Uploading your own videos

Once you've recorded your video (and perhaps made some edits in a video editing application), you're ready to upload it to YouTube. The process is fairly simple. Just select the Upload button near the top-right corner of any YouTube page (it looks like a video camera with a plus sign in it), then choose your video.

While the video is uploading, you'll be able to add a video description, choose the visibility settings (which we'll talk about below), and more. The upload time will depend on a few factors, including the length of the video and your Internet connection speed. Watch this video from the YouTube Help channel to learn how to upload your own videos.

You'll also need to make sure your video is in a supported file format, such as .mpeg4, .avi, or .wmv. You can check out this page from YouTube Help to see a full list of supported file formats.

Video privacy

As we mentioned above, you'll be able to choose from a few visibility options for any video you upload:

• Public: This is visible to all YouTube users and others online.
• Unlisted: This is visible only to people who have the URL address for the video.
• Private: This is visible only to you and the people you choose to share it with (these users will be required to sign in with a Google account to view the video).

Understanding copyright on YouTube

Over the years, there have been several copyright concerns with YouTube. For example, many people have uploaded movies, TV shows, and music that did not belong to them. The simplest way to avoid a copyright dispute is to only upload videos you've created. This is because you own the copyright to any video you make. Watch this video from the YouTube Help channel to learn more about the basics of copyright.

If you're unsure whether a video violates copyright, the YouTube Copyright Center and its Frequently asked copyright questions page may be able to help.