capturing thumbnail image at specific timeframe from youtube link

Question

1) is there an API method to capture/store the thumbnail image of the YouTube video at 3:59 which is not the autogenerated thumbnail or the cover thumbnail uploaded by original uploader? There does not seem to be any established answer on SO

2) if (1) is not possible, is it legal for me to download the original video, grab the thumbnails of at the desired timeframe, and use those thumbnails on my app giving credit and attribution to the original source?

Answer 1

1) It's not possible with the YouTube API V3, you can only get the public thumbnail of the video.

2) If you want to do that, the only way is to :

1. download the video
2. grab the thumbnails of at the desired time frame
3. use that thumbnails in your app, but if users click on the thumbnail, they need to be redirect to the YouTube video where you grab the thumbnail. Otherwise you will have a copyright infringement.

I hope this helps

Edit

Edit about the review agreement

Seriously who reads the terms and review agreement ?

• If you speak about the 3° part then there is not problem to embed a video on your app if she is embeddable.
  
• If you ask about using your own custom thumbnails of a video on a video, well if you don't change the meaning between thumbnails and the videos i don't see the problem. A guideline to create good thumbnails http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/tell-a-story-through-your-thumbnail-title-description.html
  

All custom thumbnail images must follow our Community Guidelines. Thumbnails that are sexually suggestive, violent, or graphic may cause your video to be age-restricted. Age-restricted partner videos will not have advertising served against them and will not appear on browse pages.

It's not forbidden to create image and put her on a video to attract users. All you need to do, is to keep the meaning between the thumbnails and the video. I see you want to use something like a screenshot of the video so you respect the connection between the thumbnails and the video !

The content owners of the video cannot be disagree with that.