So, you’ve created your YouTube channel…now it’s time to upload your first video.

While the process is fairly straightforward, there are still a few important things to keep in mind before you hit publish. In this guide, we’ll walk you through every step of uploading your first piece of content to the world’s largest video-sharing platform, helping you get your video online quickly and correctly.

Note* Before you can upload a video to YouTube, you’ll need a Google account and your own YouTube channel. If you haven’t set these up yet, take a look at our guide, How do I set up a YouTube channel?, which walks you through the entire process.

Ensure your video is upload-ready

Before uploading your video, it’s important to make sure it meets YouTube’s technical requirements and Community Guidelines.

Aspect ratios

First, decide whether your content will be published as a YouTube Short or a standard long-form video. Shorts are designed for vertical viewing, use a 9:16 aspect ratio, and must be 3 minutes or less. Long-form videos are typically created in a 16:9 landscape format. While this isn’t a strict requirement, sticking to this aspect ratio will ensure your video displays correctly across all devices and players. Long-form videos can also be significantly longer than Shorts.

Export settings

For the best quality, export your video as an MP4 using the H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec. Aim for at least 1080p (Full HD) resolution and ensure your audio is clear and balanced.

Community guidelines

Before you upload, check that your content follows YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Avoid using copyrighted material without permission and do not post content that promotes harmful, dangerous, or illegal activities. Taking a few minutes to prepare your video properly can help ensure a smooth upload and reduce the risk of restrictions or removal.

Prepare your thumbnail

Your thumbnail is one of the most important parts of your video. While YouTube lets you choose a still frame from your upload, creating a custom thumbnail is almost always the better option. It’s the first thing potential viewers see, so it plays a major role in whether they choose to click on your video.

Create a clear, eye-catching image that accurately represents your content. YouTube recommends a 16:9 thumbnail with a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels. Free design tools such as Canva make it easy to create professional-looking thumbnails, or you can use an AI image generator to create something unique. Use high-quality imagery, readable text, and avoid misleading designs that don’t accurately reflect your video.

Ready for the upload!

So, your video is ready and you’ve created the perfect thumbnail. Now it’s time to upload it to YouTube.

For this walkthrough, we’ll be uploading a standard long-form video.

First, make sure you’re signed in to your Google account, then open YouTube. You should see your channel profile picture in the top-right corner of the page.

There are two ways to upload a video. You can either click the + Create button next to your profile picture or upload it through YouTube Studio. To access YouTube Studio, click your profile picture and select YouTube Studio from the drop-down menu.

Click the + Create button and you’ll be presented with two options: Upload videos or Go live.

Select Upload videos to open the upload window. From here, either drag and drop your video into the upload area or click Select files to browse for it on your computer.

Once your video begins uploading, the arrow animation will launch like a rocket, confirming that the upload has started. You’ll then be taken to the next screen, where you’ll begin adding your video’s details.

The details page

Luckily, YouTube lets you start editing your video’s details while it continues uploading. Let’s take a look at each of the settings you’ll need to complete.

The first, and arguably most important, is your video title. By default, YouTube will use the name of your video file as the title, but you can easily change this by clicking in the text box and entering your own.

Your title plays a huge role in helping viewers discover your content, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right. You have up to 100 characters, but that doesn’t mean you should use them all. In many cases, the ideal length is around 45 to 70 characters, as this allows most viewers to read the full title before it gets cut off, particularly on mobile devices.

Don’t worry if you change your mind later. You can edit your video’s title at any time after publishing, and updating it can sometimes help improve a video’s performance if it isn’t attracting as many viewers as you’d hoped.

The next field to complete is the description. A well-written YouTube description helps the platform understand what your video is about, making it easier to recommend to the right audience. It also provides viewers with useful information about your content. Simply enter your description into the text box provided. With up to 5,000 characters available, you have plenty of space to include keywords, useful links and additional information.

Next comes another important part of your upload, the thumbnail.

As mentioned earlier in this guide, you can either select a still image from your video or upload a custom thumbnail. We would always recommend creating a custom thumbnail, as this is often the deciding factor in whether someone clicks on your video. Think of it as your video’s shop window.

To upload a custom thumbnail, click Upload file. If this is your first upload, YouTube may ask you to verify your account before custom thumbnails become available.

Once your account has been verified, click Upload thumbnail, choose your image and press Open. For the best results, make sure your thumbnail is 1280 × 720 pixels, which is YouTube’s recommended size.

The next section allows you to add your video to a playlist. Since this is your first upload, it’s unlikely that you’ll have created any playlists yet, so you can safely skip this section for now. You can always come back later and organise your videos into playlists as your channel grows.

Next, you’ll need to tell YouTube whether your video is made for kids.

If you’re unsure, it’s worth reading YouTube’s guidance before making your selection. As a general rule, YouTube states:

“General audience content is content that could appeal to everyone, but isn’t intended specifically for children, or content that is intended for a teen or older audience. General audience content should be set as ‘Not made for kids.'”

For most creators, Not made for kids will be the correct option.

Below this is the option to age restrict your video. Only enable this if your content contains material that is only suitable for viewers aged 18 or over.

Next, YouTube asks whether your video contains any paid promotions. If your video includes sponsored products, endorsements or paid partnerships, you should declare them here. For your first upload, this is unlikely to apply, so you can leave this unchecked.

One of the newer sections relates to AI-generated content.

YouTube requires creators to disclose if AI has been used to create realistic content that could mislead viewers. This includes content that:

  • Makes a real person appear to say or do something they didn’t.
  • Alters footage of a real event or location.
  • Generates realistic scenes that never actually happened.

If none of these apply to your video, simply move on to the next section.

The next option covers collaborations.

If you’ve created the video with another YouTube creator, you can invite them to be listed as a collaborator. This credits both channels on the video and can help viewers discover each creator. If your video isn’t a collaboration, simply leave this section blank.

The next group of settings covers YouTube’s automatic features. Here you’ll find options such as Automatic chapters, Featured places and Concepts.

These features help YouTube identify key moments and information within your video, making it easier for viewers to navigate your content.

Next are tags.

Although tags once played a major role in YouTube SEO, they are now far less important than they used to be. Today, they mainly help YouTube understand your content and account for common spelling mistakes or alternative search terms.

We still recommend adding a handful of relevant tags, as they can provide a little extra context. To add them, simply type each tag into the box, pressing comma after each one.

The next section covers language and captions.

Here, you can select the language spoken in your video and specify whether caption certification applies. Caption certification is mainly intended for broadcast content in certain countries, so most creators can leave this as None.

Next, you have the option to add the recording date and location of your video. This is completely optional, so feel free to skip it if it’s not relevant.

You’ll then need to choose the licence that applies to your video.

There are two options available:

  • Standard YouTube Licence: You retain your copyright, and other users cannot reuse your content outside of YouTube’s normal sharing features without your permission.
  • Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY): Other people can reuse, edit and build upon your video, even commercially, provided they give you appropriate credit.

For most creators, the Standard YouTube Licence is the best choice.

Next are two options we would generally recommend leaving enabled: Allow embedding and Publish to subscriptions feed and notify subscribers.

Allowing embedding lets other websites feature your video, helping you reach a wider audience. Publishing to your subscribers’ feeds ensures your followers are notified about your latest upload, giving your video the best possible start.

The next setting is entirely your choice.

Shorts remixing allows other creators to use clips or audio from your video when creating their own YouTube Shorts. This can help your content reach a wider audience, although some creators prefer to keep this option disabled.

You’re nearly there.

The next option lets you choose the category that best matches your video. Selecting the most appropriate category helps YouTube better understand your content and may improve discoverability.

Finally, you’ll reach the Comments and ratings section.

Here you can choose whether comments are enabled and how they should be moderated. The available moderation options are:

  • None – No comments are held for review.
  • Basic – Holds potentially inappropriate comments.
  • Strict – Holds a broader range of potentially inappropriate comments.
  • Hold all – Holds every comment for manual review.

You can also choose who is allowed to comment, such as everyone or subscribers only, and decide whether comments are sorted by Top comments or Newest first by default.

Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed the Details page. Once you’re happy with your selections, click Next to move on to the Video elements page.

Video elements page

The Video elements page is the next stage of the upload process.

Here you’ll find three tools that can improve your video’s accessibility, encourage viewers to watch more of your content and help your channel grow.

Subtitles

The first option is Subtitles.

Adding subtitles makes your videos more accessible to a wider audience, including viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, people watching without sound and those who speak English as a second language. They can also help YouTube better understand your video’s content, which may improve discoverability.

Click Add next to Add subtitles to open the subtitle editor.

If you already have a subtitle file, select Upload file to import it.

If not, choose Type manually to create your subtitles while watching the video. If you already have a transcript without timestamps, the Auto-sync option allows YouTube to automatically match the text to your video’s audio.

The video player on the right lets you play, pause, rewind and adjust the volume while creating your subtitles. You can also enable Pause while typing, which automatically pauses playback whenever you begin entering text, making it much easier to keep up with the dialogue.

Use the timeline along the bottom of the page to move to different parts of the video, while the zoom controls let you adjust the timeline for more precise editing.

Once you’re happy with your subtitles, click Done to save your changes.

For a more detailed walkthrough, take a look at our guide: How to Add Subtitles to YouTube Videos

End Screens

The next feature is End screens.

End screens appear during the final 5 to 20 seconds of your video and are a great way to keep viewers engaged with your channel. They allow you to promote another video, a playlist, a subscribe button or another YouTube channel.

There is also an option to link to an external website, but this is only available if you’re a member of the YouTube Partner Program, which requires your channel to meet YouTube’s eligibility criteria.

To add an end screen, click Add next to End screen.

You can either choose one of YouTube’s ready-made templates or create your own custom layout. Simply drag each element into position, adjust how long it appears on the timeline and preview the result before saving.

Since this is your first upload, you won’t have any other videos or playlists to promote. Instead, we recommend adding a Subscribe button. As your channel grows, you can always come back and update your end screen with links to newer content.

Once you’re happy with the layout, click Save.

Cards

The third and final feature on this page is Cards.

Cards are small interactive notifications that appear while your video is playing. They provide a subtle way to direct viewers to related videos, playlists, channels or approved websites without interrupting the viewing experience.

To create a card, click Add next to Cards.

Choose the type of card you’d like to add. You can link to another video, playlist or channel. As with end screens, linking to an external website is only available to creators who are part of the YouTube Partner Program.

Once you’ve selected the type of card, choose the content you want to link to. For example, if you’re adding a video card, simply start typing the video’s title into the search box. Matching results will appear below, allowing you to select the correct video.

Next, choose where the card should appear in your video. Use the timeline to drag the vertical marker to the exact point where you want the card to appear.

When you’re happy with its position, click Save to apply your changes.

You’ve now completed the Video elements page. Click Next to continue to the next page.

Checks

You’ve now reached the Checks page. This is where YouTube scans your video for any copyright issues before it can be published.

If YouTube’s systems detect any copyrighted material in your upload, it will be highlighted here. In our example, the video contains royalty free music, so no copyright claims or other issues were found.

Occasionally, even royalty free music can trigger a copyright claim. This isn’t necessarily a problem, provided you have the correct licence. If a claim is made, you can usually dispute it by supplying the relevant licence information or licence code. Once the copyright owner has reviewed your evidence, the claim will normally be removed. Just bear in mind that this process can take a few days.

If you have used copyrighted material without permission, the copyright owner may choose to monetise your video, block it in certain countries, mute the audio, or remove the video from YouTube altogether.

Once you’re happy with the results of the checks, click Next to move on to the final stage of the upload process.

Visibility

You’re almost there. The only thing left to do is decide who can view your video and when it should be published.

The Visibility page gives you three publishing options: Private, Unlisted and Public.

Let’s look at each one.

Private

Selecting Private means only you and the people you choose can watch the video.

If you select Private, you’ll see a Share privately box.

Click this box and enter the email addresses of the people you’d like to share the video with.

The second option is Unlisted.

An unlisted video isn’t searchable on YouTube and won’t appear on your channel for the public to browse. Instead, anyone with the unique link can watch it. This is useful if you want to share a video with friends, clients or colleagues without making it publicly available.

If you’re ready to share your video with everyone, select Public.

Once you click Save, your video will be published on YouTube and anyone will be able to find and watch it.

You’ll also notice the Set as Instant Premiere option.

An Instant Premiere allows you and your viewers to watch the video together as it goes live. During the premiere, viewers can chat with each other in real time, making it a more interactive experience.

For your very first upload, this feature probably isn’t necessary unless you’ve already built anticipation on social media or have an audience waiting for the release. In most cases, you’ll get better results by scheduling a Premiere in advance, which we’ll look at next.

Sheduling

If you’d rather publish your video at a later date, click the drop-down arrow to open the Schedule options.

The scheduling settings are straightforward. Simply choose the date, time and time zone for your video to be published.

You can also choose to make your scheduled upload a Premiere.

Scheduling a Premiere is a great option once you’ve started building an audience. It creates a public watch page before the video goes live, complete with a countdown timer, allowing viewers to gather before the premiere begins. Viewers can also chat with each other before and during the premiere, helping to build excitement around your upload.


If you enable Set as Premiere, a Set up Premiere button will appear underneath.

Click it to customise your premiere.

Here, you can choose from several animated countdown themes. Simply select each one to preview it in the player before deciding which style you prefer.

You’ll also be able to choose how long the countdown lasts, with options ranging from one to five minutes.

Once you’ve chosen your visibility settings, YouTube will remind you to review its publishing guidelines, particularly if your video features children.

When you’re happy with everything, click Save or Schedule, depending on the publishing option you’ve selected.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully uploaded your first YouTube video. As your channel grows, don’t be afraid to experiment with different titles, thumbnails and descriptions to see what resonates with your audience. Every upload is an opportunity to learn, improve and reach more viewers.

And now you have taken the first step towards conquering the content world, you should consider how to make your videos look more professional while also saving yourself from any copyright headaches.

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