How to Upload Videos to YouTube

Use the YouTube app on your phone

Open the YouTube app. It's a red and white icon with a right-facing rectangle and triangle, with the word "YouTube" attached. You'll find this app on your home screen or in your device's apps menu.

YouTube may come pre-installed on all phones and tablets, but if you don't have it, you can download it from the App Store (on iPhone/iPad) or Play Store (on Android).

Connect to a Wi-Fi network before downloading videos to avoid mobile data charges.

If you're not automatically signed in, you'll need to select a Google account or sign in with your YouTube account email address and password.

Note: You can also share videos directly from your phone's Photos or Gallery app. Open the video, tap the Sharing icon, and select YouTube if you see this option. At this point, you will move to step 6.

Tap on your avatar in the top right corner of the screen. You will see a menu appear here.

Tap Your channel . It's near the top of the menu.

Tap the video camera icon. This is the icon displayed in the right corner of the menu bar at the top of the screen.

If this is your first time downloading video from your phone or tablet, you'll have to give the app permission to access your photos, camera, and/or microphone before continuing.

Select video. You'll see a list of all the videos in your phone or tablet's camera roll here. Tap the video you want to share.

By default, you can upload videos up to 15 minutes long. If you want to upload longer videos (up to 12 hours), you must verify your account first.

Add effects to the video (optional). If you want to edit your video further before uploading it, try these options:

If you want to trim the video, drag the two edges of the timeline displayed below the screen to the start and end points you like.

Tap the magic wand icon to select a color filter for the video. You will see this icon in the upper right corner of the Android screen, and below the iPhone/iPad screen.

Tap the music note icon if you'd like to add royalty-free audio (iPhone and iPad only).

Tap Next to move to the next step (iPhone and iPad only). If you use an iPhone or iPad, select Next in the upper right corner to continue.

Set title. Video titles can be up to 100 characters and should reflect the content of the video.

Enter a description. Description is optional but recommended. Information in the description will appear below the video while watching. You can use this section to add information related to videos, content creators, or other projects. Add keywords to the description so your video shows up in relevant searches.

Select visibility from the "Privacy" menu. You can choose 3 options from the privacy menu. Privacy options include:

Public: With this option, anyone on YouTube can search and watch your video.

Unlisted: Your video will not be published, but anyone with a link to the video can view your video.

Private: This option only allows you to watch videos when you are logged in to your account.

Tap Location to set your location (optional). If you want to categorize videos by geographic location, you can do so under the "Privacy" heading. Tap "Location" and choose one of the nearby locations. You can also enter an address or place in the search bar and select the location from the search results.

The first time you add a location to a video, you'll be asked to allow YouTube to access your friend's location on your phone or tablet. Select Allow while using app to continue.

Tap UPLOAD in the top right corner. This is the process of uploading a video to YouTube. Once the upload is complete, the video will appear in your Videos list.

If you want to tag your video so others can find it more easily, tap the three-dot menu on the video, select Edit, and enter comma-separated tags in the "Tags" field. " (Card).

Use Youtube.com on your computer

Visit https://www.youtube.com from a web browser. You can upload videos directly from YouTube.

If you're not logged into your YouTube account, click SIGN IN in the top right corner of the page to do so immediately. Select your YouTube account and enter the password, or click Use another account and sign in with the email address and password of the desired YouTube account.

Click the camera icon with the plus sign (+) and select Upload Video . This is the icon in the top right corner, right next to your profile picture. This will take you to the YouTube Studio page with an "Upload Video" window in the middle of the page.

Drag the video file to the arrow on the window. Or, you can click the blue SELECT FILE button, navigate to where the file is saved on your computer, and click Open . This is the start of the video upload process.

By default, you can upload videos up to 15 minutes long. If you want to upload longer videos (up to 12 hours), you must verify your account first.

If you upload a video from a DVD to YouTube, save the movie to your computer first.

YouTube supports videos with the following formats: MOV, MPEG4, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEGPS, FLV, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm, HEVC (h265).

Add a title and description to your video. The title is required, while the description is optional but recommended. You can enter a title up to 100 characters long. Create a catchy title that accurately reflects the content of your video. Additionally, a box called "Description" is used to add a description to the video. Information in the description will appear below the video while watching. You can add information about the video, content creator, and other projects to the description. Also, add keywords to this section so your video shows up in related searches.

Click the thumbnail photo you want to use. A video thumbnail is a still image that represents your video as it appears on your channel and in search results. Choose a thumbnail for your video by clicking one of the suggested thumbnails.

Or, you can click Upload Thumbnail and choose your own photo as the thumbnail. You just need to click on the image you want to use and select Open .

Add video to playlist (optional). If you want to add a video to a playlist, click the "Playlist" selection box and select the playlist you created to add the video to. You can add videos to multiple playlists.

Mark videos as made for children. Currently, YouTube requires you to mark every video as intended for children under 13 years old. If your video is made for kids, click the button next to "Yes, it's made for kids." If it's not made for kids, you'll select the button next to "No, it's not made for kids."

Correctly marking videos as intended for children is a requirement of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Flagging a video as dishonest may result in YouTube taking strong action against your account or you may be fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Check out YouTube's COPPA regulations for more details.

Besides, if your video is specifically for audiences over 18 years old, you can set an age limit for the video. To do this, you'll click the Age Restriction (advanced) option , then click the box next to "Yes, restrict my video to viewers over the age of 18 " (Yes. My videos are only intended for viewers over 18 years old).

Click More Options (this is optional) and select Next . A blue "More Options" option appears below the "Details" window. You will have more options for your videos. When finished, click Next in the bottom right corner. Additional options include:

Paid Promotions: If the video contains paid promotion , you will check the box "My video contains paid promotion like a product placement or endorsement". for advertising, such as product placement or product endorsement). You can also check the "Add a message to my video to inform viewers of paid promotion" box.

Tags: Tags are keywords that allow users to search for your videos more easily. Enter the tag you want to use in the "Add Tags" box. Use words related to the video (for example, if it's a video about elephants dancing, you'd use the keywords "elephants," "dancing," and "funny." fun)). Videos with similar tags often appear together in the "Recommended" section.

Language, Subtitles, and Closed Captions: To choose a language for your video, you'll click the "Video language" drop-down box and select a language. To add captions to your video, you'll select caption certification from the "Caption certification" menu. To upload subtitles, simply click on the blue Upload Subtitles/CC text and select the timing information for the subtitles. The next step is to select the subtitle file and click Open . Learn how to embed captions in videos to learn how to create captions and upload them to YouTube or embed them in your video.

Recording Date and Location: To add a recording date, click Recording date to select the video creation date in the displayed calendar. Click Video location and enter the address or location where the video was recorded to provide location information. You will select the location from the search results.

License and distribution: Click License to select the copyright license for the video. Check the "Allow Embedding" box to allow others to post your video on websites and other places. Select "Publish to subscriptions feed and notify subscribers" if you want to notify subscribers about the video.

Category: To select a category, click Category and select a category for your video. Some categories will have boxes requiring you to fill in additional information.

Comments and ratings: Click the 'Comments visibility' drop-down box to choose how to control comments. You can allow all comments, keep comments potentially inappropriate comments for review, hold all comments for review, or disable comments. Click the "Sort By" drop-down box to choose to sort comments by newest or top. Check the "Show how many viewers like and dislike this video" box if you want this information to appear below the video.

Add an End Screen or card to the video (optional) and click Next . An end screen is a screen displayed at the end of a video that introduces content related to your channel. Cards allow you to introduce content while the video is playing. To add an end screen or card to your video, you'll click Add next to "Add an End Screen" or "Add Cards" on the video elements page. Follow the onscreen instructions to add an end screen.

You must wait until the video's standard resolution is processed before you can complete this step.

Select display mode. There are three display options available to you. Just click on the dot next to your favorite choice. Display options include:

Public: With this option, anyone on YouTube can search and watch your video.

Unlisted: Your video will not be published, but anyone with a link to the video can view your video.

Private: This option only allows you to watch videos when you are logged in to your account.

Schedule the video to be published (optional). If you don't want to make the video public right away, you can set a different date to make it public. To schedule, you'll click the button next to "Schedule." Click the date selection box and select the date you want to make the video public. Next, click on the time selection box to choose when to go public.

Click the blue Save or Schedule button in the lower right corner of the window. This is the act of publishing a video on your YouTube channel at the scheduled date and time, or after the video has been processed.

To edit the title and description as needed, you'll go to https://studio.youtube.com/ and click Videos in the menu on the left side of the page. Move your cursor to the video you want to edit on this page, click the three dots ⋮ and select Edit title and description .

You can change the video's visibility on this page by clicking the current visibility (such as Private ) and selecting a different option.

Once the video has been uploaded, you can embed it on your website or share it online.

Marvin Fry

Update 11 November 2023