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Changes to Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017

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Starting July 23, 2021, Unlisted video(s) uploaded before January 1, 2017 will move to Private as part of a security update. If you would like your video(s) to remain Unlisted, you can opt out of this change here. As always, you can move your Unlisted videos to Public or keep them Private. Check out this video for more details.

As a reminder, there are three visibility settings for videos on YouTube: Public, Private and Unlisted. Unlisted videos can be seen and shared by anyone with the link.

Why? In 2017, we rolled out a security update to the system that generates new Unlisted video links. This update included security enhancements that make the links for your Unlisted videos even harder for someone to discover if you haven't shared the link with them. We're now making changes to older Unlisted videos that were uploaded before this update took place.

How do I know if I'm impacted by this?

To see the videos affected by this change, click here from a computer. On mobile, you can check which videos are impacted in the YouTube Studio app > videos > visibility > unlisted (and scrolling to see if any were uploaded before 1/1/2017).

What are my options?

As part of this process, Unlisted videos uploaded before January 1, 2017 will be made private starting on July 23, 2021. We are also giving you the option to opt out of this security update and keep your Unlisted videos in their current state  if you prefer. Here are your options:

  • Do nothing and videos will move to private: If you are ok with your unlisted videos uploaded before 1/1/17 becoming private there is no action needed. Once these videos are made Private starting 7/23/21, any link previously used to embed or share them as Unlisted will no longer work.

  • Keep video(s) as Unlisted: You can opt-out of this change to keep your videos in their current Unlisted state through this form. If you treat your Unlisted videos like Public content (e.g. they're embedded on third party sites or shared on social media), we recommend you opt out of this change. Your legacy links will continue working as they do today but they won't get the benefit of this security update.

  • Move your videos to public: You can always move your videos to Public.

  • Re-upload video(s) as Unlisted: If you want to keep your videos Unlisted and benefit from this security update, we recommend downloading them and re-uploading them as Unlisted under the new system. However, data associated with the original upload, like views or comments, won't transfer. Any embedded videos using the old link would also need to be updated to the new video URL.

  • Note: If you miss the opt out period, you can still change the video back to Unlisted in YouTube Studio (without the latest security) at any time - even after 7/23/21.

These videos are not new and therefore most of them have no recent traffic, which we hope will make this change less disruptive. We understand that this change may be challenging, so we're giving you time to make adjustments to your videos before this change takes effect starting July 23, 2021.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I'll follow up with answers to the top questions.

- Sarah, TeamYouTube

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