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

How to Create on YouTube: Videos, Shorts, Mobile Live Streaming, & Posts from your phone

Use the YouTube iPhone and iPad app to upload videos by recording a new video or selecting an existing one.

YouTube app

  1. Open the YouTube app .
  2. Tap Create  and then Upload a video.
  3. Select the file you’d like to upload and tap NEXT.
    • If your video is 60 seconds or less and has a square or vertical aspect ratio, it will be uploaded as a Short. Learn more.
    • (Optional) If your video is longer than 60 seconds and has a square or vertical aspect ratio, you can tap “Edit into a Short” to trim your video and upload it as a Short. Learn more.

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

YouTube Studio app

Note: You can’t self-certify your video ratings through the YouTube Studio app.
  1. Open the YouTube Studio app .
  2. On the top, tap Create  and then Upload a video
  3. Select the file that you'd like to upload
  4. Add details to your video, such as a title (max 100 characters), the privacy settings, and monetization settings. 
  5. Tap Next
  6. Choose your audience, “Yes, it’s made for kids" or "No, it’s not made for kids." Learn more about made for kids.
  7. Tap Upload video to publish your video.

Details

Add important details to your video.
Thumbnail The image viewers will see before clicking your 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].

To format text, highlight the text you’d like to change and select an option from the editing bar. You can bold, italicize, or strikethrough text.

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

Visibility

Choose the privacy settings of your video to control where your video can appear and who can watch it.

If you're in the YouTube Partner Program, you can set your video to unlisted or private until checks are finished. To get notified once checks are complete, you can opt-in to get a notification in the YouTube Studio app. Note: We’re slowly rolling out this feature. ​​

Location Enter the location where your video was filmed.
Playlist Add your video to one of your existing playlists, or create a playlist.

Click NEXT to select your audience. 

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 all audiences. 

Checks

If you're in the YouTube Partner Program, checks allow you to screen your video for copyright issues and ad suitability. 
These checks help you learn about potential restrictions so you can fix issues before your video is published. 
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.

Watch an example

If you’d like a demo of how to upload videos on your iPhone or iPad, watch the following video.

Upload to YouTube using your iPhone or iPad

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.

“Featured in this video” section

If your video features a top searched creator, viewers may find a link on the watch page to the featured creator’s channel. Viewers will also have the option to subscribe to featured creators. This feature makes it easier for viewers to discover new creators and subscribe to their channels.

A diverse group of top searched creators on YouTube are tagged automatically. Creators cannot be tagged manually.

How to remove a tag

If you created the video, you can tap on the featured creator’s name and choose to remove them from the video.

If you’re tagged in a video, you can tap on your name on the watch page and choose to remove yourself from the video. You can also choose to remove yourself from videos you're tagged in on this channel.

Upload over mobile network vs. Wi-Fi

You can change the type of connection used to upload your videos.

  1. Tap your profile picture .
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. In the “Uploads” box, turn “Upload over Wi-Fi only” on or off.

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 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.

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