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| The Best YouTube URL Advice & Techniques |
Despite the fact that YouTube is still the best video website on the internet, you probably don't give customization any thought. But there are other methods to modify YouTube, regardless of whether you use it seldom or frequently. Special YouTube link tactics are a significant subset of these. Let's examine some YouTube URL tips so you can make the most of the platform, such as creating GIFs from videos.
Link to Any Part of a Video
Normally, when you copy a link to a YouTube video and open it, it starts from the beginning. But if you want to show someone a certain section of a video or skip a lengthy intro, you can append a timestamp to the URL to start it at that time.
You can do this in a couple of ways. By manually adding &t=YmXXs to the end of a video URL, you’ll set it to start Y minutes and XX seconds into the video. You can omit minutes, or use only seconds, such as the 90s for a minute and a half.
So for example, this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
Can be shared two minutes into the video using this URL:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4&t=120
If you don’t want to use the manual method, pause the video at the time you’d like to share it, then right-click and choose Copy video URL at the current time.
Loop a Video Infinitely
You can find unique music on YouTube, such as video game soundtracks, which are perfect for learning. You can put a repeater after youtube in the URL if you enjoy a song and want to listen to it repeatedly.
This will open the video at YouTubeRepeater.com, which loops the video for you.
So change this URL:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
To this loop it:
youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
You can adjust the video's beginning or end times using the options on the new page's section below the video. Although the URL hack method was what we intended to emphasize, you can also do this directly on YouTube. To keep playing the YouTube video, simply right-click on it and select Loop.
Bypass Age Restrictions
On YouTube, some videos that are marked as having mature content are subject to age restrictions. You may use a quick hack to watch YouTube without logging in, regardless of whether you have a YouTube account or not..
Take a YouTube URL for a restricted video like this:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
Now, add NSFW in front of the youtube part of the link, as shown here:
nsfwyoutube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
The video will open on a new site that features no age restriction. In case you still see the message about age restriction, click here to try another method text at the top of the page. This will load it on a new page that will hopefully play the video successfully.
Skip a Certain Amount of the Intro
Similar to the URL trick that lets you pick the start time of a video, you can also choose to skip a certain number of seconds at the start of the video. You can’t specify minutes with this one, so use 90 (seconds) for a minute and a half.
So to skip the first 30 seconds of this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
Add &start=30 to the end of the URL and get this:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4&start=30
This is similar to the timing one but is a bit faster to type and doesn’t require you to remember a certain timestamp.
Claim a Custom YouTube Channel URL
If you have your own YouTube channel and meet certain requirements, you can set a vanity URL for your page. This is much easier to remember than the default random string of characters, so it’s worth doing for easier linking on social media and other sites.
To get a custom URL, your channel needs to meet the following criteria:
- Have at least 100 subscribers
- Be at least 30 days old
- Have an uploaded profile photo and channel art
If you satisfy these, head to YouTube Studio 1 by clicking your profile picture at the top-right of YouTube and choosing YouTube Studio. On the left menu, click Customization, followed by Basic info at the top.
You'll find your channel's standard URL and, if you're qualified, a field to enter a Custom URL on this page under Channel URL. Choose your channel's vanity URL with this.
One custom URL at a time is the maximum. If you currently have one, you cannot alter it, but if a new URL is available, you may delete the existing one. Do not modify this choice too frequently because it is only available three times a year.
youtube.com/[YourCustomURL]
Jump Straight to Your YouTube Subscriptions
The recommendations made on YouTube are frequently useless. You can create a better YouTube landing page, regardless of whether your recommendations are full of odd stuff or the home page features videos you don't care about.
Try using this URL to switch your YouTube bookmark from the home page to your subscriptions page while logged in:
youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
You may do this to view the most recent videos from the channels you subscribe to, making sure you never miss any of their fresh stuff. As a result, rather than YouTube making the decision for you, you determine what you view.
Grab the Thumbnail of Any Video
It’s common when searching Google for images to see pictures from YouTube videos, usually titled maxresdefault. With a URL tweak, you can easily view a high-quality thumbnail for any YouTube video (if it has one) by visiting the following:
img.youtube.com/vi/[VideoID]/maxresdefault.jpg
Replace the [VideoID] with the text after the v= at the end of a YouTube video. So to view the thumbnail for this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
Visit this link:
img.youtube.com/vi/A29MrXjOZd4/maxresdefault.jpg
Make a GIF from a YouTube Video
Found a YouTube video that has a GIF-worthy moment? You can easily create an animated GIF from any part of a video by adding a gif before the YouTube link.
So to edit this video into a GIF:
youtube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
Change the URL to this:
gifyoutube.com/watch?v=A29MrXjOZd4
You’ll be brought to gifs.com, where you can add a variety of effects and crop the GIF to your liking. Once done, share the GIF to social networks with an easy link or download it for safekeeping.
Note that exceptionally long videos won’t work with this service.
Mix Music From YouTube Videos
This one isn’t a true URL hack, as you can’t visit it right from YouTube. However, it still uses YouTube URLs, so we’re including it. Visit YouTube DJ 21 and you can add two YouTube URLs to mix their music together. Use the controls to set shortcut points to different parts of the songs, and adjust the fading and speed as you see fit.
If you’ve ever thought two music tracks would go together pretty well, this is the site for you!
Have More Fun With YouTube URL Tricks
These tricks will let you get even more out of YouTube. Some are built into YouTube itself, while others rely on outside services. It’s possible that any of these could stop working in the future, so your mileage may vary as time passes.
Happy learning!