VK Video cover: size, format and how to make one

For a VK Video thumbnail, use a 16:9 image of at least 1280 × 720 — ideally 1920 × 1080 — as PNG or JPG. VK does not publish an official thumbnail size, so below: where these numbers come from, how a video cover differs from a community's "live cover", and how to make the thumbnail with AI without typos in the caption.

What size does a VK Video cover need to be?

VK has no separate size requirement for thumbnails. It does have requirements for the video itself: up to 4K, and for videos in posts VK recommends a 16:9 ratio at 1280 × 720 or above. The cover is shown in the same rectangle as the video, so it makes sense to take its size from there: 16:9, no smaller than 1280 × 720.

Figures as stated in VK's business materials on 24 September 2026. They give no thumbnail size, and we don't invent one: 1280 × 720 is the floor VK names for video, not a rule for covers.

Why a 960 × 540 canvas

Covers here are exported at double pixel density: a 960 × 540 canvas gives a file of exactly 1920 × 1080. That is above 1280 × 720, well under 4K, and a PNG of that size stays light — VK publishes no file-size limit for covers, so there is no point in extra megabytes. Bonus: the same file works on Rutube, whose limit is exactly 1920 × 1080 — one cover for both platforms.

How to make a VK Video thumbnail with AI

The weak spot of image models is letters: text written straight into a generated picture often comes out with mistakes. So the work is split in two. The network draws the background and the main image, and the caption goes on top as real text — no typos, and editable one word at a time.

1. The video's topic in one phrase — "budget smartphone review", "borscht in 30 minutes".
2. The caption — two to four words, not the whole video title: VK already shows the title next to the thumbnail.
3. The main subject — a face with a clear emotion, a product, a dish. If it's you, upload your own photo.
4. The platform — write "VK Video, 960 × 540" and ask for the bottom-right corner to be left clear.

Before it is shown, the cover is rendered in a browser and checked: is the caption cut off, is there enough contrast. Edits after that are text: "bigger caption", "make it yellow", "move it left". The background is not redrawn, so the next episode of a series only needs a new caption. You can build and preview the cover on starter tokens; downloading the finished PNG opens after your first purchase.

Setting your own cover is easiest in VK's web version: open the editor for a video you uploaded yourself and replace the automatic frame with your image.

VK Video and other platforms

If the video goes out in several places, the sizes differ. Rutube takes the same 1920 × 1080 file — details in the Rutube cover chapter. YouTube recommends a larger size, 3840 × 2160 — see the YouTube thumbnail chapter. An overview across platforms is in "Video thumbnails and covers". The same 1920 × 1080 file also works on Dzen and Telegram — see the Dzen video cover and the Telegram video cover.

In the Twelver chat a cover is built in layers: the image from the network, the caption as real text, a browser check before it is shown. Back to the guide to video with neural networks.