Q&A for How to Post Private Videos on YouTube on PC or Mac

Private videos are completely hidden to outsiders. To watch a private video, you need to have special permission from the uploader and the link has to be sent through email. Unlisted videos are between public and private; they don't show up anywhere on the site except public playlists, but anyone who has the link can watch and share it.

Almost every video on them receives lots of hate comments especially if it is popular. Elliot Page is a famous actor who gets much hate because they were born a girl and many people say hateful things like, they're not a real man or their a woman with mental issues or something like that. Whoever uploaded the video, instead of just disabling comments, made it completely private, maybe by Elliot's request.

That's not a good idea at all. YouTube's bots can tell what content is in a video, and if they detect anything illegal or dangerous, then they might even notify the authorities. A better, and much safer alternative, is to discuss illegal activity where nobody can watch you (e.g., the woods) or use lots of obscure code words you gangsters can make up and understand. Or just, don't do illegal activity at all. Life is too short to do very bad things that can cost you your entire life.

That type of video often contains personally identifying information, such as usernames and peoples' faces. Since "cringe compilations" are just a way of making fun of people for being weird, it may have been changed to private by request just because of one video in the compilation.

Some of them do. Many private videos are actually the opposite, such as videos of little kids or just family slide shows or vlogs.

That depends on what exactly the private video's contents and subjects are exactly. For topics such as dress-up game slideshows or computers, probably nothing. But for very personal videos(e.g., a vlog on your neighborhood), someone can find out private information about you, such as where your house is or what school/work you go to. Personal videos with embarrassing subjects if made public, depending on what it is, can either make you a laughingstock or get you in big trouble with people you know.

Yes. The video with private contents can only be watched on the account hosting that video originally, so you need to know that account's password to access the video.

Anyone you don't trust. This includes strangers, for very personal videos that can reveal your home location; or your parents and teachers, for potentially sexual videos about yourself (if you are a minor). If you share your private video with someone, make sure they don't watch it where an untrustworthy person (such as a ratting sibling) can look over their shoulder and find out its content.

Don't. Even though they're completely hidden from the open, private videos can still be viewed by YouTube's bots which are able to recognize content and take action if it violates YouTube's community guidelines. Users have gotten into copyright trouble with YouTube before even though the users uploaded the videos in private and didn't share with any untrustworthy people. If YouTube can detect copyright violations in private videos, they can probably detect other illegal content as well. It's best not to risk it.

Yes. Private videos can be shared and embedded to other websites, much like with public and unlisted videos. However, only those invited to the private video can watch it. Anyone who's not invited will just see a black screen saying the video can't be watched.

No. All of the views that were counted for the video before it was made private, will stay there. The public just won't be able to watch it anymore, unless you make it public again.

You will know if you see any views on the video that you know weren't by you, if you didn't watch the video yourself many times. Ask your friends and family members if they watched it.

Within the device's gallery, find the video you want to upload and press the share button, then press YouTube, and you can pick what visibility setting you want when uploading the video.

Some people upload personal videos that they don’t want to be seen by the public. Examples could be videos of their children, family events, and secret work/school projects.

You need to be logged in and have a special link to the video in your email address. You can't watch private videos unless you are invited to do so by the uploader.

A private video is already completely secure, especially if you have never made it public in the first place. Those "hacks" that are said to make an outsider access a private video don't work anymore, due to YouTube's security improvements. Just in case you are worried that someone can watch a private video from having the URL (such as if it was saved in a playlist), then delete the video and re-upload it but still make it private; that way, members of the public will never find the video.

It means the video cannot be watched by anyone except the uploader and certain people with approved email addresses. You might see this message if the video was public before and was added to a playlist before the video was changed to private.

You need to be on their approved list to watch it. If you have access to a private video, you will receive a link in your email's inbox. The link only works for people who are on the approved list; outsiders will just see a message saying the video is private and it can't be watched.

Surprisingly, yes. Private videos may only be visible to the uploader and trusted friends who likely won't report, but the video can still receive strikes for breaking the community guidelines, and that includes copyright violations. The way this is detected is by YouTube's bots who scan through all videos no matter what visibility settings are used, since the general public (people, not bots) can't access a private video.

The video will not play, and there will be a dark background with a message saying the video is private. No other info (such as the thumbnail and the name of the uploader) will be visible either.

Think about whether or not you want other people (strangers, teachers, bullies, siblings, etc.) seeing the video, and if it contains anything that can reveal personal details (e.g., your location) or something embarrassing. You may think a public video from an unknown account stays unknown, but with the search filter's breadth and accuracy at finding your profile via comments or subscriptions, anyone can find the video. If you aren't sure if it should be public, make it private or unlisted instead.

If it says the video is private, that means it is private and only a few people trusted by the uploader can watch it. If it says the video is unavailable, it means the video was deleted and nobody can watch it.

Yes. The age-restriction setting is available no matter what visibility setting the video has. You just click the age-restrict option in the video's settings. Like any other age-restricted video, you have to be at least 18 years old to watch it, the only other difference is that your account's email address also has to be on an approved list by the uploader.

Sealioning is a type of trolling involving asking the same question over and over again in a conversation, when you already know the answer. The uploader was harassed by a troll who kept asking them annoying questions, so the uploader changed their video to private so the troll couldn't keep harassing them.

Some videos or pictures showing school projects can reveal personal information, like what school the kids go to. Other school projects aren't super personally identifying and are okay to show in public.