Thumbnails are reduced size versions of pictures, used to make it easier to scan and recognize them, serving the same role for images as a normal text index does for words. Visual search engines and image organizing programs normally use them, as can some modern operating systems or desktop environments, such as Windows XP and KDE.
In 2003, the court in the US case Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corporation ruled that in it was fair use for internet search engines to use thumbnail images to help web users to find what they were looking for.
The ThumbsPlus image file manager showing folder tree in the upper left and 12 thumbnail-size images to the right. Click on the image for a full size version.
