# Video Thumbnails...avoid spoilers! **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-qnap\ **Created:** [December 8, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366 "2025-12-08T23:11:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chumbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@Chumbo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Chumbo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/1 "2025-12-08T23:11:35Z")
Although I enjoy having thumbnails for videos, it too often shows spoilers! Is there a way to define what thumbnail is used for a video? How is it set in Plex? Ideally, I’d pick a thumbnail early in the video… ---
**Author:** ![Kilgry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kilgry](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Kilgry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/2 "2025-12-09T01:08:33Z")
Are you taking about the thumbnail previews taken every 2 seconds, or the single thumbnail for each tv episode? ---
**Author:** ![Fluamsler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/fluamsler/32/163641_2.png) [@Fluamsler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Fluamsler)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/3 "2025-12-09T01:11:31Z")
Are you talking about - the background thumbnails, - the chapter thumbnails (that you can activate under scheduled tasks) or - the video preview thumbnails (scheduled tasks too)? For the background thumbnails you could put a spoiler-free [fanart](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200220717-local-media-assets-tv-shows/) background to the directory. You can set a higher frame interval for the thumbnails in the Preferences.xml file. Change the value for `GenerateBIFFrameInterval` from default `2` to something higher to reduce the chance of displaying spoilers. For chapter thumbnails you can disable them under `settings>library>create chapter thumbnails` and set it to `never`. On the same place you can disable the video preview thumbnails by setting the `generate video preview thumbnails` to `never`. Hope this helps! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/4 "2025-12-09T01:30:31Z")
> [@Chumbo](#): > > Although I enjoy having thumbnails for videos, it too often shows spoilers! > Is there a way to define what thumbnail is used for a video? How is it set in Plex? If you mouse over the episode thumbnail on the web/PC interface there is a pencil there. ![Untitled-100](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/e/6/7/e67294a2c58f9b6524772dba329146a6802a6c9e.jpeg) Click it to edit the metadata for the episode and there is a poster tab on the left side. ![Screenshot 2025-12-08 at Plex](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/9/7/4/9749625947ea111ae03b66d68e02e1d463a53f07.jpeg) You can choose from the thumbnails here for something that wont be a spoiler, but the selection will vary greatly depending on the popularity of the show. If you don’t want to see the thumbnails prior to watching the only thing I can recommend is using a client that has the option to blur or hide thumbnails of unwatched media. ---
**Author:** ![Chumbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@Chumbo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Chumbo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/5 "2025-12-09T12:43:46Z")
Thanks for the replies! I realize I should have detailed more…I’m talking about thumbnails that are displayed when you browse a library of ‘Personal Media’ where I mostly put sporting events that I wasn’t able to watch live. So seeing the thumbnail of e.g. a boxing match where you see the guy carrying the championship belt around his waist, kind of spoils it 🙄 . That’s why I was hoping there was a way of displaying a thumbnail much earlier in the video, (e.g. first few minutes) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/video-thumbnails-avoid-spoilers/934366/6 "2026-03-09T12:44:09Z")
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