How To Open A Facebook Fan Page is a question we are asked on a Regular basis. Creating a Facebook Page for your business or brand is a great step towards building a social media brand.
Facebook is the largest social media platform online and is easily the most recognisable brand that you can adopt to share your own business and brand with possible future clients.
Facebook Pages can be a very powerful tool to get your name out there and expand the reach of your companies brand.
You and advertise upcoming events, publish recent blogs, share achievements and sell products directly to a marketplace. The best thing about Facebook and its huge client reach potential? — IT’S FREE!!!
1080pMost people use 1080p of Full HD to upload to YouTube. Its easy to use, fast to render in and good for uploads. But did you know that you can make it faster to upload to YouTube and small files sizes with a few tweaks.
My YouTube export settings for Adobe Premier Pro CC to guarantee maximum quality, faster tendering times, quick uploads and smaller files.
Resolution and aspect ratio
The standard aspect ratio for YouTube on a computer is 16:9. When uploading other aspect ratios (vertical, square, etc.), the player automatically adapts itself to the size of the video, giving the best viewing experience based on the aspect ratio and device.
Content should be encoded and uploaded using the same frame rate that was used during recording.
Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second (other frame rates are also acceptable).
Interlaced content should be deinterlaced before uploading. For example, 1080i60 content should be deinterlaced to 1080p30. 60 interlaced fields per second should be deinterlaced to 30 progressive frames per second.
The bitrates below are recommendations for uploads. Audio playback bitrate is not related to video resolution.
Recommended video bitrates for SDR uploads
To view new 4K uploads in 4K, use a browser or device that supports VP9.
YouTube video timestamps now come with skippable chapters that can help you rank better in search. Learn how to add chapters to youtube videos with time stamps and why they are so useful for YouTube and Google search results.
The new time stamp video chapters for YouTube videos give you the opportunity to add relevant sub titles to sections of your videos. This means people can skip to these parts quicker, helping them get the answer they want more directly. These snippets can work well for youtube promotion as they can also be found by Google and using in the search results as video snippets or result snippets for quick answers in results.
What Are YouTube Video Timestamps?
Timestamps on YouTube videos give you the chance to skim through the video quickly and find what you are looking for using the mini sub headings.
The timestamps are normally added to the video description by the video creator. You start with 0:00 to show YouTube where the video starts and you add time stamps to important parts of the video with index marks for example “2:53 – Step By Step Tutorial”.
YouTube video chapters can help you find the important part of the video faster.
If you are a creator and you upload videos, the chapters give you the opportunity to add additional, relevant keywords to the description of the video.
Why add keywords to the description?
YouTube search and google works on relevancy and meta data. If you post a video tutorial that has 5-6 different parts to it then you can section it out. Each questions could have a time stamp. Each of those time stamps could be a search term and each could have a chance of dominating search results with google snippets.
What Are Google Snippets?
Google Snippets (featured snippets) are short selections of text or clips of YouTube videos appearing at the top of Google’s search results that are designed to answer a searcher’s query.
The content that appears inside of a Featured Snippet is automatically pulled from web pages in Google’s index or snippets from YouTube Videos with timestamps. Common types of Featured Snippets include definitions, tables, steps and lists.
How featured snippets are chosen?
Featured snippets come from web search listings. Google’s automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request.
How to download a YouTube video — the official, legitimate ways.
The clean routes are YouTube Premium’s offline download (now on mobile and desktop) and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio. This guide covers exactly how to do both, the settings, what the downloads actually are, and the honest legal picture — so you save videos the right way.
Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I download my own videos constantly for re-edits and b-roll, and I know exactly what YouTube does and doesn’t allow.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: How do you download a YouTube video?
The official way is YouTube Premium: sign in, open the video, and tap or click Download below it — this works in the mobile app and on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. The video saves for offline viewing inside YouTube. If it’s your own video, download the actual MP4 from YouTube Studio. There’s no official free way to download other people’s videos without Premium.
Can You Download YouTube Videos?
Yes — through the routes YouTube actually provides. People download videos to watch offline on a flight or commute, to save data, to keep lectures for study, or (as a creator) to reuse their own footage as b-roll. The key is which method, because they’re not all equal — and only some are within YouTube’s rules.
There are two legitimate, YouTube-sanctioned ways: the built-in Premium offline download for watching inside YouTube, and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio as a real file. Everything else — the third-party “downloader” sites — sits outside YouTube’s Terms and carries copyright and security risks. This guide focuses on doing it properly.
The Legitimate Ways to Download — At a Glance
Method
What you get
Cost
Real file?
Premium (mobile)
Any eligible video, offline in-app
Premium sub
❌ Cached in-app
Premium (desktop web)
Any eligible video, offline in browser
Premium sub
❌ Cached in-app
YouTube Studio (your uploads)
Your own videos as MP4
Free
✅ Yes (MP4)
Google Takeout (your uploads)
Bulk export of your content
Free
✅ Yes
Public-domain / Creative Commons
Permitted content to reuse
Free
Varies
How to Download a YouTube Video With Premium (Mobile)
This is the built-in, one-tap method on your phone or tablet:
Open the YouTube app signed in to your Premium account.
Go to the watch page of the video you want.
Tap Download below the video (or via the three-dot menu).
Choose a quality if prompted — the download icon turns black when done.
Find it any time under Downloads in your Library, and watch offline.
How to Download on Desktop / Computer
YouTube expanded offline downloads to the desktop, so Premium members are no longer stuck on mobile:
Visit youtube.com signed in to Premium, using Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera.
Open the video’s watch page and click Download below the player.
Access saved videos from the Downloads section in the left-hand sidebar — even when you’re offline.
Handy for saving lectures or training on a laptop where the Wi-Fi can’t be trusted.
How to Download Your OWN YouTube Videos
This is the one that gives you an actual file — and it’s completely legitimate because you own the content. As a creator you’ll want this for re-edits, backups and b-roll:
Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Content.
Hover the video, open the three-dot options menu, and choose Download.
YouTube gives you an MP4 (note: it may be compressed from your original master).
For bulk exports of everything, use Google Takeout to download all your uploads at once.
Because the file can be compressed, it’s always worth keeping your original exports too — see my best 1080p rendering settings so your masters are top quality in the first place.
Download Settings & Quality (Premium)
A few Premium settings worth knowing:
Download quality — set a default (from low up to 1080p on supported videos) in the app’s download settings to balance clarity against storage.
Smart/recommended downloads — YouTube can auto-download suggested videos while on Wi-Fi so you always have something to watch offline.
Wi-Fi only — restrict downloads to Wi-Fi to protect your mobile data.
What YouTube Premium Downloads Actually Are
This trips a lot of people up, so it’s worth being clear:
They’re cached, not files. Premium downloads live inside the YouTube app or site. They won’t show up in your camera roll, gallery, Files app or a desktop folder.
You can’t transfer them. No moving them to a USB stick, another device, or a different media player.
They expire. You must reconnect to the internet roughly every 30 days so YouTube can verify your membership, or they become unavailable.
Some videos are blocked. Certain music videos, Kids content and region-locked videos have the download option disabled.
If you want a genuine, permanent, editable file, the only clean routes are your own uploads or properly licensed/public-domain content — not a cached Premium copy.
Downloading your own videos to reuse and grow?
On a free discovery call we’ll turn your back catalogue into a content strategy that drives traffic to older videos.
Short version: downloading through YouTube’s own tools is fine; going around them usually isn’t.
Legitimate: Premium offline downloads, your own uploads from Studio, and public-domain or Creative Commons content you’re permitted to use.
Problematic: third-party “downloader” sites and apps that save other people’s videos. These generally breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can amount to copyright infringement (the video belongs to its creator), and frequently bundle ads or malware.
Honestly? There’s no official free way to download other people’s videos without Premium — the built-in button is a Premium perk. What you can do for free and legitimately:
Download your own uploads from YouTube Studio (covered above).
Save public-domain or Creative Commons content you’re allowed to reuse.
You’ll find plenty of third-party downloader sites promising free saves of any video. I don’t recommend them: they breach YouTube’s Terms, risk copyright infringement, and are a common source of malware and scam ads. If you just want to keep watching offline, Premium is the safe, creator-supporting option — and if you only need background audio, there are ways to play YouTube in the background without Premium.
What About Third-Party YouTube Downloaders?
Search “YouTube downloader” and you’ll find hundreds of tools promising to save any video as a file. It’s worth understanding what they are — and why I don’t recommend using them for other people’s content. They fall into three broad camps:
Type
What it claims to do
The catch
Online converter sites
Paste a link, get an MP4/MP3 in the browser
Heaviest on ads, pop-ups and malware; often break
Desktop apps
Install software to save videos in bulk
Bundled extras; can carry adware; you install it with full permissions
Browser extensions
Add a download button to YouTube
Against YouTube/store policies; often removed; can read your browsing
Whatever the format, they share the same fundamental problems — and none of them are worth the risk for the sake of a video you can watch for free anyway:
They breach YouTube’s Terms of Service. Saving content outside YouTube’s own tools isn’t permitted, full stop.
They can infringe copyright. The video belongs to its creator; downloading and — especially — reusing or reuploading it can be infringement, as covered in is it legal to download YouTube videos.
They’re a security minefield. Free downloader sites are one of the most common sources of malware, fake buttons and scam ads on the web.
They’re unreliable. YouTube changes its systems regularly, so these tools break, disappear, or quietly start serving something nastier than a video.
They don’t support the creator. Premium downloads send a slice of your subscription to the people you watch; a ripper sends nothing.
The honest bottom line: if you want to keep watching offline, Premium does it cleanly and safely. If you want a real file, use your own uploads or properly licensed and public-domain content. The third-party route trades a small convenience for legal exposure and a genuine malware risk — a bad deal.
Downloader Safety: Red Flags to Watch For
If you’re researching these tools, know the warning signs — the same tricks turn up again and again on downloader and “free MP3” sites:
Fake download buttons. The biggest, greenest “DOWNLOAD” button is usually an ad that installs something else. The real link (if any) is small and plain.
“Your device is infected” pop-ups. Always a scam — no website can scan your device. Close the tab; don’t click.
Requests to install software or “a codec.” A browser converter never needs you to install anything to play an MP4.
Endless redirects and permission prompts. Notifications, “allow” boxes and new tabs on every click are adware funnels.
Asking you to sign in with Google. Never hand a downloader site your Google credentials — it’s a phishing red flag.
Simple rule: if a site is aggressively pushing you to click, install or sign in, back out. Nothing about saving a video should require any of that.
People Also Ask
How do I download a YouTube video on my iPhone or Android?
With YouTube Premium, open the app, go to the video and tap Download below it, then watch it offline from your Library. It works the same on iPhone and Android. Without Premium there’s no official in-app download for other people’s videos.
How do I download a YouTube video to MP4?
The only clean way to get a true MP4 is to download your own upload from YouTube Studio, or use public-domain/Creative Commons content. Premium downloads aren’t MP4 files — they’re cached copies locked inside YouTube.
Can I download a YouTube video to watch on a plane?
Yes — that’s exactly what Premium offline downloads are for. Download over Wi-Fi before you fly (mobile or laptop) and watch with no connection. Just reconnect within about 30 days so YouTube can re-verify your membership.
Is it safe to use a YouTube downloader?
Free third-party downloader sites and apps are a common source of malware, fake download buttons and scam ads, and they breach YouTube’s Terms. The safe options are YouTube Premium for offline viewing, or downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio — neither carries the security or copyright risk.
Why has the download button disappeared?
Either your Premium membership lapsed, or that specific video has downloads disabled — common with licensed music videos, Kids content and region-locked videos.
The official way is with YouTube Premium: sign in, open the video, and tap or click the Download button below it. This works in the mobile app and on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. The video is saved for offline viewing inside YouTube. If it’s your own video, you can also download the file from YouTube Studio.
Can you download YouTube videos without Premium?
Not through any official YouTube feature for other people’s videos — the built-in download is a YouTube Premium benefit. The free, legitimate exceptions are downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio, and saving Creative Commons or public-domain content you’re permitted to use. Third-party downloader sites exist but breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can infringe copyright, and often carry malware, so they’re best avoided.
How do I download my own YouTube videos?
Sign in to YouTube Studio, go to Content, find the video, open the options menu and choose Download. YouTube gives you an MP4 file (which may be compressed from your original). You can also export all your content via Google Takeout. This is completely legitimate because you own the videos.
Can you download YouTube videos on a computer?
Yes, if you’re a YouTube Premium member. YouTube expanded offline downloads to desktop, so you can save videos from youtube.com in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. Click Download below the video and find it in the Downloads section of the sidebar. The video stays inside YouTube rather than becoming a file on your hard drive.
Are YouTube Premium downloads real video files?
No. Premium downloads are cached copies stored inside the YouTube app or site for offline viewing — they don’t appear in your camera roll, gallery or file system, and you can’t transfer them to another device or player. They also require you to reconnect to the internet roughly every 30 days so YouTube can confirm your membership.
Is it legal to download YouTube videos?
Downloading through YouTube’s own tools — Premium offline, or your own uploads from Studio — is legitimate and within the Terms of Service. Using third-party tools to save other people’s videos generally breaches YouTube’s Terms and can be copyright infringement, since the content belongs to its creator. Downloading public-domain, Creative Commons or permitted content is fine.
Why can’t I download a YouTube video?
The download button only appears for YouTube Premium members, and even then some videos have it disabled — music videos with licensing restrictions, YouTube Kids content, and some region-locked videos. If you don’t have Premium, or the video is restricted, you won’t see a download option.
Are third-party YouTube downloaders safe and legal?
Generally no on both counts. Third-party downloader sites, apps and extensions breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can amount to copyright infringement when used on other people’s videos, and are a common source of malware, fake download buttons and scam ads. The safe, legitimate alternatives are YouTube Premium for offline viewing and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio.
Final Thoughts
So, how do you download a YouTube video? The right way is the simple way: YouTube Premium for offline viewing on mobile or desktop, and YouTube Studio for pulling down your own uploads as real files. Both are built in, both are legitimate, and both keep you clear of the copyright and malware headaches that come with third-party downloader sites. Save the videos you’re entitled to, support the creators you watch, and if you’re a creator yourself, treat your own back catalogue as the reusable asset it is.
A note on this guide: download features, availability and rules reflect YouTube’s official offline viewing help and Terms of Service at the time of writing (July 2026); features and availability vary by country and change over time. This is general information for creators and viewers, not legal advice.
YouTube have recently updated to the new YouTube studio. There are many new features but some of us still prefer the “old” classic creator dashboard.
How To Access YouTube Studio Classic Mode?
To access the old YouTube Studio click on your avatar in the top left hand corner and goto your channel home page. Click on the big blue customise channel button. This is display the only channel design, now click on your subscriber number and it will load you into the old dashboard. Simply click all videos and enjoy the classic studio.
Old YouTube Creator Studio – YouTube Studio Beta is being rolled out and will be the default dashboard for all users in early 2020. But if you’re like me, you prefer the familiar basic look and feel of the classic mode. So this is how you can still access classic mode.
In February, YouTube devs started auto-defaulting users to new Studio, regardless of their previous choice. For the time being, Classic is going to stay, but old platform’s days are practically numbered. How can we still switch back to good old classic version and set it to be our default – at least, while it lasts and YouTube doesn’t permanently shut it down?
We still prefer Classic over new Studio version. Force of habit is probably a dominant cause in this case, let’s admit that right now. Classic still offers a lot of features which Studio doesn’t at the moment, despite the fact that it receives constant updates with ported features and analytics charts literally on a weekly basis, getting new existing and exclusive ones like impressions and click-through rates, performance comparison between videos/channels, and easing access to others, like subscribers per each video and so on.
Still, one feature that we really miss is the x-axis time control. We still cannot select x-axis reporting interval and set it to be weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly or pre-defined rolling range in order to more easily visualize and see cumulative growth (or regression) over time on a simplified chart. With so much data available, it is often easy to miss a forest for a single tree.
Need help ranking your videos and growing your YouTube channel – I have a whole page of tools that can help you get started!
Another, relatively recent change, that is going away with Classic design is the top-left MENU button, that allowed direct access to MAIN YouTube menu (History, My Channel, Subscriptions, Trending, Premium, YouTube TV …), which now doesn’t do that any more. Instead, it does simple Collapse Menu action. Same thing happened to main YouTube page, where it collapses the menu, instead providing access to useful shortcuts.
Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!
Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the Shutterstock website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
It’s time to work from home 2020. I work at home as freelancer working remotely from my own home. Work at home jobs are not as easy as some people think so here are my tips for people with work at home jobs 2020 and how to fine or make your own work from home jobs during this very testing time.
Working at home online has been a real life line for me over the years. Being your own boss and keeping your own time comes with its own pitfalls. Today I am going to share you wou my productivity tips for working from home as a freelancer entrepreneur or while on lockdown.
It’s time learn how to go live on facebook! Facebook Live is great for livestreaming on facebook with Webcam lessons, remote learning, talking with family members or vlogging. Live stream to facebook from your pc, add polls, screen share and more in this how to use facebook live tutorial.
How To Livestream on Facebook Tutorial
0:15 – Start of How To Facebook live stream tutorial
0:24 – Facebook livestream dashboard
1:03 – How To Live Steam from a Facebook Page
1:27 – How To Crosspost Facebook Livestream
2:03 – How To Screen Share on Facebook Live
Download Music for YouTube videos – Looking to use chart music in your YouTube videos without getting stung with copyright issues? Asking yourself – How to Use Copyrighted Music on Youtube Legally? Then LICKD might a a solution for you. LICKD helps you license popular songs that maybe in the charts of trending and put then into your videos for a small fee without any major issues from the YouTube Bots.
Lickd is a digital platform helping YouTube content creators legally use the music they love. We provide commercial music from real labels for licensing in YouTube videos without the fear of a Creator losing their ad revenue to a Copyright Claim.
How can I legally use copyrighted music on YouTube? – When you get a third party content claim YouTube suggest you do one of the following:
Acknowledge it. If you don’t mind the ads, you don’t have to do anything.
Remove or swap the music. *
Share revenue. If you’re a partner you can share revenues for song covers.
Dispute the claim if you believe you have the right to use the music.
* In 2019, YouTube added new features to make it easier for creators to resolve the claims. In particular, YouTube configured their post claim tools – Add or Replace a Song, Remove a Song, and Trimming – to automatically release claims on some of the cases.
The best option is to secure the permission of the copyright owner to use their music on YouTube and to have the owner retract the claim. This may be free (as with Creative Commons or Public Domain music) or you may need to pay a licensing fee.
Getting the permission (or the license) may be easy or hard depending on what kind of music you’d like to use.
If you are after a popular commercial song this usually involves getting in touch with the publisher and working out a deal. As you can imagine, the licensing fees in this case may be quite substantial.
YouTube has a hidden diagnostics panel built right into every video — and most people have never seen it. It’s called Stats for Nerds, and it reveals exactly what’s happening under the hood: the resolution you’re really getting, the codecs in use, dropped frames, your connection speed and more. It’s really useful for troubleshooting playback and checking quality — and turning it on takes about three seconds. Here’s how, on desktop and mobile, plus what every stat actually means.
The 3-second version: right-click any playing video (desktop) or open the three-dot menu (mobile) and choose “Stats for nerds”. A live technical overlay appears. That’s it.
The rest of this guide explains what all those numbers mean and how to use them.
Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I use Stats for Nerds to diagnose playback and encoding issues on real channels, so this is the practical version.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: How do you turn on Stats for Nerds?
On desktop, right-click directly on the playing video and choose “Stats for nerds”. On the mobile app, tap the video, open the three-dot menu, and select the same option where it’s available. A small overlay appears on the video with live technical stats. Tap or click the X to close it.
What Is YouTube Stats for Nerds?
Stats for Nerds is a built-in YouTube feature — on both the desktop site and the mobile app — that displays live technical statistics about the video you’re currently watching. It shows things like the video ID, the resolution being played versus the optimal resolution, the video and audio codecs in use, dropped frames, your current connection speed, network activity and buffer health.
It’s called “for nerds” because most viewers never need it — but if you’re a creator, a gamer, or anyone troubleshooting why a video looks soft or keeps buffering, it’s the fastest way to see what’s actually happening. Think of it as YouTube’s hidden diagnostics readout, sitting in plain view behind a right-click.
How to Turn On Stats for Nerds (Desktop & Mobile)
It’s really a few seconds’ work. Here’s the exact process.
💻 On desktop (browser):
Open and play any YouTube video.
Right-click directly on the video image (not the surrounding page).
From the menu that appears, click “Stats for nerds”.
A small overlay appears in the top-left of the video. Click the X to close it.
📱 On the mobile app:
Open and play a video, then tap it to show the controls.
Tap the three-dot menu.
Select “Stats for nerds” where it’s available (some app versions surface it under Settings).
Read the overlay, then tap away or close it.
That’s the whole trick. The feature is a toggle per video — turn it on when you need it, close it when you don’t.
What Each Stat Actually Means
The panel throws a lot of numbers at you. Here’s what the important ones tell you.
Stat
What it tells you
Video ID / sCPN
The unique video identifier and playback session ID
Viewport / Frames
The player size and how many frames have dropped versus total
Current / Optimal Res
The resolution playing now vs the best one for your screen
Codecs
The video codec (VP9, AV1 or AVC) and audio codec (Opus or AAC) being served
Color
The colour space — e.g. BT.709 for SDR, BT.2020 for HDR
Connection Speed
Your estimated available bandwidth
Network Activity
How much data is transferring right now
Buffer Health
Seconds of video loaded ahead — low numbers mean buffering risk
Live Latency
For live streams, how far behind real time you are
Why Use Stats for Nerds?
It’s not just trivia — it answers real questions fast:
“Why does this look blurry?” Check Current vs Optimal Res. If current is lower, your connection or buffer health is forcing a smaller stream — or the video is still processing higher resolutions.
“Why does it keep buffering?” Watch Buffer Health and Connection Speed. A low, dropping buffer with a weak connection is your answer.
“Why is playback stuttering?” A fast-climbing dropped-frames count points to your device or connection struggling, not the video.
“What codec is YouTube serving me?” The Codecs line tells you instantly — handy when comparing AV1, VP9 and AVC playback.
For creators, it’s a quick sanity check that your upload is being served at full quality — which pairs naturally with getting your upload bitrate and resolution right in the first place.
Love the data? Let’s turn it into growth.
Stats for Nerds is playback data — the numbers that actually grow a channel live in your analytics. On a free discovery call we’ll read them together.
People mix these up, so let’s be clear. Stats for Nerds shows the playback technicals of a single video you’re watching — on any channel, yours or anyone else’s. It’s about how the video is being streamed to your device right now.
YouTube Analytics is the creator dashboard for your channel — views, watch time, traffic sources, audience and revenue. It’s about how your content performs. If you want to understand and grow your channel, that’s the tool that matters, and I break it down fully in YouTube Analytics explained. For a deeper dive on the playback readout itself, see Stats for Nerds explained. And when it comes to actually growing, it all feeds a real growth strategy — plus an understanding of how the algorithm works. A tool like vidIQ sits on top of your analytics to help you act on them.
Stats for Nerds FAQ
How do you turn on Stats for Nerds on YouTube?
On desktop, right-click directly on the video and choose ‘Stats for nerds’ from the menu — a small overlay of live technical stats appears on the video. On the mobile app, tap the video and open the three-dot menu to find the same option where available. Click or tap the X to close it again.
What is YouTube Stats for Nerds?
Stats for Nerds is a hidden YouTube feature that shows live technical information about the video you’re watching — the resolution being played, the video and audio codecs, dropped frames, your connection speed, buffer health and more. It’s built into both the desktop site and the mobile app and is mainly used for troubleshooting playback.
What does Stats for Nerds tell you?
It shows the current and optimal resolution, the codecs YouTube is serving (such as VP9, AV1 or AVC), the number of dropped frames, your estimated connection speed, live network activity, buffer health and colour space. Together these help you diagnose buffering, stuttering or lower-than-expected quality.
Is Stats for Nerds the same as YouTube Analytics?
No. Stats for Nerds shows the playback and streaming technicals of a single video you’re watching, on any channel. YouTube Analytics is the creator dashboard that reports your channel’s views, watch time, audience and revenue. One is about playback tech; the other is about performance.
What do dropped frames in Stats for Nerds mean?
Dropped frames are video frames your device couldn’t render in time, usually because of a slow connection, an overloaded device or a demanding stream. A few dropped frames are normal; a rapidly climbing count points to a network or hardware bottleneck rather than a problem with the video itself.
Why is YouTube not showing my video in high resolution?
Open Stats for Nerds and compare ‘Current’ and ‘Optimal’ resolution. If the current resolution is lower, it’s usually your connection speed or buffer health forcing YouTube to serve a smaller stream, or a newly uploaded video still being processed into higher resolutions. Give processing time and check your connection speed in the panel.
Final Thoughts
Stats for Nerds is one of those features that feels like a secret because it hides behind a right-click — but once you know it’s there, it’s the quickest way to see what YouTube is really doing with a video. Turn it on when something looks soft or keeps buffering, read the resolution, codecs, dropped frames and buffer health, and you’ll usually spot the culprit in seconds. And if you’re a creator, remember the bigger picture: the playback stats are handy, but the numbers that actually grow your channel live in your analytics.
A note on this guide: the Stats for Nerds feature and its fields reflect YouTube’s desktop and mobile apps at the time of writing (July 2026); the exact menu location and available stats can change between app versions. See YouTube’s official Help Centre for the latest. The vidIQ link is an affiliate link (rel=”sponsored”) and never changes the price you pay.
There are many tweaks you can make to your YouTube videos to increase your YouTube CPM.
When looking to increase your YouTube CPM consider the niche you are in. Some industries will pay a premium for advertising and attention. Avoid swearing. Videos that are over 10 minutes in length can have mid roll adverts to boosts its earning potential. Most importantly consider your video’s SEO.
YouTube adverts can earn you a little extra money on the side, but did you know it can be affected by what you talk about, how many adverts you show and what niche you are in?!
Evaluate your existing videos
Dive into your channel analytics and look at what currently gets you your best CPM (cost per thousand views). This will help you understand what topics on youtube channel make you the best money and attract the best adverts. You can then double down on those topics, making more of them to boost overall CPM income.
Videos over 10 minutes long on YouTube can have adverts at the start, the end and as many as you want in the middle called “mid-rolls”.
These can help multiply the money you can make from a single video. Imagine you get $5 per 1000 views for 1 advert and you add 4 more, that is 5x$5 so $25 per 1000 views, a huge jump in CPM rate.
Difference Niches Have Different CPM Rates
This is a lesson I learnt myself the hard way.
You could have an entertainment channel with a broad audience getting millions of views but if your niche is not advertiser friendly, or is too broad it might have a hugely negative effect on the overall CPM of your content.
However, if you target set niches you can boost your income.
Business, Money, Entrepreneurship, Real Estate and other “high end” niches attract higher paid adverts and therefore higher CPMs. Kids content, pranks, jokes, etc offer a wider reach but normally means easier to buy ads against as there are so many people making that content and less valuable transactions connected to it.
So consider the niche you are in if you want to increase YouTube CPM and boost your Adsense income.
Stop Swearing! – Yes this myth is true!
YouTube will listen and transcribe your content and there is statistics that show your channel and video income can and will be negatively affected by cussing/swearing.
When advertisers select what channel “buckets” they want to spend money on, you swearing might make you “less desirable” vs someone who has identical content with more family friendly language in their videos.
Make Money Blogging
If you have your content why not blog those videos onto a website and link that to adsense to maximize the income.
I have 500ish videos on my channel and over time I have been slowly adding them to my website blog.
This can help build search traffic, drive more people to the video and your channel but also gives you a chance to serve more adverts to the viewers. This means not only can you get in-video adverts but banner ads as well.
Passive Income Tips that helped me make over $5000 in “passive income” with affiliate links, marketing, advertising and more in the last 12 months.
Easy money and passive income is a lie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSC1Dp6Qrfk – I even made a video to rant about how the idea of relaxing on the beach with a martini and your ipad is complete BS, BUT hard work and laying the foundations and build up an automated income that make residual income and helps you earn while you sleep.
Passive Income in 2020, Passive Income meaning lazy money does not exists yet it is a holy grail for some people. Make money online, passive income from youtube, and passive income from investments are the great get rich quick schemes of the internet generation but I am here to tell you honestly that PASSIVE INCOME IS A LIE.
Make A Passive Income Online in 2020 – With HARD WORK!
The only true “passive income business” has been seeded by hard work for years as you build up a client base or a product back catalogue. The true passive income has a foundation of 10-25 years solid graft, investing in businesses, skills, services and customer care.
There is no silver bullet out there that will take you from your living room sofa to a villa in the maldives within 28 days.
How To Play Youtube In Background for FREE without YouTube Premium (iPhone and Android) – Listen to youtube videos with your screen off without draining your battery. The YouTube Premium App allows you to lock your phone and listen to videos and music without any interruption. Now in todays video I am going to teach you how you can do the same thing without spending a penny, all through your smartphones browser.
Play YouTube In The Background for FREE on iPhone and Android
STEP 1 – Open your internet browser on your smartphone (I found this works on Chrome and Google for the iPhone and Android), then goto YouTube
STEP 2 – Search for your desired video.
STEP 3 – Click play and then lock your phone screen – it will stop playing.
STEP 4 – Goto your notifications screen / lock screen and you will see your media player. Click PLAY and the media will play from the BROWSER without the need to use the YouTube App.
STEP 5 – ENJOY!!!
FREE YouTube Thumbnail Templates – How To Make A YouTube Thumbnail is a question i get all the time. To get some great ideas for my clients I use PlaceIT for YouTube thumbnail template ideas and best of all is some are free!
Wondering how to make the best YouTube thumbnails?
Thumbnails that grab potential viewers and make them click to watch? When you’re creating videos for YouTube, the thumbnail might not seem important.
You might be thinking – as long as the content is good, the thumbnail doesn’t really matter.
YouTube will offer you a choice of frames from your uploaded video to serve as this preview image, but rarely will this freeze-frame serve you well.
You need something that grabs the eye and communicates what your video is about at a glance. You want it to grab your target audience and make them think, I need to watch this!
The thumbnail is typically the first impression of your video, and essentially determines whether or not people will click through.
The YouTube thumbnail is one category included in the great YouTube cover, along with YouTube banners, icons, and watermarks. While a personalized banner can tell viewers about your Vlog’s content and who you are, the thumbnail will encourage them to watch your posted videos.
A thumbnail is a small picture representing your videos in a row of YouTube’s search results. Making unique thumbnails can actually encourage higher video view rates. There are many things you can do with your YouTube thumbnail design that will enhance the chance of it being got clicked on.
1. Only Use Relevant Pictures
One crucial rule to always remember when creating thumbnail is to never use a picture that has nothing to do with your channel or video. You see, branding is essential for the continuing visual marketing on social media webs like YouTube. If people feel cheated when they can’t find the relevant content in the video advertised by your thumbnail, they will leave at once (and may never return to your channel). So you need to keep the style of your thumbnail consistent across your YouTube channel.
There are 3 ways to ensure that your selected picture will never be off topic:
Take a still-shot from the clip and to use it as a thumbnail. In these cases, some users still employ graphics tools to put their logo or text to the picture.
Take photographs from the video (or take stills from the staged for the video), then apply them to what looks more like graphic pictures. This option is quite favored when it comes to YouTube thumbnail pictures, pictures of people included.
Use a custom-made picture featuring simple graphics as well as the video’s title. Many of these images also show the business’s logo or name in either bottom corners so that it may look discrete, but still present.
2. Technique Details
About the format: It must be in .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, or .BMP
About file limitation: must be less than 2MB
3. YouTube Thumbnail Size
As a rule, too busy thumbnail won’t show up clearly and properly. So here’s what you need to know:
Take into account the photo’s own size
The original size: 1280 x 720px is the recommended dimension, since it may be used for the embedded player as a preview photo
Think of how you can best take advantage of the space (while still remaining clear)
4. Color of Choice
As you have to compete in a long line with many other suggested videos, choosing the right colors for your thumbnail will go a long way in boosting your content’s views and clicks. Take these points into account when developing your thumbnail design:
Contrasting colors: ensure that the graphics and text will be read, as they immediately draw the eye in. This is especially true in the case of text and graphics on your pictures.
Bright or saturated colors: draw viewers’ gaze naturally. So they also help your video posts get more attention.
Dark shades might not show up very well in the video list’s sidebar that shown in other videos.
5. Take Advantage of White Spaces
Take advantage of this negative space if you want to use a designed or graphic picture. Your thumbnail will look clean and more organized thanks to the resulted high-quality appearance possessed by any professional photo out there.
Meanwhile, your rivalries will be edged out as your video post has drawn the viewers’ eye a split second faster because they’ve registered what your vlog is about in just a flash.
6. Using Title
Adding titles to your thumbnails helps viewers identify the videos quicker in searches. If your title style is unchanged, the titles will also let your followers identify your videos besides capturing the attention of those looking for one of your specific topics.
Don’t add too much text though. Just some texts are enough to heighten your video’s view rate. Never put more than one concise title. If needs arise, you can add a crisp subtitle beneath it in smaller text to get your point across, and that’s it.
7. Readable Text
By default, thumbnails are inherently not large when you’re editing them on YouTube. The finished work will appear smaller still when they’re looked via a mobile device. So if the details contained are too clustered, it’ll be hard to see.
The best way if you must have texts in your image is to make sure they are huge enough that viewers can make out the characters even when the picture is shrunken down.
8. YouTube Thumbnail Resolution
The resolution suggested by YouTube is of 1280px x 720px at the minimum. If this dimension is too low, the picture will appear pixilated.
It might be a bit hard to maintain a high-resolution picture so that it can be responsive to different platforms, sizes, and devices through YouTube alone. So, the advice is to try testing your YouTube thumbnail design in several sizes to make sure that it’ll come out well.
9. YouTube Thumbnail Template
For each of your vlog, YouTube chooses a thumbnail which is always a still image from said video. However, you can select which frame you want to apply. This is good enough for people who prefer simple styles. Other YouTubers prefer a custom thumbnail because they will get to choose the image as well as the title.
There are online sites like PlaceIT that allow you to edit available images and use them for your YouTube banners. You can also edit your thumbnails with the help of these YouTube cover maker, as they’ll let you import photos from your PC or other social media accounts. You can then edit them and finally use them to your preference.
Learning How to Tag YouTube Videos can be hard but I have a little technique to Tag youtube videos for search and more videos. In this video I am going to teach you how I tag my youtube videos and how you can use google, youtube search and tubebuddy to tag yours.
Tags help users find your video when they search the site. When users type keywords related to your tags your video will appear in their search results.
YouTube does consider user engagement as well (like number of views, views in common and user “retention”) but tagging is the *first* step to ranking your video in YouTube search results (and thus getting a good chance to get ranked in Universal Results as well).
How To Tag YouTube Videos
A most scientific (but still useful to start brainstorming) approach to classifying YouTube tags (pdf) groups all the tags as follows:
Generic relationship between tag and video content:
Tag identifies what the video is of at its most primary and objective level – no subject specific knowledge is needed to make this distinction (e.g. a video of a cat, tagged as ‘cat’ or ‘animal’)
General YouTube defined Category or Genre (e.g. Comedy, Entertainment, Music)
Specific relationship between tag and video content:
Tag identifies what video is of. Familiarity or some existing knowledge is needed to make this connection (this may be about names, locations, venues, etc).
Tag only useful to a minority of users, specific individual or group
Refining tag (Tag which cannot stand alone – only useful when looked at as part of the larger tag set (e.g., episodes of a series of videos specified by a number)
Self-reference tagging (e.g. “my dog”),
Irrelevant/Non Useful Tags (those may vary from attention-grabbing and misspelled tags to conjunctions and prepositions).
Obviously, the top three classes of tags should all be considered for ranking for various types of search queries (navigational search queries, generic search, category search, etc).
Win the click, get the views! Want to improve your click through rate, get more views and grow your channel? You need to work on your titles and winning that click using the CURIOSITY GAP! Make people intrigued, and they will fall into your videos and follow you through to the end of your story content.
As soon as you have uploaded a video, YouTube starts surfacing it to relevant audiences. Based on hundreds of signals, our systems determine which viewers are most likely to watch your video and continue to surface the video to audiences as long as it remains on YouTube.
You can do some keyword research using TubeBuddy to find the perfect tags and keyphrases to target.
Higher click-through rate alone isn’t a strong indicator of success. To get a full picture of what attracts and engages viewers on your channel or videos, follow our tips on using impressions and click-through rate data. In general, the best way to get more impressions is to consistently make great quality content that viewers love.
Why are my impressions and CTR really low?
If it seems like your impressions are lower than they should be, here are some things to keep in mind when looking at your impressions data:
Not every instance in which a viewer sees a video thumbnail will count as an impression, and not all views come from thumbnail impressions. Learn what counts as a registered impression.
Older videos may have more impressions, as they’ll continue to be surfaced to audiences as long as they’re on YouTube. To get a more defined view of how your videos are currently doing, look at the first 7 days after uploading to compare impressions data for different videos.
As your videos become more popular, they may be shown to a wider audience beyond your core viewers. This can result in a lower click-through rate (even if you see an increase in overall views and watch time).
Use the traffic sources report to see click-through rate by traffic source. This can give you an indication of how your thumbnails and titles are doing in converting impressions to views in different contexts.
Avoid trying to increase your CTR by using thumbnails or titles that are clickbait. YouTube will recommend a video to viewers if the video is relevant to the viewer and if other viewers find the video interesting, as reflected by the video’s average view duration. Clickbait videos tend to have low average view duration and therefore are less likely to get recommended by YouTube. You can tell if your thumbnail is clickbait if it is getting high CTR but low average view duration and lower than expected impressions.
What things do you need to start a YouTube channel? Many people ask me how do i get started on YouTube? How do I start a YouTube channel in 2020? And I always tell them it’s not about the expensive cameras and silly music or drones, it’s all about the heart, passion and sometimes just a mobile phone.
5 MISTAKES In Business I Wish I’d Learnt From Sooner // Starting and growing a business has its up and downs I have learnt a lot from my business mistakes. In today’s video I want to share with you the 5 lessons i learnt from my biggest mistakes over the years.
Going full time on YouTube is the dream of many creators. Some see YouTube as a goldmine, a get rich quick scheme that anyone can easily jump on and build a brand or business. But sensible people understand that is takes time, effort, luck and A LOT of hard work to make YouTube a Full Time job. In today’s video I share with you the last 3-4 years and tell you the steps I took to go from 0 subscribers to being Full Time YouTuber and business owner in 2020.
