I couldn't find any suitable community for getting my issue addressed, so l put it up over here, since peertube is also part of the fediverse.

I think that depends a bit on what kind of internet browser or app you use. And on your PieFed settings. On my phone, I get both Peertube videos and Youtube videos embedded. There is a preview with a play button and I can click it and just play them straight from the feed.

What's wrong with Peertube thumbnails?

They look the same to me.

That's because it's a YouTube short. This is a YouTube video thumbnail :

When you post a video on peertube, you can chose its thumbnail.

It's not about choosing.

This is a peertube thumbnail.

This is a YouTube thumbnail.

It would probably help of you'd explain what difference you're referring to exactly and what you're looking for in a thumbnail exactly.

The YouTube thumbnail is one large picture. But the peertube thumbnail is broken up in between. Look carefully !!

You can get the same thing. Youtube and peertube allows the OP to chose their thumbnail.

If OP doesn't choose the thumbnail, it will chose a part from the video. The youtube one is clearly a edited picture where they added title and they told youtube that's the thumbnail.

The peertube one is the natural video but you can also get the same thumbnail as youtube's video. Just upload the same picture and tell peertube that's the thumbnail

I would assume that's because the YT one was specifically made while the PT one is simply a random frame from the video?

Thanks for pointing that out.