YouTube
10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About
1. View high quality videos
Youtube gives you the option to switch to high quality videos for some of the videos, however you can check if a video is available in high quality format by appending ‘&fmt=18′(stereo, 480 x 270 resolution) or ‘&fmt=22′(stereo, 1280 x 720 resolution) for even higher quality.2. Embed Higher Quality Videos
While the above trick works for playback, if however you want to embed hig quality videos you need to append “&ap=%2526fmt%3D18″ and “&ap=%2526fmt%3D22″ to the embed url.3. Cut the chase and link to the interesting part
Linking to a video where the real action starts at 3 minutes 22 seconds, wondered if you could make it start at 03:22? You are in luck. All you have to do is add #t=03m22s (#t=XXmYYs for XX mins and YY seconds) to the end of the URL.4. Hide the search box
The search box appears when you hover over an embedded video. To hide the search box add ‘&showsearch=0′ to the embed url.
5. Embed only a part of Video
Just append ‘&start=30′ to skip first 30s of the video. In general you can modify the value after start= to the number of seconds you want to skip the video for.
6. Autoplay an embedded video
Normally when you embed a Youtube video and load the page, the player is loaded and it sits there waiting for you to hit the play button. You can make the video play automatically by adding ‘&autoplay=1′ to the url part of the embed code.7. Loop an embedded video
Append ‘&loop=1′ to make the video start again without user intervention after it reaches the end.8. Disable Related Videos
Publishing your content in the form of Youtube video? Don’t want people to see other people’s content that may be related but may as well be in competition to you? Just add ‘&rel=0′ to the end of the url part of the embed code and you just turned off the related video suggestions!
9. Bypass Youtube Regional Filtering
Some videos are only available in certain parts of the world. Your IP Address is used to determine your location and then allow or deny access to the video. Change the url from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<somecode> to http://www.youtube.com/v/<somecode>10. Download Video
Although not inherently a youtube trick but useful all the same for downloading videos. Just change youtube to kickyoutube in the url of the video and it will take you to kickyoutube.com with all the options for downloading the video you were watching.Top 10 Youtube tips
Tip #1: Flag a Video for Future Viewing
Here’s a familiar situation. You’re browsing the YouTube site and find a video that looks interesting, but you don’t have the time or inclination to watch it right then. Fortunately, YouTube lets you save this video in a temporary QuickList, without having to open the video page and start playback. Then, when you’re ready, you can go back to this video and watch it at your leisure.
To add a video to your QuickList, all you have to do is click the little + button at the lower-left corner of any video thumbnail. Videos stay in your QuickList for just a single web browsing session; as soon as you close your browser window, the QuickList is flushed.
To see all the videos stored in your QuickList, go to any video viewing page and look for the Unsaved Playlist panel on the right side of the page. View a single video by clicking the thumbnail, or you can play all the videos in your QuickList one after another by clicking the Play All link. To clear your QuickList, click the Clear link.
Tip #2: Save Your Favorite Videos
Videos stay in your QuickList until you close your web browser; the next time you visit YouTube, those QuickList videos aren’t there anymore.
When you view a video you like and want to keep longer than a single session, you can save it to your YouTube Favorites list. This list is kind of like the Favorites or Bookmarks list you have in your web browser. Any videos saved in YouTube Favorites can be easily accessed for future viewing.
To save a video to your Favorites list, open that video’s viewing page and click the Save link beneath the YouTube video player. This adds the video to the Favorites list. When you want to revisit any of the entries in this list, go to the YouTube home page and click the My Favorites link in the My box. This displays a list of your favorites. Click any video to watch it again.
Tip #3: Create a Video Playlist
One of the challenges of enjoying YouTube is the sheer volume of videos available. Saving videos to your Favorites list is one way to handle this volume, but even the Favorites list can get too large to be easily manageable.
For that reason, you may want to create playlists separate from (or in addition to) your Favorites list. A YouTube playlist is simply a collection of videos, organized by whatever criteria you deem appropriate. You can play the videos from a playlist individually or as a group, just as you would the songs in a music playlist on your iPod. And, of course, YouTube lets you create multiple playlists; you can have as many as you want.
There are several ways to create a playlist and to add a video to that playlist. The most common method is to open the page for a video and click the Add to Favorites link. When the Add Video to Your Playlists pane appears, pull down the Select a Playlist list, select the playlist you want, and then click OK.
If you haven’t yet created a playlist, select New Playlist from the Add Video to Your Playlists list and then click OK. This displays the Create/Edit Playlist page; from here, you enter some specific information about the new playlist:
Playlist Name: The name you assign to the playlist.
Video Log: Check this option if you want this playlist used as the video log in your Channel Profile page.
Description: A short description of the contents of this playlist.
Tags: Optional keywords you can use to describe this playlist.
Privacy: Choose whether this playlist should be public (for all YouTube users to view) or private (for your viewing only).
After you’ve filled in all the blanks and options, click the Save Playlist Info button. Your playlist is now saved.
To view the playlists you’ve created, go to the YouTube home page and click the My Playlists link in the My box. This displays the Playlists page. All your playlists are listed at the left of the page; click a playlist name to see which videos are in that list.
To play an individual video in a playlist, click that video. To play all the videos in a playlist one after another, click the Play All Videos link. Or you can click the big Play button next to the playlist name.
Tip #4: Share a Video via Email
If you like a particular YouTube video, chances are you have a friend or two who might like it, too. That’s why YouTube lets you share the videos you like—in fact, this type of video sharing is a defining feature of the whole YouTube experience.
You share YouTube videos via email. That is, YouTube lets you send your friends an email that contains a link to the video you like. When a friend receives this email, he or she can click the link in the message to go to YouTube and play the video.
When you want to share a video, go to that video’s page and click the Share link underneath the YouTube video player. This opens the Share Video pane; click the Friends link. When the next window appears, enter the email addresses of the intended recipients, separating multiple addresses with commas. Enter your name and a personal message if you want. Click the Send button, and in a few minutes your recipients will receive the message.
By the way, you can also share videos from your Favorites list. Just click the Share Video button beneath the video you want to share; then proceed to send the email as usual.
Tip #5: Watch YouTube Videos on Your Mobile Phone
If you have a web-enabled mobile phone, you can now watch YouTube videos from wherever you are. That’s right—YouTube has gone mobile, with the new Mobile YouTube service. The Mobile YouTube interface lets you search for, download, and view videos on your web-enabled mobile phone. (Make sure you have a fast mobile Internet service—and a fully charged battery!)
To try it out, point your phone to m.youtube.com and get ready to watch.
And if you have one of Apple’s new iPhones, you can access YouTube videos directly from the main screen. Just make sure you’re connected to the Internet, press the YouTube button—and enjoy!
Tip #6: Post a Video Comment
On most video pages, the bottom-left of the page is taken up by a series of viewer comments. Users can post their comments about any video. These remarks can be serious or considered, or just exclamatory (“Cool video!”), depending on the person doing the posting.
Most users add text comments, which is easy enough to do. Just open the video viewing page, scroll to the Comments & Responses section, and click the Post a Text Comment link. When the Text Comment box appears, enter your comments and then click the Post Comment button.
But here’s something you might not know: In addition to entering text comments, you can also post a video comment—that is, you upload your own video as a response to the video you just watched.
To reply with your own video comment, scroll to the Comments & Responses section and click the Post a Video Response link. This displays a new Video Response page. From here you can choose to record a video response (using a webcam and microphone), or choose another video you’ve already uploaded to YouTube as your response, or upload a new video as your response. Follow the onscreen instructions to record/choose/upload the video you want to respond with.
Tip #7: Post YouTube Videos to Your Own Blog
If you have your own personal blog, YouTube makes it easy to send any public YouTube video to your blog as a new blog posting. First, however, you have to tell YouTube about your blog so that it knows where to send the post.
Start by clicking the My Account link at the top of any YouTube page. On the My Account page, scroll down to the Account Settings section and click the Video Posting Settings link. When the next page appears, click the Add a Blog/Site button.
YouTube now displays the Add a Blog/Site page. Pull down the Blog Service list and select your blog host. (YouTube supports automatic posting to Blogger, Friendster, LiveJournal, Piczo, WordPress.com, and WordPress self-hosted blogs.) Now enter your blog username and password, click the Add Blog button, and you’re finished with this preliminary setup.
Once configured, it’s a snap to send any public YouTube video to your blog. Just open the video’s viewing page and click the Share link. When the Share Video panel opens, pull down the Choose a Blog list and select your blog. Enter a title for this post, and then enter any text you want to accompany the video. Click the Post to Blog button, and YouTube posts the video (and accompanying text) to your blog as a new post.
Tip #8: Upload “Live” Video from a Webcam
When it comes to uploading videos to the YouTube site, many users upload video files they’ve recorded from a digital camcorder. But that’s not the only type of video you can upload. Did you know that you can upload videos recorded directly from a computer webcam?
This trick is performed with YouTube’s QuickCapture feature, which lets you record “live” video from your webcam. Just sit in front of your webcam and start recording; whatever you record is uploaded directly to the YouTube site. Here’s how it works.
With your webcam connected and running, click the Upload Videos link on any YouTube page. When the Video Upload page appears, enter the title, description, and other information for your upload. Then click the Use Quick Capture button.
This displays the Quick Capture page. Pull down the list boxes above the video window to select your options for webcam video and audio. You’ll then see the picture from your webcam in the video window; click the Record button to start recording.
When you’re finished with the recording, click the Finish & Exit button. YouTube automatically uploads the video to the site and displays the Quick Capture Complete page. Your video will be available for viewing shortly.
Tip #9: Upload Videos from Your Mobile Phone
Here’s another cool and convenient way to post videos to YouTube: Use your mobile phone.
If your cell phone has a built-in video camera, you can upload videos directly from that phone without first copying them to your PC. All you have to do is set up YouTube’s mobile upload options and then email your videos to the YouTube site.
To configure YouTube for your mobile phone, click the My Account link at the top of any YouTube page. When your My Account page appears, scroll down to the Account Settings section and click the Mobile Upload Profiles link. On the next page, click the Create Mobile Profile button.
Next you’ll see the Create Mobile Upload Profile page. Supply the necessary information—the profile name, video title, whether you want the filename or date appended to the video title, a short description of the profile, whether your mobile videos should be public or private, tags for your mobile videos, a category for your videos, people you want to share them with, and how you want to be notified when the upload is complete. Click the Create Profile button, and your profile is created.
The profile you create includes the email address to which you should send your mobile videos. Typically it’s a series of numbers followed by @mms.youtube.com. Make a note of this address and enter it into your mobile phone’s address book.
To upload a video from your mobile phone, start by recording the video on your phone; then email the video to the @mms.youtube.com address. You’ll be notified via email or text message when YouTube has received the email and begun processing the video. You can then go to YouTube’s website and edit specific information about the newly uploaded video.
Tip #10: Edit Your Videos with YouTube Remixer
If you’re like me, not all your videos are perfect on first recording. Most can do with a little editing—rearranging some of the scenes, adding titles, applying special effects, and the like. Previously, you had to do this editing in a separate program, which cost you money. Now, however, you can edit your videos after you’ve uploaded them to YouTube, using the new YouTube Remixer online editing program.
YouTube Remixer is a proprietary version of Adobe’s Premier Express program. Though not quite as versatile as Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker or Apple’s iMovie, the Remixer is still quite handy and easy to use.
To edit a video with YouTube Remixer, click the My Videos link in the My box on YouTube’s home page. When your list of uploaded videos appears, click the Remix Video button next to the video you want to edit.
You can combine multiple videos into a larger video; add graphics, captions, and borders; add transitions and effects between video clips; and add background music from YouTube’s library of licensed music tracks. Remixer uses a drag-and-drop interface that’s fairly intuitive, so you should be able to figure it out without a steep learning curve.
7 Incredibly Useful Youtube Features And Tricks You May Not Know
I spend large portions of my life on Youtube both watching videos and distributing content and have over the years picked up a few hints, tips and features that may not be obvious to the average user. The thing with Youtube is that so many people forget that it is actually a social network with features that go far beyond just watching videos and hidden away there are some great features that you can use. There are also a couple of examples of tools that work on top of the Youtube platform to make your experience on the world’s biggest video sharing site even better. Here are the Youtube tips and features that you may not know…Edit Your Videos Directly On Youtube
This handy little feature is well buried away but when using it you can basically forget about editing videos on 3rd party software on your computer and can do it directly on Youtube. The editing is simplistic with basic cutting and cropping but you can quickly add videos and the good news is that Youtube will also help you find licensed music that you can use instantly.
Youtube Disco
There are tons of music discovery sites on the web but a great alternative is Youtube itself with most of the world’s big music artists having a presence on the world’s biggest video sharing site. Youtube Disco is new enough and it doesn’t always work but when it is up and running you’ll be suggested great tracks, can make mix tapes and queue videos as you want to see them. The beauty of this service is that rather than stopping and starting and searching for videos at the end of each song this will provide you with a constant stream of music. As I said it can temperamental and if it is not working you can always head over to the Youtube Music page which is a great place to start.
Share Your Videos Privately
There may be times when you want to share your videos with friends, clients or colleagues without the rest of the world seeing them. You have been able to do this by making videos private but the functionality was always limited but luckily Youtube recently brought in the “unlisted” feature. This allows you to upload a video and you’ll be given a unique URL that can be shared with the world but that never appears in any of the searches on Youtube. Seems like a simple enough feature but if you are doing any video work you will be surprised at just how easy this will make your life.Remove Related Videos
After every video Youtube will take the liberty of adding related videos that you can then go on and watch. It’s a great way of finding new content but it can throw up some very random selections that could take the tone of your website down or have competitor videos etc display. Youtube have recently made this easier to control and if click on embed it will open up a series of selections including play in HD (video plays automatically in HD when embedded) and removing related videos. All of the selections you make at this stage will change the embed code and be reflected on the video embedded on 3rd party sites.
Get Youtube Subscribe Buttons
One thing that we advise people to help grow their subscriber list is to advertise their Youtube channel as much as possible on their own site and online social media profiles. Rather than finding some random badges online why not choose from the huge online selection that Youtube have provided for you in all shapes and sizes.
Only Embed The Part Of The Video You Need
Some videos on Youtube have great content in them but it might be right at the end of the video or buried somewhere in the middle. This is where the great tool Tubechop enters the mix. Tubechop allows you to select the part of the video you want to share with people giving you a new piece of code that only embeds that piece of the video. You’ll all probably recognize the first video below that has had nearly 150 million views on Youtube but for an example below that again the only part I want to share is the last dance which I have chopped out and can play on it’s own without viewers having the watch the entire video.Tips & Tricks: Formats, Embedded Players, APIs and More
YouTube Video Formats
Different formats are created depending on the dimensions of your source videos. Here is a comparison of what versions you can expect when you upload your videos. Other formats may be created as well, but at the time of this post, these are the ones you are most likely to encounter. Once you upload your video and wait for all the versions to be encoded, you can force YouTube to show you the different versions by appending fmt= and the format number. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_PtJeTbuI&fmt=22) The technique for embedding players with different formats is explained further in this post.
High Definition (16:9) e.g. Upload a 1280×720 or 1920×1080 video
- fmt=0 (Default low quality version)
Video: 320×180 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 330 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 64Kbps 22KHz MONO - fmt=6 (Higher quality FLV version)
Video: 480×270 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 800 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 96Kbps 44.1KHz MONO CBR - fmt=18 (High quality MP4)
Video: 480×270 AVC H.264 MP4 Approx. 500 Kbps VBR
Audio: AAC Approx. 128Kbps 44.1KHz Stereo VBR - fmt=22 (Highest quality MP4)
Video: 1280×720 H.264 MP4 Approx. 2Mbps VBR
Audio: AAC Approx. 254Kbps Stereo VBR
The full HD fmt=22 version is one of the best video formats seen on the web. Unfortunately YouTube does not have a option to display it at the actual 1280×720 dimensions.
Standard Definition Widescreen (16:9) e.g. Upload a 480×270 video or any video that is 16:9 and less than 1280×720
- fmt=0 (Default low quality version)
Video: 320×180 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 340 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 64Kbps 22KHz MONO - fmt=6 (Higher quality FLV version)
Video: 480×270 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 800 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 96Kbps 44.1KHz MONO CBR - fmt=18 (Highest quality MP4)
Video: 480×270 AVC H.264 MP4 Approx. 500 Kbps VBR
Audio: AAC Approx. 128Kbps 44.1KHz Stereo VBR
The 16:9 options are encoded at almost identical data rates to the 4:3 videos. Again, I am surprised that they did not release a format at 640×360.
Standard Definition (4:3) e.g. Upload a 640×480 video
- fmt=0 (Default low quality version)
Video: 320×240 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 340 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 64Kbps 22KHz MONO - fmt=6 (Higher quality FLV version)
Video: 480×360 H.263 (Sorenson Spark) FLV Approx. 900 Kbps
Audio: MP3 Approx. 96Kbps 44.1KHz MONO CBR - fmt=18 (Highest quality MP4)
Video: 480×360 AVC H.264 MP4 Approx. 500 Kbps VBR
Audio: AAC Approx. 128Kbps 44.1KHz Stereo VBR
I am really surprised that they do not offer 640×480 version, especially now that they support HD sizes. 640×480 would be ideal for SD content on fast broadband connections.
How to set different YouTube formats in embedded players
If you have ever tried to embed a YouTube player to your site, you have noticed that even though they offer multiple size options, they only stream the low (fmt = 0) videos. On the HD videos embedded players, they do offer a toggle for HD, but there is no option like this on the SD player and no guarantee that your site visitors will know it is there.
Fortunately, there is a easy work around so that you can embed videos on your site at any quality format (fmt) that your video has been encoded to. Additionally, you can set the player frame size to match the encoded frame size of your video.
First, copy the embed code from the YouTube website. It should look similar to the following snippet.
<object width=”640″ height=”385″>
<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&hl=en&fs=1″>
</param>
<param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param>
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param>
<embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&hl=en&fs=1” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”640″ height=”385″>
</embed>
</object>
In both places where it shows the URL to the video, you will need to replace the code “&hl=en&fs=1” with “&ap=%2526fmt%3D22” where the 22 at the end corresponds to the format number you want to display. Here is what it would look like for all the different formats above:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D0
http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D6
http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D18
http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D22
For best results, you should set the width and height (both locations) to match the encoded width and height (+25 to the height in order to account for the player controls) of the format number you choose. For example, to display a full HD version (fmt=22) you will set the width and height to width=”1280″ and height=”745″ (720 + 25). Here is a example of the embed code above modified to display the full HD version. View Demo
<object width=”1280″ height=”745″>
<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D22“>
</param>
<param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param>
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param>
<embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vf_PtJeTbuI&ap=%2526fmt%3D22” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”1280″ height=”745″>
</embed>
</object>
Download and inspect your videos
If you want to learn more about the various formats that YouTube encodes your videos to, you should download them and look at the specs. Although YouTube has started putting dowload links on some videos, with the right tools you can download any format of any video quite easily. There are many sites such as KeepVid (http://keepvid.com) that allow you to enter the YouTube URL and download, but I have found in my experience that they do not offer downloads for all the formats.
The best method I have found so far is by using the Firefox extension Download Helper (http://www.downloadhelper.net/). Once installed you simply navigate to the video page you want to download, select the format and start the video. Then the drop down will appear in your toolbar to be able to download.
Once downloaded, you can use the free open source VLC player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) to view either MP4 or FLV videos. To view the specs for your videos I highly recommend the free open source MediaInfo tool (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en). MediaInfo tool is amazing and will allow you to view everything from codecs to bitrates and other metadata available in your files.
Details from my fmt 22 YouTube HD Video
YouTube offers several APIs and tools you can use to further integrate YouTube’s content into your own website or application. Basic tools include adding a YouTube search or video bar to your site in a few minutes without advanced web skills.
Search Bar Demo | Video Bar Demo
For developers looking to design their own embedded players in Flash or chromeless players controlled by JavaScript, the Player API has you covered. The Data API allows developers using server-side programming advanced integration with virtually every aspect of YouTube, including uploading, searching, feeds, related videos ad more. Full developer guides for different languages are provided.
The Getting Started Guide (http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/getting_started.html) is a great place to learn more about the available APIs and Tools.
The YouTube Community
If you have not been to the YouTube help forums (http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-help?pli=1) , they offer a wealth of infomration and you should definitely check them out. The Announcements forum will keep you up to date with the latest features added to the system and the “How do I…” section is good to find out more about issues you and other users may be experiencing and how to accomplish certain tasks within the system. You can also post bugs and feature requests.
How To Connect Your YouTube Channel With Your Facebook
You can connect your YouTube account with your Facebook account. By connecting your YouTube account with Facebook will update your Facebook status when you Like, Comment, Subscribe (to a channel), Favorite or Upload a video on YouTube. It will keep your Facebook friends updated even if they didn’t subscribe to your YouTube channel.
- Go to YouTube.com
- Login to your account
- Click on your username (top-right corner) –> Account
- Then select Activity Sharing (at left side column)
- Then click on Connect accounts
- Now a popup will open
- Facebook will ask your permission to give YouTube access on your Facebook account
- Click on Allow button
- Now click on Save Changes button
