{var%20f='http://v.t.sina.com.cn/share/share.php?appkey=1515056452',u=z||d.location,p=['&url=',e(u),'&title=',e(t||d.title),'&source=',e(r),'&sourceUrl=',e(l),'&content=',c||'gb2312','&pic=',e(p||'')].join('');function%20a(){if(!window.open([f,p].join(''),'mb',['toolbar=0,status=0,resizable=1,width=440,height=430,left=',(s.width-440)/2,',top=',(s.height-430)/2].join('')))u.href=[f,p].join('');};if(/Firefox/.test(navigator.userAgent))setTimeout(a,0);else%20a();})(screen,document,encodeURIComponent,'','','https://www.manongdao.com/data/attach/logo/logo.png', '推荐 Melony? 的问题《How to get a thumbnail or snapshot of a youtube vi》','https://www.manongdao.com/q-1350316.html','页面编码gb2312|utf-8默认gb2312'));){kind=link}
I want to take a thumbnail image of a youtube video, let's say http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaTjpA1scI at 30s or 120s. How can I do that with youtube API?
I do think this is possible, because when I watch a Youtube video, if I move my cursor to the timeline, I can immediately see snapshots at specific time. I just want to retrieve these snapshots programmatically.
I also tried http://img.youtube.com/vi//0.jpg, actually this can get the thumbnail of course, but it cannot get a snapshots at a specific time.
Those specific type thumbnails (used for the timeline snapshots) are not exposed via any sort of official URL scheme or API. I wouldn't recommend trying to reverse-engineer a solution, either.