Did you know that nearly 720,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every day? With over 2.3 billion users worldwide, YouTube is one of the most popular content platforms. If you want to become a Youtube creator but don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we will walk you through the process of uploading videos to YouTube step by step.
How to upload a YouTube video using a web browser
The best way to upload a video to YouTube is directly from your browser as it allows you to add more customizations to the video and easily add all the information you need to your video description.
- Go to https://www.youtube.com/ and click the “+”icon in the top bar of the screen.
- Click Download Video and select the video you want to download.
- While the video is loading, you can fill in all the required details such as title, description, tags, and more.
- Fill in all the required information and select the options according to your video criteria.
- Choose your own thumbnail for your video.
- Once completed, click Next. You will be taken to the monetization tab if your channel is approved for it, otherwise you will be taken to the Video Elements section.
- You can add subtitles, an end screen, and info cards in the Video Elements section.
- Click “Next”and you will be taken to the “Visibility”section. Once published, click “Publish”and your video will be published.
That’s it, you’ve uploaded your video.
How to upload a video to YouTube using the mobile app
You can also upload videos to YouTube using the official app downloaded from Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
- Launch the YouTube app and click on the “+”icon on the bottom bar.
- Click Download Video and select the video you want to download.
- Select a video and click next.
- Fill in all the details of the video, such as the title and description, and click “Download”at the bottom. Your video will be uploaded.
The YouTube mobile app only has limited features for video customization, so you need the YouTube Creator Studio app to further customize your video.
Things to Keep in Mind When Uploading a Video to YouTube
Before uploading a video to YouTube, there are a few things you should keep in mind to ensure the best possible experience for your viewers. Here is the checklist:
- Make sure your video is in 16:9 aspect ratio. This ensures that your video will fit perfectly on the screen of any device.
- Try downloading a high definition video. The video you upload must be at least 720p/HD to give the user the best experience.
- To get your video to show up in search results, optimize the file name. The uploaded file must have a name associated with the video content, not a random name or number.
- Add the correct YouTube tags to your video. The tags work like a keyword for a YouTube video, so they must be relevant to the video. YouTube allows a maximum of 500 character tags.
- The YouTube information card appears in the upper right corner of the screen during the video. You can add a video link, a survey, a website link, and more to grab users’ attention.
- There are people who watch YouTube videos with the sound turned off, or people with hearing impairments. For this reason, it is recommended to add captions to videos. YouTube also shows auto-generated video captions.
- Creating a custom thumbnail for your video can increase views. You can add targeted keywords, important frames, and a different title to your thumbnail.
- You must add custom end screens to keep your audience. You can either redirect them to another video or ask them to visit your channel page.
FAQ
What is the maximum file upload size?
Google mentioned in a blog post that users can upload any video to YouTube that is less than 256GB in size. This means that the maximum upload size on YouTube is 256 GB.
Supported video file formats
YouTube supports the following video file formats:
- .MOV
- .MPEG-1
- .MPEG-2
- .MPEG4
- .MP4
- .mpg
- .AVI
- .WMV
- .MPEGPS
- .FLV
- 3GPP
- WebM
- DNxHR
- ProRes
- CinemaForm
- HEVC (h265)
If you are using an unsupported file format, you will receive an “Invalid File Format”error message.
Video length limit
YouTube sometimes changes the video length limit. At the time of this writing, the video length limit is 12 hours. Google has changed the video length limit several times in the past, so you can watch multiple videos longer than 12 hours.