Frequently asked questions

YouTube respects the rights of copyright holders and publishers and requires all users to confirm they own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to upload content. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable copyright laws and promptly remove content when properly notified.

Repeat infringers' videos are removed and their accounts are terminated and permanently blocked from using YouTube. Users with suspended or terminated accounts are prohibited from creating new accounts or accessing YouTube's community features.

Yes, a content owner may always retract a claim of copyright infringement sent to YouTube. For more information on how to do so, go to the Retractions page.

You may not own the rights—unless you are the copyright owner of the material recorded, have the permission from the person or people who do own copyright in that material, or your use is fair use or fair dealing under the applicable copyright law.

Recording a television show, video game, or concert on your video recorder doesn't necessarily mean that you own all necessary rights in that video to upload it to our site. This is true even if the event or show you record is open to the public. For example, videotaping a concert of your favorite band does not necessarily give you the right to reproduce and distribute the video of the concert without permission from the music publisher (who represents the songwriter).

It doesn't matter if you recorded it for free from television, purchased a DVD, purchased a video game, or recorded it yourself at an event—you may still need permission from the copyright holder(s) of the material you drew upon to make your new creation.

It may seem confusing that you could record something yourself and still not own the rights to it, but this is the way copyright law is written.

Even if you never claimed to own the copyright or gave the copyright owner credit, posting these videos on YouTube may violate copyright law.

When we're notified by an authorized representative of the copyright holder that a particular video uploaded to our site infringes another's copyright, we respond promptly.

If there remain videos on the site that appear similar to the one(s) we've removed, we are likely either not aware of them or do not have reason to believe they are infringing.

Sometimes a copyright owner authorizes some, but not all, of its works to appear on our site. Other times, very similar videos are owned by different copyright owners, and one may grant permission while another does not.

Just because you paid for a DVD, CD or MP3, it doesn't necessarily mean that you own all of the necessary rights to upload it to YouTube. Even if you give the copyright owner credit, posting these videos on YouTube may violate copyright law.

Recording a cover version of your favorite song does not necessarily give you the right to upload that recording without permission from the owner of the underlying music (e.g. the songwriter).

It may seem confusing when a video you produced yourself is removed for copyright violation. Take a second to consider everything that you put in the video. Was there a song? Was there footage from a movie, TV show, videogame or other YouTube video? If so, you may be infringing someone's copyright.

We provide content owners with the ability to control the use of their content on YouTube. Because content owners have the right to change their mind about how their content is displayed on our site, it's possible that content that was once allowed is subsequently blocked. Also, it is possible that multiple parties hold rights to a different components (e.g. audio, video) of a copyrighted work. While one owner may allow the use of their material on YouTube, another may decide to disallow use.