diff --git a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
index 8790b326b..f3b216b62 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -304,6 +304,7 @@ class YoutubeDL:
                        unless writeinfojson is also given
     writeannotations:  Write the video annotations to a .annotations.xml file
     writethumbnail:    Write the thumbnail image to a file
+    thumbnail_format:  Format code of thumbnail to write
     allow_playlist_files: Whether to write playlists' description, infojson etc
                        also to disk when using the 'write*' options
     write_all_thumbnails:  Write all thumbnail formats to files
@@ -4385,9 +4386,24 @@ def _write_subtitles(self, info_dict, filename):
     def _write_thumbnails(self, label, info_dict, filename, thumb_filename_base=None):
         """ Write thumbnails to file and return list of (thumb_filename, final_thumb_filename); or None if error """
         write_all = self.params.get('write_all_thumbnails', False)
+        write_any = write_all or self.params.get('writethumbnail', False)
         thumbnails, ret = [], []
-        if write_all or self.params.get('writethumbnail', False):
-            thumbnails = info_dict.get('thumbnails') or []
+
+        if write_any:
+            all_thumbnails = info_dict.get('thumbnails') or []
+            thumbnail_id = self.params.get('thumbnail_format')
+            if thumbnail_id and not write_all:
+                for t in all_thumbnails:
+                    if t.get('id') == thumbnail_id:
+                        thumbnails.append(t)
+                        break
+                else:
+                    self.raise_no_formats(
+                        info_dict, msg=('Invalid thumbnail ID specified. Use --list-thumbnails to see available IDs'),
+                    )
+            else:
+                thumbnails = all_thumbnails
+
             if not thumbnails:
                 self.to_screen(f'[info] There are no {label} thumbnails to download')
                 return ret
diff --git a/yt_dlp/__init__.py b/yt_dlp/__init__.py
index 7d8f10047..84a2cb03e 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/__init__.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/__init__.py
@@ -877,6 +877,7 @@ def parse_options(argv=None):
         'clean_infojson': opts.clean_infojson,
         'getcomments': opts.getcomments,
         'writethumbnail': opts.writethumbnail is True,
+        'thumbnail_format': opts.thumbnail_format,
         'write_all_thumbnails': opts.writethumbnail == 'all',
         'writelink': opts.writelink,
         'writeurllink': opts.writeurllink,
diff --git a/yt_dlp/options.py b/yt_dlp/options.py
index 91c2635a7..410286c2e 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/options.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/options.py
@@ -1533,6 +1533,10 @@ def _alias_callback(option, opt_str, value, parser, opts, nargs):
         '--no-write-thumbnail',
         action='store_false', dest='writethumbnail',
         help='Do not write thumbnail image to disk (default)')
+    thumbnail.add_option(
+        '--thumbnail-format',
+        metavar='format', dest='thumbnail_format',
+        help='Format code of thumbnail to write to disk')
     thumbnail.add_option(
         '--write-all-thumbnails',
         action='store_const', dest='writethumbnail', const='all',
diff --git a/yt_dlp/postprocessor/embedthumbnail.py b/yt_dlp/postprocessor/embedthumbnail.py
index d8ba220ca..42d381269 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/postprocessor/embedthumbnail.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/postprocessor/embedthumbnail.py
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ def run(self, info):
             self.to_screen('There aren\'t any thumbnails to embed')
             return [], info
 
-        idx = next((-i for i, t in enumerate(info['thumbnails'][::-1], 1) if t.get('filepath')), None)
+        if self._downloader and (fmt := self._downloader.params.get('thumbnail_format')):
+            idx = next((i for i, t in enumerate(info['thumbnails']) if t.get('id') == fmt and t.get('filepath')), None)
+        else:
+            idx = next((-i for i, t in enumerate(info['thumbnails'][::-1], 1) if t.get('filepath')), None)
         if idx is None:
             self.to_screen('There are no thumbnails on disk')
             return [], info