A Loom GIF thumbnail is Loom's Animated Thumbnail feature: a short looping animation built from your own recording and used as the video's cover. Turning it on takes one click. The part that costs people an afternoon is everything downstream — which embed code you copy, why email clients want the GIF instead of the player, and why a custom image you uploaded keeps getting replaced by an animation.
This walkthrough covers the enable step, the two sharing routes Loom documents, and the one setting that silently overrides your work.
Before you start
- You need access to the video's settings. Loom's instruction is simply to enable the feature "from your video settings."
- Check the video's privacy level first. Per Loom's privacy settings page: "If your video privacy setting is set to Open to Workspace or Restricted, the video preview will be hidden by default in embedded Looms." An animated cover you cannot see in the embed is usually a privacy problem, not a GIF problem.
- If you want an actual GIF file on disk, you will need download rights on the source video — see the last section, because Loom's download rules are stricter than most people expect.
Step 1: Turn on Animated Thumbnail
Loom's own description of the feature is one sentence, and it is worth reading carefully:
"You can simply enable our Animated Thumbnail feature from your video settings. Once enabled, Loom will take the first few seconds of your recording and transform them into an animated video cover."
Two things follow from that wording.
First, the source is fixed: it is the opening of your recording, not a section you pick. If you want a specific moment to be the animated cover, that moment has to be at the start of the video. On a paid plan you can trim to make it so — Loom notes that "Video editing features, including trimming and clip stitching, are exclusive to paid plans."
Second, Loom says "the first few seconds" and does not give a number. The official pages we could find publish no duration, frame rate, or file size for the animated cover — so if you need an exact length, check the official documentation rather than any figure you read on a third-party blog.
Step 2: Copy the embed code, not the thumbnail code
This is the single most common way a Loom GIF thumbnail goes wrong, and Loom documents it explicitly on its custom thumbnail page:
"If you are looking to embed your video with your custom thumbnail, make sure you select Copy embed code; do not copy thumbnail code. The thumbnail code will embed your video with a GIF thumbnail of the video rather than the image you uploaded as a thumbnail."
Read it in both directions, because it answers two opposite complaints:
- "I uploaded a custom image and it shows as a GIF." You copied the thumbnail code. Use Copy embed code instead.
- "I want the animated GIF cover in my embed." Then the thumbnail code is the one you want — Loom states plainly that it embeds the video with a GIF thumbnail.
The embed code also accepts query parameters that Loom lists on its embed page, such as hide_title=true, hide_owner=true, hide_share=true, and t=80s to start at a timestamp. Those tidy up the player around the cover; they do not change which cover is used.
Step 3: Use the GIF route for email
Loom's embedding page is direct about email clients: "Most email clients do not support this, so instead, we suggest using an embedded GIF thumbnail, as this option is accepted by more platforms." It then explains exactly what that object is — "the GIF is a looped segment of a Loom video that is hyperlinked."
So in an email, the GIF is not a player. It is a looping image that links to your Loom. That is the whole point: it survives clients that strip embedded video.
One documented caveat: "Some email platforms, such as Apple Mail, require users to adjust settings in order to display a linked GIF. Double-check your settings to allow the loading of remote content and disable any restrictions." If a recipient reports a blank rectangle, that is the first thing to check on their end.
The same page gives the general fallback for websites too: "In cases where you are unable to embed your video, we suggest using an embedded GIF, as this option is accepted by more platforms." Loom also warns it cannot control preview dimensions everywhere — "we are not able to control or manage the dimensions of Loom video previews inside certain applications such as Slack."
If you need a real GIF file instead
Everything above produces a hosted animated cover. If what you actually need is a .gif file you can attach, drop into a doc, or post somewhere that will not take an embed, you have to make it yourself from the video.
Loom's download format is fixed: "All videos downloaded from Loom will be in a .MP4 format." So the route is download the MP4, then convert the segment you want.
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs in your browser tab — the file is read from disk, converted locally, and handed back, so nothing is uploaded. Unlike the Animated Thumbnail, you choose the segment, which is the main reason to bother. If you prefer the standalone converter, MP4 to GIF does the same job.
Note who can get that MP4 in the first place. Loom states: "The download feature is only available on Business, Business+ AI, or Enterprise plans. Users on the Starter Free plan can't download videos," and adds that "Creator Lite and Viewer roles don't have download permissions on any plan." If the Download option is missing for you, that is the reason.
Common mistakes
- Copying the thumbnail code when you wanted your uploaded image. Loom's page is unambiguous about which button does what — pick based on the outcome you want.
- Expecting a social post to update. Loom notes that if you "share a Loom video to Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, and then change the video's title or thumbnail, this may not be reflected on the social post immediately," because of "how these platforms cache your video's metadata."
- Fighting the embed when privacy is the real cause. Open to Workspace or Restricted hides the preview by default in embedded Looms.
- Assuming the GIF carries your captions. It does not, and neither does a downloaded MP4 — Loom lists Closed Captions among the features that "will not be included in the downloaded file." See why downloaded Looms lose their captions.
FAQ
How many seconds does a Loom GIF thumbnail use? Loom says it takes "the first few seconds of your recording"; that page gives no number. Treat any specific figure you see elsewhere as unverified and check the official documentation.
Why does my custom thumbnail keep showing up as a GIF? You almost certainly copied the thumbnail code. Loom's guidance: "make sure you select Copy embed code; do not copy thumbnail code," because the thumbnail code embeds the video with a GIF thumbnail rather than your uploaded image.
Can I use a Loom GIF thumbnail in an email? Yes — that is Loom's recommended route, since most email clients do not support embedded video. The GIF is a looped segment of the video that is hyperlinked back to it.
Why is the GIF blank in Apple Mail? Loom points at client settings: some platforms, Apple Mail included, need remote content loading enabled before a linked GIF displays.
Can I turn this on for all my videos at once? Not through an official API. Loom states that it "does not offer a open API at this time," and that the Loom SDK "is not an open API and does not provide the same functionalities as APIs." The setting is per video.
Can I pick a different moment for the animation? Not within the feature — it uses the opening of the recording. Trim the video so the moment you want is at the start, or build a GIF yourself from the downloaded MP4.
More Loom walkthroughs live in the how-to hub, and every browser-side converter is listed under Clapr tools.
Quotes above are from Loom's help centre pages on embedding videos, GIFs and thumbnails; creating an animated GIF preview; adding a custom thumbnail; and downloading your video — checked 20 September 2026. Verify against the official pages before relying on them.
