YouTube Video Privacy Options

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If you want to add video to your website or blog, we recommend using a video hosting service like YouTube. WordPress comes with a feature called auto-embeds which allows you to simply paste a link to a video hosted on YouTube, Vimeo or other supported hosting sites to embed the video on your site.

Can I upload my video directly to my site?

We don’t recommend this for a few reasons. Faculty Websites is shared service. By default, sites only have 1 GB of media storage. This will quickly get used with large video files. More importantly, WordPress is not a good hosting option for video due to bandwidth issues, video optimization, and storage. This article from WP Beginner explains why using WordPress to host video is not a good idea in detail. Services like YouTube are optimized to process videos. WordPress is not.

What about privacy? My video is for a class or event. I don’t want everyone on YouTube seeing it or leaving comments.

YouTube has settings to make your videos public, unlisted or private. See the sections below for help on setting up your video to suit your privacy needs. You can use your UCI Google account which even has the option to only allow those with UCI Google accounts to access your video.

What are video privacy settings on YouTube?

YouTube Video Privacy Settings

Public Video – Seen by and shared with anyone using YouTube

Public videos can be seen by and shared with anyone using YouTube. They're posted on your channel when you upload them and show up in search results and related video lists.

  1. Go to your Video Manager.
  2. Find the video you want to change, then click Edit.
  3. In the “Privacy Settings” drop-down menu, choose Public.
  4. Click Save changes.

Private Video – Seen only by you and YouTube users you select

A private video can only be seen by you and the users you select. If you use your UCI Google account, you have the option to make it available to let everyone “@uci.edu” see the video (if they have the link and use their UCI Google account).

Your private videos won’t appear to others who visit the “Videos” tab of your channel page and shouldn't show up in YouTube's search results. You can share a private video with other users over email if you want them to see it.

Comments are not available on private videos. If you want to allow comments on a video that's not publicly available, post an unlisted video instead.

  1. Go to your Video Manager.
  2. Find the video you want to change, then click Edit.
  3. In the “Privacy Settings” drop-down menu, choose Private.
  4. Click Save changes.

Unlisted Video – Seen and shared by anyone with the link

Unlisted videos can be seen and shared by anyone with the link.

Your unlisted videos won’t appear to others who visit the “Videos” tab of your channel page and shouldn't show up in YouTube's search results unless someone adds your unlisted video to a public playlist.

You can share an unlisted video's URL with other users. Unlike private videos, the people you share the video with don't need a Google Account to see the video.

Anyone with the link can also re-share it. For example, they can forward the link or add the video to a public playlist. If you don't want to allow others to re-share your video, make the setting private instead.

  1. Go to your Video Manager.
  2. Find the video you want to change, then click Edit.
  3. In the “Privacy Settings” drop-down menu, choose Unlisted.
  4. Click Save changes.

YouTube Comment Options

By default, YouTube allows comments on all public and unlisted videos uploaded. You can turn them off, hold potentially inappropriate comments for review, or hold all comments for review. This gives you more control over what is posted about your video.

  1. Sign in to YouTube on a computer.
  2. Go to Creator Studio > Video Manager.
  3. Select the box next to any of the videos you want to manage.
  4. At the top of the screen, click the Actions menu.
  5. Select More actions > Comments.
  6. Choose the setting that works for your use.
  7. Click Submit

Comments are not available on private videos. If you want to allow comments on a video that’s not publicly available, post an unlisted video instead.