I Don’t Like My TikTok Video’s Thumbnail. Can I Edit It?

Carpenters, tailors, and many do-it-yourselfers have an important mantra: “measure twice, cut once.” It’s a reminder that once you’ve cut wood, fabric, or other materials, you don’t get a second chance to fix your mistakes.

The same caution applies to TikTok content creation. After you upload a video to the social media platform, you can’t change it. The best you can do is save the video, remove the post, make your edits to the saved content, and upload it a second time. That’s time-consuming, of course, and you also lose all of the post’s accumulated views, likes, shares, and comments.

Unfortunately for those who’ve found this article looking for a hack that will let them edit their TikTok video’s thumbnail (also called the cover photo), the story is no different.

Let’s learn more.

How to Edit a TikTok Thumbnail After Posting

Here’s the bad news: once you decide on a video thumbnail photo and upload it, it can’t be edited. It’s locked in place and permanently associated with the post it promotes. You can’t make a one-for-one swap, either.

If you want to change the cover photo, you have to go through much the same process we just described. You must save the video, delete the original post, and reupload the content in a new post. Only during the new upload process are you allowed to choose a different thumbnail or use an edited version of the one you originally used.

Is It Worth Saving and Reuploading a Video with a Different Cover?

We have one more bit of bad news: there’s no “right answer” to this question. It depends on the content creator and their approach to TikTok posts.

Some TikTok users don’t even bother with choosing a thumbnail. They simply let the app automatically use a random screenshot taken from the middle of their video, and move right on to their next project.

That’s not a bad approach for those who create videos primarily for friends, family members, or a small group of TikTok followers. They’re not trying to build their follower count, attract a large audience, or increase their popularity and importance on the platform. A video’s cover photo won’t really make a difference for their purposes.

Would-be influencers and popular creators, on the other hand, want to trigger as much engagement with their posts as possible. They generally use every available tool to attract viewers, and an enticing cover photo is one of the ways they convince people that it’s worth their time to stop scrolling and check out a video.

Diligent creators pay close attention to their content’s performance and are always looking for ways to fine-tune their promotional efforts. If a post isn’t getting many views, one of the first things they’ll consider is whether their video thumbnail is to blame and should be changed. For those folks, reuploading a poorly performing post with a new cover may be worth a try.

So, if you’ve thought about editing a TikTok thumbnail, you have two choices: don’t bother, or save the video, edit the cover, and start from scratch.

Whether the work is worth it is a decision only you can make.