Prosper with Your Live Video on YouTube: A Complete Blueprint

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Live Streaming

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Mastering the Download of YouTube’s Default Thumbnails Effortlessly

How to Download YouTube Thumbnail in 3 Ways [Online/Win/Mac]

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

A YouTube thumbnail is the minimized edition of a video that a viewer sees first when they are looking for relevant content that presents the desired satisfaction. The miniature clips with conspicuous images that one can click on to view the contents of a video are what YouTube thumbnails are. People have varying reasons to download YouTube thumbnail. One of them is that you may have already uploaded the video and want to save the thumbnail on your computer. Other people want to download YouTube thumbnail for work use, designing, blogging, or just to share it with friends. In this article, we are going to discuss three easy ways to download YouTube thumbnail. You will learn:

• 1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?
• 2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?
• 3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?
• 4. Warning and Notice
• 5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?

If you want to download the thumbnail from your own YouTube video, then all you need to do is:

• Simply open the video manager.
• You then need to click on the Edit button next to the video.

• Hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnail and some options will show up. Click on Download image

• The thumbnail image of your video will show up. Right click it, select Save Images As, and you will then have to choose the location that you would want to save the file in and that’s about all it takes to download YouTube thumbnails from your videos.

2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?

Alternatively, you can also download YouTube thumbnail from an online YouTube thumbnail downloaders. It’s free to use and you don’t need to register any service. Here are the steps:

• Click Here to open the online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
• Copy the URL link of your YouTube video and paste it to the box. Then click Download Now button

• Once you click on download it will give you several resolutions to save it to your computer or Smartphone. This method also allows you to choose a variety of sizes that are going to be compatible with your device

• Upon clicking on download, you will get the save as prompt to choose the destination that the thumbnail to be stored in. Then it is up to you to decide on the name you would want the thumbnail to have or just leave it with the default name.

3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?

You can also download YouTube thumbnail by a direct url. Let us see how it can done using this method:

• Get the ID of the YouTube video. Just open that video on YouTube and a long address will appear has some random letters and numbers that come after the equals sign. This is the actual video ID that you need to use to download the thumbnail.

• All the YouTube thumbnails can be accessed using the same URL. You only need to go to the url in the picture below.

• Copy those random numbers that we said are the video ID and paste them in the part that says ID in the above URL then click on enter.

• When the video is open just right-click anywhere in your browser and select save image as to download YouTube thumbnail on your computer. This URL is the one that will give you the best resolution of the video that you want.

4. Warning and Notice

If the video belongs to someone else then the copyright belongs to that person. It is common for people to steal other people’s work and post it as their own and that is a breach. Even if you are to include a note that indicates the original creator it would still be their work and not yours. You will require having permission from the owner especially if you intend to use it for commercial purposes. Otherwise, you will be infringing on their rights and can be liable for legal action.

YouTube is very strict on works that infringe copyrights and is quick to block or pull-down such videos. If someone notices that you are using their thumbnail or video and reports it YouTube takes it down. It is possible for you to simply contact the owner of the video to ask for the permission with an explanation of the purpose.

5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

There are various ways you can create YouTube thumbnails that captivate the attention of the intended viewers. We are going to look at how to simply do it with Canva that you could use to accomplish the task with perfection. It has a state of the art interface that is easy to use. Here is how:

• Pick a presentable template in the Canvas library that has hundreds of diverse YouTube thumbnail designs. You have a wide range to pick the design that best suits your desired taste or alternatively design the template from the scratch if you have the knowhow.
• Select the professional graphic design elements you would want to incorporate. There are an excess of 2 million images at your disposal here and you can add your own. You will find custom frames, icons and banners to create YouTube thumbnail here.
• In the placeholder that allows you to include a message there are countless fonts to make a choice from for free.
• You can easily customize your YouTube thumbnail by altering the colors, fonts or background to give it an irresistible appearance.
• Share or download the finished YouTube thumbnail.

Don’t want to switch between software to create your YouTube thumbnail? Try Filmora

For some of us, switching between different softwares can be troublesome. Then try Filmora! You can not only edit your video, but also create thumbnail with it. Learn how to create a thumbnail for free using Filmora and try out its editing features yourself.

Note:

The content of your video should feature as a snapshot in your YouTube thumbnail for it to create a sense of suspense thus curiosity. The caption you choose to go with your thumbnail must be captivating and relevant to the content. It is these minor details that you include to create YouTube thumbnail that draws a lot of traffic to your video.

You may also like: Top 10 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers

Conclusion

There is little difference in the method in the methods to download YouTube thumbnail as they are all easy to master. You will also come across some extensions that are added to the browser to perform the same function with similar results. The tricky part here is how to create YouTube thumbnails as it might require the touch of an expert. YouTube thumbnails play an important role in SEO thus the need to consult better-equipped people for that role if you are not up to it. The experts in the field are also aware of the trends and will advise you accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

A YouTube thumbnail is the minimized edition of a video that a viewer sees first when they are looking for relevant content that presents the desired satisfaction. The miniature clips with conspicuous images that one can click on to view the contents of a video are what YouTube thumbnails are. People have varying reasons to download YouTube thumbnail. One of them is that you may have already uploaded the video and want to save the thumbnail on your computer. Other people want to download YouTube thumbnail for work use, designing, blogging, or just to share it with friends. In this article, we are going to discuss three easy ways to download YouTube thumbnail. You will learn:

• 1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?
• 2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?
• 3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?
• 4. Warning and Notice
• 5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?

If you want to download the thumbnail from your own YouTube video, then all you need to do is:

• Simply open the video manager.
• You then need to click on the Edit button next to the video.

• Hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnail and some options will show up. Click on Download image

• The thumbnail image of your video will show up. Right click it, select Save Images As, and you will then have to choose the location that you would want to save the file in and that’s about all it takes to download YouTube thumbnails from your videos.

2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?

Alternatively, you can also download YouTube thumbnail from an online YouTube thumbnail downloaders. It’s free to use and you don’t need to register any service. Here are the steps:

• Click Here to open the online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
• Copy the URL link of your YouTube video and paste it to the box. Then click Download Now button

• Once you click on download it will give you several resolutions to save it to your computer or Smartphone. This method also allows you to choose a variety of sizes that are going to be compatible with your device

• Upon clicking on download, you will get the save as prompt to choose the destination that the thumbnail to be stored in. Then it is up to you to decide on the name you would want the thumbnail to have or just leave it with the default name.

3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?

You can also download YouTube thumbnail by a direct url. Let us see how it can done using this method:

• Get the ID of the YouTube video. Just open that video on YouTube and a long address will appear has some random letters and numbers that come after the equals sign. This is the actual video ID that you need to use to download the thumbnail.

• All the YouTube thumbnails can be accessed using the same URL. You only need to go to the url in the picture below.

• Copy those random numbers that we said are the video ID and paste them in the part that says ID in the above URL then click on enter.

• When the video is open just right-click anywhere in your browser and select save image as to download YouTube thumbnail on your computer. This URL is the one that will give you the best resolution of the video that you want.

4. Warning and Notice

If the video belongs to someone else then the copyright belongs to that person. It is common for people to steal other people’s work and post it as their own and that is a breach. Even if you are to include a note that indicates the original creator it would still be their work and not yours. You will require having permission from the owner especially if you intend to use it for commercial purposes. Otherwise, you will be infringing on their rights and can be liable for legal action.

YouTube is very strict on works that infringe copyrights and is quick to block or pull-down such videos. If someone notices that you are using their thumbnail or video and reports it YouTube takes it down. It is possible for you to simply contact the owner of the video to ask for the permission with an explanation of the purpose.

5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

There are various ways you can create YouTube thumbnails that captivate the attention of the intended viewers. We are going to look at how to simply do it with Canva that you could use to accomplish the task with perfection. It has a state of the art interface that is easy to use. Here is how:

• Pick a presentable template in the Canvas library that has hundreds of diverse YouTube thumbnail designs. You have a wide range to pick the design that best suits your desired taste or alternatively design the template from the scratch if you have the knowhow.
• Select the professional graphic design elements you would want to incorporate. There are an excess of 2 million images at your disposal here and you can add your own. You will find custom frames, icons and banners to create YouTube thumbnail here.
• In the placeholder that allows you to include a message there are countless fonts to make a choice from for free.
• You can easily customize your YouTube thumbnail by altering the colors, fonts or background to give it an irresistible appearance.
• Share or download the finished YouTube thumbnail.

Don’t want to switch between software to create your YouTube thumbnail? Try Filmora

For some of us, switching between different softwares can be troublesome. Then try Filmora! You can not only edit your video, but also create thumbnail with it. Learn how to create a thumbnail for free using Filmora and try out its editing features yourself.

Note:

The content of your video should feature as a snapshot in your YouTube thumbnail for it to create a sense of suspense thus curiosity. The caption you choose to go with your thumbnail must be captivating and relevant to the content. It is these minor details that you include to create YouTube thumbnail that draws a lot of traffic to your video.

You may also like: Top 10 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers

Conclusion

There is little difference in the method in the methods to download YouTube thumbnail as they are all easy to master. You will also come across some extensions that are added to the browser to perform the same function with similar results. The tricky part here is how to create YouTube thumbnails as it might require the touch of an expert. YouTube thumbnails play an important role in SEO thus the need to consult better-equipped people for that role if you are not up to it. The experts in the field are also aware of the trends and will advise you accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

A YouTube thumbnail is the minimized edition of a video that a viewer sees first when they are looking for relevant content that presents the desired satisfaction. The miniature clips with conspicuous images that one can click on to view the contents of a video are what YouTube thumbnails are. People have varying reasons to download YouTube thumbnail. One of them is that you may have already uploaded the video and want to save the thumbnail on your computer. Other people want to download YouTube thumbnail for work use, designing, blogging, or just to share it with friends. In this article, we are going to discuss three easy ways to download YouTube thumbnail. You will learn:

• 1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?
• 2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?
• 3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?
• 4. Warning and Notice
• 5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?

If you want to download the thumbnail from your own YouTube video, then all you need to do is:

• Simply open the video manager.
• You then need to click on the Edit button next to the video.

• Hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnail and some options will show up. Click on Download image

• The thumbnail image of your video will show up. Right click it, select Save Images As, and you will then have to choose the location that you would want to save the file in and that’s about all it takes to download YouTube thumbnails from your videos.

2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?

Alternatively, you can also download YouTube thumbnail from an online YouTube thumbnail downloaders. It’s free to use and you don’t need to register any service. Here are the steps:

• Click Here to open the online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
• Copy the URL link of your YouTube video and paste it to the box. Then click Download Now button

• Once you click on download it will give you several resolutions to save it to your computer or Smartphone. This method also allows you to choose a variety of sizes that are going to be compatible with your device

• Upon clicking on download, you will get the save as prompt to choose the destination that the thumbnail to be stored in. Then it is up to you to decide on the name you would want the thumbnail to have or just leave it with the default name.

3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?

You can also download YouTube thumbnail by a direct url. Let us see how it can done using this method:

• Get the ID of the YouTube video. Just open that video on YouTube and a long address will appear has some random letters and numbers that come after the equals sign. This is the actual video ID that you need to use to download the thumbnail.

• All the YouTube thumbnails can be accessed using the same URL. You only need to go to the url in the picture below.

• Copy those random numbers that we said are the video ID and paste them in the part that says ID in the above URL then click on enter.

• When the video is open just right-click anywhere in your browser and select save image as to download YouTube thumbnail on your computer. This URL is the one that will give you the best resolution of the video that you want.

4. Warning and Notice

If the video belongs to someone else then the copyright belongs to that person. It is common for people to steal other people’s work and post it as their own and that is a breach. Even if you are to include a note that indicates the original creator it would still be their work and not yours. You will require having permission from the owner especially if you intend to use it for commercial purposes. Otherwise, you will be infringing on their rights and can be liable for legal action.

YouTube is very strict on works that infringe copyrights and is quick to block or pull-down such videos. If someone notices that you are using their thumbnail or video and reports it YouTube takes it down. It is possible for you to simply contact the owner of the video to ask for the permission with an explanation of the purpose.

5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

There are various ways you can create YouTube thumbnails that captivate the attention of the intended viewers. We are going to look at how to simply do it with Canva that you could use to accomplish the task with perfection. It has a state of the art interface that is easy to use. Here is how:

• Pick a presentable template in the Canvas library that has hundreds of diverse YouTube thumbnail designs. You have a wide range to pick the design that best suits your desired taste or alternatively design the template from the scratch if you have the knowhow.
• Select the professional graphic design elements you would want to incorporate. There are an excess of 2 million images at your disposal here and you can add your own. You will find custom frames, icons and banners to create YouTube thumbnail here.
• In the placeholder that allows you to include a message there are countless fonts to make a choice from for free.
• You can easily customize your YouTube thumbnail by altering the colors, fonts or background to give it an irresistible appearance.
• Share or download the finished YouTube thumbnail.

Don’t want to switch between software to create your YouTube thumbnail? Try Filmora

For some of us, switching between different softwares can be troublesome. Then try Filmora! You can not only edit your video, but also create thumbnail with it. Learn how to create a thumbnail for free using Filmora and try out its editing features yourself.

Note:

The content of your video should feature as a snapshot in your YouTube thumbnail for it to create a sense of suspense thus curiosity. The caption you choose to go with your thumbnail must be captivating and relevant to the content. It is these minor details that you include to create YouTube thumbnail that draws a lot of traffic to your video.

You may also like: Top 10 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers

Conclusion

There is little difference in the method in the methods to download YouTube thumbnail as they are all easy to master. You will also come across some extensions that are added to the browser to perform the same function with similar results. The tricky part here is how to create YouTube thumbnails as it might require the touch of an expert. YouTube thumbnails play an important role in SEO thus the need to consult better-equipped people for that role if you are not up to it. The experts in the field are also aware of the trends and will advise you accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

A YouTube thumbnail is the minimized edition of a video that a viewer sees first when they are looking for relevant content that presents the desired satisfaction. The miniature clips with conspicuous images that one can click on to view the contents of a video are what YouTube thumbnails are. People have varying reasons to download YouTube thumbnail. One of them is that you may have already uploaded the video and want to save the thumbnail on your computer. Other people want to download YouTube thumbnail for work use, designing, blogging, or just to share it with friends. In this article, we are going to discuss three easy ways to download YouTube thumbnail. You will learn:

• 1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?
• 2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?
• 3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?
• 4. Warning and Notice
• 5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

1. How to Download Thumbnail from Your Own YouTube Video?

If you want to download the thumbnail from your own YouTube video, then all you need to do is:

• Simply open the video manager.
• You then need to click on the Edit button next to the video.

• Hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnail and some options will show up. Click on Download image

• The thumbnail image of your video will show up. Right click it, select Save Images As, and you will then have to choose the location that you would want to save the file in and that’s about all it takes to download YouTube thumbnails from your videos.

2. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by Online Downloader?

Alternatively, you can also download YouTube thumbnail from an online YouTube thumbnail downloaders. It’s free to use and you don’t need to register any service. Here are the steps:

• Click Here to open the online YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
• Copy the URL link of your YouTube video and paste it to the box. Then click Download Now button

• Once you click on download it will give you several resolutions to save it to your computer or Smartphone. This method also allows you to choose a variety of sizes that are going to be compatible with your device

• Upon clicking on download, you will get the save as prompt to choose the destination that the thumbnail to be stored in. Then it is up to you to decide on the name you would want the thumbnail to have or just leave it with the default name.

3. How to Download YouTube Thumbnail by a Custom URL?

You can also download YouTube thumbnail by a direct url. Let us see how it can done using this method:

• Get the ID of the YouTube video. Just open that video on YouTube and a long address will appear has some random letters and numbers that come after the equals sign. This is the actual video ID that you need to use to download the thumbnail.

• All the YouTube thumbnails can be accessed using the same URL. You only need to go to the url in the picture below.

• Copy those random numbers that we said are the video ID and paste them in the part that says ID in the above URL then click on enter.

• When the video is open just right-click anywhere in your browser and select save image as to download YouTube thumbnail on your computer. This URL is the one that will give you the best resolution of the video that you want.

4. Warning and Notice

If the video belongs to someone else then the copyright belongs to that person. It is common for people to steal other people’s work and post it as their own and that is a breach. Even if you are to include a note that indicates the original creator it would still be their work and not yours. You will require having permission from the owner especially if you intend to use it for commercial purposes. Otherwise, you will be infringing on their rights and can be liable for legal action.

YouTube is very strict on works that infringe copyrights and is quick to block or pull-down such videos. If someone notices that you are using their thumbnail or video and reports it YouTube takes it down. It is possible for you to simply contact the owner of the video to ask for the permission with an explanation of the purpose.

5. Bonus Tip-Create YouTube Thumbnail for Free

There are various ways you can create YouTube thumbnails that captivate the attention of the intended viewers. We are going to look at how to simply do it with Canva that you could use to accomplish the task with perfection. It has a state of the art interface that is easy to use. Here is how:

• Pick a presentable template in the Canvas library that has hundreds of diverse YouTube thumbnail designs. You have a wide range to pick the design that best suits your desired taste or alternatively design the template from the scratch if you have the knowhow.
• Select the professional graphic design elements you would want to incorporate. There are an excess of 2 million images at your disposal here and you can add your own. You will find custom frames, icons and banners to create YouTube thumbnail here.
• In the placeholder that allows you to include a message there are countless fonts to make a choice from for free.
• You can easily customize your YouTube thumbnail by altering the colors, fonts or background to give it an irresistible appearance.
• Share or download the finished YouTube thumbnail.

Don’t want to switch between software to create your YouTube thumbnail? Try Filmora

For some of us, switching between different softwares can be troublesome. Then try Filmora! You can not only edit your video, but also create thumbnail with it. Learn how to create a thumbnail for free using Filmora and try out its editing features yourself.

Note:

The content of your video should feature as a snapshot in your YouTube thumbnail for it to create a sense of suspense thus curiosity. The caption you choose to go with your thumbnail must be captivating and relevant to the content. It is these minor details that you include to create YouTube thumbnail that draws a lot of traffic to your video.

You may also like: Top 10 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers

Conclusion

There is little difference in the method in the methods to download YouTube thumbnail as they are all easy to master. You will also come across some extensions that are added to the browser to perform the same function with similar results. The tricky part here is how to create YouTube thumbnails as it might require the touch of an expert. YouTube thumbnails play an important role in SEO thus the need to consult better-equipped people for that role if you are not up to it. The experts in the field are also aware of the trends and will advise you accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett