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The ThumbsPlus image file manager showing folder tree in the upper left and 12 thumbnail-size images to the right.

Note that while automatic thumbnailers reduce large pictures to a small size, the result may not be a quality thumbnail.

Some web designers produce thumbnails by simply reducing the dimensions of a large image using HTML coding, rather than using a smaller copy of the image. In practice the display size of an image in pixels should always correspond to its actual size, in part because one purpose of a thumbnail image on a web page is to reduce download time. The visual quality of browser resizing is also usually less than ideal.

Reducing a significant part of the picture instead of the full frame can allow the use of a smaller thumbnail while maintaining recognizability. For example, when thumbnailing a full-body portrait of a person, it may be better to show the face slightly reduced than an indistinct figure. This has the disadvantage that it misleads viewers about what the image contains, so it is less well suited for searching or a catalogue than for artistic presentations.

In 2002, the court in the US case Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corporation ruled that it was fair use for Internet search engines to use thumbnail images to help web users to find what they were looking for.

Dimensions

A thumbnail image is usually defined as one having 80 to 200 pixels in the long dimension like a thumb's nail .

• The Denver Public Library Digitization and Cataloging Program produces thumbnails that are 160 pixels in the long dimensionhttp://photoswest.org/neh/036.htm.
• The California Digital Library Guidelines for Digital Images recommend 150-200 pixels for each dimension http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/guidelines/bpgimages/reqs.html#guidelinesderiv.
• Picture Australia requires thumbnails to be 150 pixels in the long dimensionhttp://www.libraries.vic.gov.au/downloads/Victorias_Virtual_Library_Digital_Collection/digitisation.htm.
• The International Dunhuang Project Standards for Digitization and Image Management specifies 96 pixels at 72 dpi http://idp.bl.uk/papers/standards.html.
• DeviantART, one of the largest artists community, automatically produces thumbnails that are maximum 150 pixels in the long dimension.
• Flickr, one of the largest photographers community, automatically produces thumbnails that are maximum 240 pixels in the long dimension, or smaller 75x75 pixels.
• Google Picasa, one of the largest photographers community, automatically produces thumbnails that are maximum 144 pixels in the long dimension, or 160x160 pixels album thumbnails.

The term vignette is sometimes used to describe an image that is smaller than the original, larger than a thumbnail, but no more than 250 pixels in the long dimension.

Thumbnail Sketches

Thumbnail sketches

See also

• Image
• Image organizer
• Contact print, a film cognate of the thumbnail
• Thumbshots
• Thumbnail gallery post, a type of website that links to galleries of thumbnails (usually pornographic or image search results)
• Digital asset management

External links

Free online thumbnail services:

• artViper
• Snap
• picoshot
• thumbalizr
• websnapr

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