Paste a Link
Paste a channel URL, @handle, custom URL, or any video link from the channel.
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UC…
Exact Channel ID
Any
URL / Handle / Video
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How It Works
Find Any YouTube Channel ID in 3 Steps
Find the ID
Click Find, we resolve it to the exact UC… channel ID and show the channel.
Copy & Use
Copy the channel ID with one click and use it in APIs, RSS feeds, or other tools.
Capabilities
Everything to Identify a YouTube Channel
Exact Channel ID
Returns the canonical UC… ID that APIs, RSS feeds and tools require
Any Input Works
Channel URL, @handle, /c/ and /user/ custom URLs, all resolved
From a Video Too
Paste a video or Shorts link and we find the channel behind it
One-Click Copy
Copy the channel ID instantly, ready to paste anywhere
Channel Preview
See the channel name, avatar, subscriber and video counts to confirm
Instant & Free
No login, no limits, get the ID in a second
On this page
Updated · 3 min read
How to Find Your Own YouTube Channel ID
The quickest answer to how to find a YouTube channel ID is the YouTube channel ID finder above: paste your channel URL or @handle and copy the result. If you would rather read it straight from YouTube, your account settings show it, as long as you are signed in as the channel's primary owner. Managers and editors will not see it there.
- Sign in to YouTube with the account that owns the channel.
- In the top right, select your profile picture, then Settings.
- From the left menu, select Advanced settings.
- Copy the channel ID. The same page also lists a separate user ID, which is not the one tools ask for.
These steps come from YouTube Help. When you only need someone else's ID, or you do not have owner access, the finder is the simpler route: it works from any public link, and it also shows the channel's name, avatar and subscriber count so you can confirm you have the right one.
Channel ID vs @Handle vs Custom URL
A channel can be reached by up to three kinds of address, and they are not interchangeable. The channel ID is assigned by YouTube and appears in youtube.com/channel/ links. People often call it the UC channel ID because of the two letters it starts with. The @handle is the name you choose, and YouTube now treats the handle URL as a channel's standard address. Custom URLs such as youtube.com/c/name are a legacy format.
| Feature | Channel ID | @Handle | Custom URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who picks it | YouTube | You | You, in the past |
| Can you change it | No | 2 times in 14 days | No new ones or changes |
| Data API lookup | id | forHandle | No |
| Link keeps working | Yes | Until the handle changes | Redirects to the handle |
That is why tools and integrations ask for the ID. A handle can be changed by its owner, and a custom URL cannot be looked up directly through the Data API. The ID is also useful for sharing a channel whose handle uses non-Latin characters that are awkward to type.
Where You Need a YouTube Channel ID (API, RSS, Embeds)
API. In the YouTube Data API, channels.list accepts either id or forHandle, but many other requests filter by channelId, for example when you list a channel's playlists. If you build or configure anything on top of the API, keep the ID, not the handle.
RSS. Every channel has a public feed of its latest uploads, and the feed address is built from the channel ID. Paste it into a feed reader or an automation tool to get notified of new videos:
channel-feed-url.txt
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_IDEmbeds. Most embeds need a video or playlist ID, not a channel ID. The official player documentation does list listType=user_uploads for loading a channel's uploads, but it describes the list value inconsistently, once as a channel and once as a username. The channel-based live stream embed that older tutorials mention is not in YouTube's current documentation, so test it before you rely on it.
Find a Channel ID From a Video URL
Often all you have is a video link, and that is enough to find the channel ID. Every video on YouTube records which channel published it, and the finder reads that field for you. This youtube channel id from url lookup works the same way for long videos and Shorts.
- Copy the video link. Watch links (
youtube.com/watch?v=), short links (youtu.be/) and Shorts links (youtube.com/shorts/) all work. - Paste it into the finder at the top of this page and click Find.
- Check the channel name and avatar in the preview, then copy the ID with one click.
Once you have the ID you can reuse it anywhere a channel is expected. Paste it into the live subscriber counter to follow growth, grab the channel's profile picture with the PFP downloader, or size up its ad income with the earnings estimator.
Find any channel ID
Paste a channel URL, @handle or video link.
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