YouTube Experiments with Custom Thumbnails for Music Playlists

YouTube is testing a long-awaited feature for its music app: the ability to upload custom thumbnails for playlists. YouTube Music, widely popular and bundled with YouTube Premium, has been a go-to for music lovers, offering both official tracks and unique covers not found on other platforms. However, unlike its competitors like Spotify and Apple Music, YouTube Music has lacked a critical feature—custom playlist thumbnails. Until now, users had to rely on AI-generated images for their playlist covers.

This is set to change as YouTube Music has begun experimenting with the option to allow users to personalize their playlist thumbnails. According to a user on Reddit, who shared a screen recording, the feature seems functional on the YouTube Music web client. The video shows a new pencil icon that lets users upload an image from their device or library to use as the playlist thumbnail. Users can also remove or replace the uploaded image with ease.

Despite this exciting development, the feature has not been widely rolled out. Reports from 9to5Google suggest that the custom thumbnail option is not yet available to most users, apart from the one who shared the video. It’s possible that YouTube is still in the testing phase and has not launched the feature across the platform.

Though it remains unclear when or if the feature will be made available to all users, this move signals a step forward in allowing more personalization in YouTube Music. Fans are hopeful that the feature will soon be available to everyone, adding a layer of customization that has been missing from the app for years.