YouTube isn’t just a place for watching videos – you can upload your own movies too.
Some phones, camcorders and digital cameras can upload directly to YouTube, but in this article we’ll look at how you do it using a video file saved to your notebook computer or desktop PC.
First, you need a Google account to upload to YouTube. Go to youtube.com and click the ‘Create Account’ link at the top right of the page.
Or if you already have a Gmail, Picasa or general Google account, click ‘Sign In’ and use your gmail address and password as the username.
Now you’re logged in, click the ‘Upload’ link. The upload page is pretty simple – just drag a video file from your computer to the page.
While the video uploading, you can fill in the form below it – and don’t forget a meaningful title!
After YouTube finishes uploading your video, it needs to optimise it for streaming. It’s a completely automatic process that you don’t need to worry about.
You can watch your video while this is happening, but it may appear fuzzy and pixelated – don’t worry, it will look clear again when it’s finished.
To double-check your video made it onto YouTube, do a search for the title.
All the videos you upload will be grouped under your name. You can see them all by clicking your name in the top right of the page.
Choose ‘Channel’ or ‘Videos’ to see a list of all the videos you’ve uploaded.
You can click the ‘Share’ button under your video to post it to your Facebook page so all your friends and family know it’s been uploaded.
Or if you’re old-fashioned you can even email it!
