How to make YouTube videos public, private, or unlisted by default

By Sean Doyle · May 30, 2019 · 2 min read

It’s easy to change default YouTube video settings to make them public, private, or unlisted by default. When these settings are changed, each video that is uploaded to YouTube will be what is set by the user. The settings can also be manually changed in the settings of each video or in the upload default settings for all videos.

By default, the default visibility of a YouTube video is set to public and the video is shown publically once it is uploaded and published to a YouTube channel. However, upload defaults settings can be modified or affected in another way and videos may be unlisted or set to private. This can cause issues for YouTube users who want their videos to be shown publically by default.

When YouTube video default visibility settings are set to private a message with a yellow background that says “This video is private. To share this video, change it to public or unlisted” is shown every time a new video is uploaded. If the YouTube user does not want the video to be private the privacy settings must be manually changed before the video is published.

If YouTube video upload default privacy settings are set to private, YouTube videos will only be visible to the uploader and anyone they share a private URL with. To fix this, change the upload default privacy settings to public or unlisted so that YouTube videos are visible to the public.

It’s very easy to change the privacy settings of all videos that are uploaded to a YouTube channel so that when they are uploaded they are either private, public, or unlisted.

YouTube Studio (beta)

Go to https://www.youtube.com/ and sign into your YouTube account.
Click your icon and go to YouTube Studio (beta).
Click Settings and go to Upload defaults.
In Visibility, select Public, Private, or Unlisted in the drop-down menu.

YouTube Creator Studio Classic

Go to YouTube and sign into your YouTube account.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/upload_defaults/.
In Privacy, select Public, Private, or Unlisted in the drop-down menu.

Tags: YouTube

Sean Doyle

Sean is a tech author and security researcher with more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, privacy, malware analysis, analytics, and online marketing. He focuses on clear reporting, deep technical investigation, and practical guidance that helps readers stay safe in a fast-moving digital landscape. His work continues to appear in respected publications, including articles written for Private Internet Access. Through Botcrawl and his ongoing cybersecurity coverage, Sean provides trusted insights on data breaches, malware threats, and online safety for individuals and businesses worldwide.

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