Looking for a way to obtain a thumbnail image of a Vimeo video WITHOUT (I repeat, WITHOUT) having to do a REST request to the Vimeo API?
(Unfortunately, the following "answer" is over 10 years old and does NOT answer this question: Get img thumbnails from Vimeo?)
Nearly all video providers allow you to obtain a thumbnail image of a video by simply supplying the video ID within a specific URL path (i.e.: YouTube, Matterport, iGuide, etc.)
To be clear - I am NOT looking for a "solution" that uses Javascript or requires a request to be made to the Vimeo API - just a specific URL that can return a thumbnail given a Vimeo video ID.
I also emailed Vimeo API support, and below is the "official" response I received from their support group:
Hi there,
Thanks for your interest in the Vimeo API! Full documentation of the Vimeo API can be found on our Developer Site:
https://developer.vimeo.com/api/guides/start
Sorry, but it's not possible to get a video's thumbnail links without first making a request to one of our APIs (oEmbed or our full-fledged REST API). You can learn about these APIs here:
So - no way to get a thumbnail of a Vimeo video without making a REST request. Too bad.
Update: 2-Oct-2021 See @Parthiban post - Vimeo has updated their service / documentation: https://developer.vimeo.com/api/oembed/videos