This basic function is provided as a reference for our team. We generally don't use it; instead, we retrieve the highest quality thumbnail and scale it as required with another library. If used, a check should be made to ensure the image exists and, if it doesn't, an alternative should be returned.
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<?php
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/*
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Return YouTube thumbnail
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http://www.beliefmedia.com/code/php-snippets/youtube-thumbnail-url
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*/
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/* Get video ID from $v (if required) */
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preg_match("#(?<=v=)[a-zA-Z0-9-]+(?=&)|(?<=v\/)[^&\n]+(?=\?)|(?<=embed/)[^&\n]+|(?<=v=)[^&\??n]+|(?<=youtu.be/)[^&\n]+#", $v, $matches);
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$v = $matches['0'];
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}
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switch ($size) {
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case 0:
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/* Player background, 480 x 360 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/0.jpg';
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break;
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case 1:
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/* Start thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/1.jpg';
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break;
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case 2:
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/* Middle thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/2.jpg';
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break;
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case 3:
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/* End thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/3.jpg';
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break;
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case 4:
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/* High Quality Thumbnail, 480 x 360 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/hqdefault.jpg';
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break;
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case 5:
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/* Medium Quality Thumbnail, 320 x 180 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/mqdefault.jpg';
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break;
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case 6:
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/* Normal Quality Thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/default.jpg';
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break;
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/* High Quality Thumbnails */
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case 7:
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/* Standard Definition Thumbnail, 640 x 480 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/sddefault.jpg';
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break;
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case 8:
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/* Maximum Resolution Thumbnail, 1920 x 1080 */
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$url = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/maxresdefault.jpg';
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break;
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}
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return $url;
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}
Usage:
Return Array of Data
The second function is to support a couple of articles on our website. The purpose of the function is to return an array of information relating to the image.
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<?php
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/*
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Return YouTube thumbnail
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http://www.beliefmedia.com/code/php-snippets/youtube-thumbnail-url
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*/
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/* Get video ID from $v (if required) */
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preg_match("#(?<=v=)[a-zA-Z0-9-]+(?=&)|(?<=v\/)[^&\n]+(?=\?)|(?<=embed/)[^&\n]+|(?<=v=)[^&\??n]+|(?<=youtu.be/)[^&\n]+#", $v, $matches);
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$v = $matches['0'];
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}
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$video = array();
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switch ($size) {
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case 0:
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/* Player background, 480 x 360 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/0.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '480';
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$video['height'] = '360';
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break;
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case 1:
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/* Start thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/1.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '120';
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$video['height'] = '90';
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break;
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case 2:
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/* Middle thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/2.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '120';
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$video['height'] = '90';
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break;
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case 3:
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/* End thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/3.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '120';
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$video['height'] = '90';
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break;
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case 4:
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/* High Quality Thumbnail, 480 x 360 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/hqdefault.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '480';
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$video['height'] = '360';
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break;
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case 5:
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/* Medium Quality Thumbnail, 320 x 180 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/mqdefault.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '320';
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$video['height'] = '180';
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break;
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case 6:
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/* Normal Quality Thumbnail, 120 x 90 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/default.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '120';
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$video['height'] = '90';
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break;
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/* High Quality Thumbnails */
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case 7:
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/* Standard Definition Thumbnail, 640 x 480 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/sddefault.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '640';
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$video['height'] = '480';
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break;
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case 8:
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/* Maximum Resolution Thumbnail, 1920 x 1080 */
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$video['url'] = 'https://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $v . '/maxresdefault.jpg';
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$video['width'] = '1920';
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$video['height'] = '1080';
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break;
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}
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return $video;
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}
The API should generally be used to retrieve available thumbnails. Usage of the API negates the need to check if an image exists.
