Thumbnails Cloud
Generate file thumbnails on the fly
The simplest API you've ever used for generating previews of 50+ file types.
Get your API key →Features
The thumbnails.cloud API generates JPEG file previews for all common document formats, using a simple API. Get an API token for $9/mo for personal and small-scale projects, and create an unlimited number of preview images! For large-scale and enterprise licensing, please contact us.
Examples
The API supports dozens of file formats, anything from images, to documents, to video and 3D models. Here are some examples:
Microsoft Word (.docx)
view original file
view original file
PDF (.pdf)
view original file
view original file
3D CAD model (.stl)
view original file
view original file
AutoCAD DXF (.dxf)
view original file
view original file
Powerpoint (.pptx)
view original file
view original file
PostScript (.eps)
view original file
view original file
Camera RAW (.raw)
view original file
view original file
Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
view original file
view original file
Usage
URL structure:
https://thumbnails.cloud/v1/jpg
?token=your-api-token
&url=https://example.com/my-file.doc
&size=600
&mode=crop| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
url | ✅ | The URL of the original document. Should be publicly available via HTTP or HTTPS. Make sure to urlencode your URL! |
token | ✅ | Your API token. Sign up above. |
size | Pixel width of your thumbnail. Defaults to 600. | |
mode | Specify crop to get a square image, or orig to maintain original aspect ratio. Defaults to crop. | |
gravity | For documents, specify where the gravity lies for cropping. Options: North, South, East, West. | |
format | By default, an image is returned. Specify json to get back a base64 encoded version in a JSON object. | |
quality | Specify a JPEG compression quality. Requires a number between 1-100. Defaults to 80. | |
offset | For videos, specify a second offset to use for the thumbnail. Defaults to 0. If you specify a offset higher than the duration of the video, the conversion will fail. |
Supported file extensions
You can query the /v1/extensions endpoint to get an up-to-date overview of the supported file extensions. Note that this refers to the file types that can be converted into JPG, PDF support is currently slightly more limited.
How we handle your data
We care about privacy, and know that you might be using our API to create previews for potentially confidential documents. That's why we don't log the URLs of the documents you convert, nor do we keep the original documents after we've converted them.
We do however temporarily store the create preview image using on our CDN servers, to allow hot linking to dynamic previews, without having to recreate the preview image on every request. There is, however, no way for other users of the service to access a list of the files you converted through the API.
