# Is there any reason why small images don't have thumbnails? **URL:** \ **Category:** UX\ **Created:** [April 28, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-any-reason-why-small-images-dont-have-thumbnails/61806 "2017-04-28T23:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Drew\_Warwick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/drew_warwick/32/80591_2.png) [@Drew\_Warwick](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Drew_Warwick)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-any-reason-why-small-images-dont-have-thumbnails/61806/1 "2017-04-28T23:22:58Z")
When large images are made smaller than their full size, they get a preview thumbnail that can then be expanded, like so: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/a/9/aa97473bc946e4c39788076725da34706a6d9af1.png) But if we have an image like this: * * * ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/6/4/164d17a5dd2c5f0a2601e1de1c0af571c1cc5559.png) * * * it does not get a thumbnail: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/d/9/d/d9d1bafa73ee48084fdd17a8bedbe6a9f060c7ba.png) This forces poster to do one of the following: - Make image into a link, which inconveniently opens a new tab when reader goes to view image - Make the image big on the post, which can detract from what’s supposed to grab readers’ attention and needlessly wastes space - Hope readers realize they can even view a larger version on images that are borderline visible through squinting - Give up after dealing with this for a while and hope readers know how to view a larger version (my personal favorite) Is there a reason smaller images don’t get thumbnails when they’re displayed at a smaller resolution than their actual size? I wouldn’t think it’s performance related, as this is done with much larger images. --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-any-reason-why-small-images-dont-have-thumbnails/61806)._