okSCBqw18/default.jpg" alt="Default Image" />
Try it for yourself over at MadeThis.info!