Upload YouTube videos

You can upload videos to YouTube in a few easy steps. Use the instructions below to upload your videos from a computer or from a mobile device. Uploading may not be available with supervised experiences on YouTube. Learn more here.

Upload videos in YouTube Studio

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
  2. In the top-right corner, click CREATE  and then Upload videos .
  3. Select the file you’d like to upload. You can upload up to 15 videos at a time. Be sure to click Edit on each file to edit your video details.

Note: Your video will be converted to the highest resolution available to ensure successful playback on different devices and networks. You can view the estimated processing time for SD, HD, and 4K videos. Higher qualities such as 4K or HD may take more time to process. Learn more about video quality after upload and video resolution & aspect ratios. If you’re having issues, check out our common uploading errors guide.

If you close the upload experience before you finish choosing your settings, your video will be saved as private on your Content page.

Details
Add important details to your video. Note: You can click REUSE DETAILS to copy select details from a previously uploaded video.
Title

The title of your video.

Note: Video titles have a character limit of 100 characters and cannot include invalid characters.

Description

Info that shows below your video. For video attributions, use the following format: [Channel Name] [Video Title] [Video ID]

For corrections in your video, add “Correction:” or “Corrections:”. On a separate line, you can add the timestamp and explanation of your correction. For example:

Correction:

0:35 Reason for correction

This section should appear after any video chapters. When your audience watches your video, a View Corrections info card will appear.

For formatted text in your descriptions, select bold, italicize, or strikethrough from the options at the bottom of the description box.

Video descriptions have a character limit of 5,000 characters and cannot include invalid characters.

Note: If the channel has any active strikes, or if the content may be inappropriate to some viewers, the corrections feature won't be available.

Thumbnail The image viewers will view before clicking your video.
Playlist Add your video to one of your existing playlists, or create a playlist.
Audience To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), you’re required to tell us whether your videos are made for kids.
Age restriction Age-restrict videos that may not be appropriate for certain audiences.

A video from your channel that is a clickable link in the Shorts player to help direct viewers from your Shorts to your other YouTube content. 

With advanced feature access, you can edit Shorts to include a link to a video from your channel. Videos, Shorts and Live content can be linked.

Note: The video you select has to be public or unlisted and must follow our Community Guidelines.

At the bottom of the Details page, select SHOW MORE to choose your advanced settings.

Paid promotion Let viewers and YouTube know that your video has a paid promotion.
Automatic chapters

You can add video chapter titles and timestamps to your videos to make them easier to watch. You can create your own video chapters or use the automatically generated chapters by checking the 'Allow automatic chapters (when available and eligible)' checkbox.

Any video chapters entered will override auto generated video chapters.

Featured Places Featured Places (when available and eligible) uses destinations you have prominently highlighted in your description, video transcript and video frames to highlight key places in a carousel in the description of your video. To opt out of automatic Featured Places, unselect the 'Allow automatic Featured Places' checkbox. Note: Featured Places doesn’t use your device location data or affect what ads are shown in your video (if you’re monetizing). 
Tags

Add descriptive keywords to help correct search mistakes.

Tags can be useful if the content of your video is commonly misspelled. Otherwise, tags play a minimal role in your video's discovery.

Language and caption certification Choose the original video language and caption certification.
Recording date and location Enter the date the video was recorded and the location where your video was filmed.
License and distribution Select if your video can be embedded on a different website. Indicate if you’d like to send notifications to your subscribers for your new video.
Shorts sampling Allow others to create Shorts using the audio of your video.
Category

Select a category so viewers can find your video more easily. For Education, you can choose the following options:

  • Type: Select activity, concept overview, how-to, lecture, problem walkthrough, real life application, science experiment, tips, or other as your education type. 
  • Problems: Add the timestamp and the question that is answered in your video. Note: this option is only available for the problem walkthrough education type.
  • Academic system:  Select the country/region that your video aligns to. This allows you to further specify the level and exam, course, or academic standard. Note: This may be automatically selected based on your channel’s default country/region.
  • Level: Choose the level for your video, such as Grade 9 or advanced.
  • Exam, course, or standard: Search our database to add an academic standard, exam, or course that relates to your video. 
Comments and ratings Choose whether viewers can leave comments on the video. Choose whether viewers can find how many likes are on your video.
Monetization
If you're in the YouTube Partner Program, you can
Ad suitability

If you're in the YouTube Partner Program, you can use the ad suitability page to rate your videos against our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. This action helps us make monetization decisions faster and accurately. Learn more about Self-certification.

Copyright & Ad-Suitability "Checks" in Upload Flow: Address Issues Before Your Video Goes Public

Video elements
Add cards and end screens to show your audience related videos, websites, and calls to action.
Subtitles and captions Add subtitles and captions to your video and reach a broader audience.
End screen Add visual elements to the end of your video. Your video must be 25 seconds or longer to add an end screen.
Cards Add interactive content to your video.
Checks

Use the Checks page to screen your video for copyright issues and, if you're in the YouTube Partner Program, ad suitability.

These checks help you learn about potential restrictions so you can fix issues before your video is published. Checks can take some time, but they run in the background, so you can return to the process later. You can also publish your video while checks are running and fix issues later.

Note: Copyright and Ad suitability checks results aren’t final. For example, future manual Content ID claims, copyright strikes, and edits to your video settings may impact your video.

 

Visibility

On the Visibility page, choose when you want your video to publish and who you want to find your video. You can also share your video privately.
Note: The default video privacy setting for creators aged 13–17 is private. If you’re 18 or older, your default video privacy setting is set to public. Everyone can change this setting to make their video public, private, or unlisted.
  • Save or publish: To publish your video now, choose this option and select Private, Unlisted, or Public as your video’s privacy setting. If you choose to make your video public, you can also set your video as an instant PremiereNote: Your video can be published once SD processing is complete.
  • Schedule: To publish your video later, choose this option and select the date you want your video to be published. Your video will be private until that date. You can also set your video as a Premiere.
Preview your changes and make sure they follow YouTube policies, then click SAVE.
Note: If your account has a Community Guidelines strike, your scheduled video won’t publish during the penalty period. Your video is set to “private” for the penalty period duration, and you have to reschedule publishing the video when the freeze period ends. Learn more about Community Guidelines strike basics.
Get video upload tips for creators.

Watch how to upload videos

Check out the following video from the YouTube Creators channel on how to upload videos.

How To Upload Videos with YouTube Studio

Subscribe to the YouTube Creators channel for the latest news, updates, and tips.

Learn more about uploading videos

How many videos you can upload per day

There's a limit to how many videos a channel can upload each day across desktop, mobile, and YouTube API. To increase your daily limit, visit this article.

Upload audio files

You can’t upload audio files to create a YouTube video. Here is a list of supported file formats for content that can be uploaded to YouTube.

To add your content to YouTube, try converting your audio file to a video file by adding an image. YouTube doesn’t have a tool to upload audio files, but you can try other video editing software.

Learn the difference between “upload” and “publish”

When you upload a video, the video file is imported to YouTube.
When you publish a video, the video is made available for anyone to watch.

Upload vertical videos

When you upload and publish your video, YouTube will figure out the best way to display the content. For the best experience, don’t add black bars to the sides of your vertical video. Whether the video is vertical, square, or horizontal, the video will fit the screen.

Figure out why your video’s upload date and publish date are different

  • Upload date: The date you uploaded your video. Shows next to your private or unlisted video on your Content page.
  • Publish date: The date your video became public. Shows beneath your live video and is set to Pacific Standard Time (PST).

These two dates can be different if you uploaded your video as private or unlisted, and made it public later.

Tip: You can schedule your video to be published at a specific time.

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