Behind-the-Scenes Insights: Deciphering What ‘Unlisted’ Means for YouTube Users

Complete Guide: What Does Unlisted Mean on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether personal or professional purposes, YouTube is a great platform for sharing videos but, there are times, when you don’t wish to share it with each and everyone across the globe. The YouTube unlisted meaning is a video which can be viewed only by the users having the link to it. At the back of your mind, you may be wondering how safe an unlisted video is. Let’s learn in detail what does unlisted mean on YouTube.

• Part 1: What is Unlisted Video on YouTube
• Part 2: How to Make YouTube Videos Unlisted
• Part 3: How to Share Unlisted Video

Wondershare Filmora video editor is one of the most widely used video editing software for YouTubers, it makes the video editing simplified with the pre-programmed effects and templates. You can download the free trial version to check.

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Part 1: What Does Unlisted Video Mean on YouTube

The YouTube unlisted meaning is that your video will neither come up in the search results nor on your channel. Only the users who have the link to the video can view it. The link can be shared with anyone and everyone, even with the users who do not have a YouTube account. Many people don’t know the difference between private and unlisted YouTube videos . In order to understand what does unlisted mean on YouTube in a detailed way, let’s dive deeper into it and know the difference between public videos, unlisted videos, and private videos.

1. What is Unlisted YouTube Video

Between private and public, you can find the unlisted videos. What does unlisted mean on YouTube? An unlisted video does not appear in the search results, suggestions or video tab. If you unlist a new video, your subscribers won’t receive any notification informing about it. You can share an unlisted video with the people you wish to share and the users having a link to the video can see it. It can also be viewed by the friend of friends if they share the link with their friends.

The unlisted videos are treated like public videos by YouTube. This means that you cannot use the copyright audio or video and it will be reviewed by the YouTube team if other users flag it as inappropriate content within a timeframe of 24-hours .

What Unlisted YouTube Videos Can Do

The unlisted videos can be shared with family and friends. If you are conducting a webinar and wish to share the video with only the registered users, an unlisted video can be used. You may also use the unlisted video for giving access to the people who embedded it while cleaning the YouTube page. For getting feedback from closed groups for market research or to share online resume link for job applications, the unlisted videos can be of great help.

Takeaway: Unlisted videos are a great way to share personal videos with just your family and friends, or to get feedback from people you trust on videos before you decide whether to make them public.

2. What is Private YouTube Video

The videos that do not appear in the recommendations, search options in YouTube or in your tab are the private videos. When you select the private setting for a video, the subscribers don’t get a notification. The private videos can be seen only by the uploader and the mentioned Google accounts. It is not available for friends of friends which mean if you share a private video with a friend, only that person can see it. If your friend shares it with someone, it won’t be visible to others. If anyone wishes to view a private video, the person has to request permission to view to the uploader.

What Private Youtube Videos Can Do

By using private YouTube videos, the internal company information can be kept confidential, the family videos can be shared safely with the people you wish to, and also store your personal data without worrying about being hacked by the strangers. By choosing the private setting, you may upload and schedule the date and time when a video can be made public on YouTube. It helps in saving storage space on your phone.

Takeaway: A private YouTube video is only available to YouTube users that you invite to view it.

3. What are Public Youtube Videos

The Public setting in the YouTube video is a default setting which allows everyone to see the video you post. When you want your video to appear in the search engine results and want more and more viewers and traffic on your video, you can keep the Public default setting on.

What Public YouTube Videos Can Do

Do you wish to grow your brand awareness? Select the Public default setting as it is the best way to do it. You may use the Public setting in any of these situations below:

• Having a video sharing business like explainer videos, product reviews, commercials, etc. with customers or prospective viewers
• Targeting at earning money through YouTube videos
• Looking forward to the growing personal brand by a YouTuber
• Looking for more and more subscribers on YouTube

But, you must remember that once you post the video, it will be available for everyone throughout the world on YouTube. Even if you decide to change the settings or delete the video, later on, you will be subjected to judgment, professionally and personally. While posting a video with Public setting, you must have an answer to questions like-

• Shall the senior or your boss see this video?
• Can your job prospect hamper with this video?
• Does the video contain harassing or offensive content?
• Can your friends ridicule you after seeing the video content?

If all the questions are answered in YES… then it is better to think hard and long before uploading the video content with Public setting on YouTube. You may upload the content with unlisted or private settings.

Takeaway: If you make a video public, anyone will be able to find and watch it. When uploading a video using default settings through YouTube, it will always default to being a public video.

Below is a brief comparison table about the differences among YouTube Unlisted, Private and Public video settings.

Feature	Unlisted	Private	Public
Can I share video URL to friends?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I add video to YouTube channel?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I shows up video in YouTube platform?	No	No	Yes
Can I post video on my channel?	No	No	Yes
Can I leave a comment?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I see it in landing page?	Yes	No	Yes
Do People need an account to watch it?	No	No	Yes

Part 2: How to Make an Unlisted YouTube Video

Follow the below-mentioned steps to make an unlisted YouTube video -

• Log in to your YouTube channel
• In the top right corner, click the add video button
• Find the drop-down menu and choose Upload Video
• Select the setting by clicking on Public and a drop-down menu appears to unlisted
• Search the instruction select files to upload your video
• When you start uploading your video, a message box appears, Click Public on the right side corner and select unlisted from the drop-down menu
• Once you have selected unlisted, click Done in the top right corner and your video is published

Part 3: How to Share Your Unlisted Video

If you wish to share the unlisted video , just share the published video link with anyone you wish to share. A Google account is not required to see the video. So, if the person you shared the link with is not logged in to his Google account, still the video can be viewed. The people who have the link to your video can also share and re-share the link in a number of ways. It can be shared on the social media or just forwarded amongst their friends. But, if you don’t want your friends to re-share it, change the settings to Private.

You can see a message showing “this video is unlisted” on YouTube when you want to share someone else’s unlisted video on social platforms. Think before you consider sharing an unlisted video.

Conclusion

Now, that you clearly know what does unlisted mean on YouTube, consider the option while uploading a video. It helps in retaining the privacy of your video.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether personal or professional purposes, YouTube is a great platform for sharing videos but, there are times, when you don’t wish to share it with each and everyone across the globe. The YouTube unlisted meaning is a video which can be viewed only by the users having the link to it. At the back of your mind, you may be wondering how safe an unlisted video is. Let’s learn in detail what does unlisted mean on YouTube.

• Part 1: What is Unlisted Video on YouTube
• Part 2: How to Make YouTube Videos Unlisted
• Part 3: How to Share Unlisted Video

Wondershare Filmora video editor is one of the most widely used video editing software for YouTubers, it makes the video editing simplified with the pre-programmed effects and templates. You can download the free trial version to check.

---

Part 1: What Does Unlisted Video Mean on YouTube

The YouTube unlisted meaning is that your video will neither come up in the search results nor on your channel. Only the users who have the link to the video can view it. The link can be shared with anyone and everyone, even with the users who do not have a YouTube account. Many people don’t know the difference between private and unlisted YouTube videos . In order to understand what does unlisted mean on YouTube in a detailed way, let’s dive deeper into it and know the difference between public videos, unlisted videos, and private videos.

1. What is Unlisted YouTube Video

Between private and public, you can find the unlisted videos. What does unlisted mean on YouTube? An unlisted video does not appear in the search results, suggestions or video tab. If you unlist a new video, your subscribers won’t receive any notification informing about it. You can share an unlisted video with the people you wish to share and the users having a link to the video can see it. It can also be viewed by the friend of friends if they share the link with their friends.

The unlisted videos are treated like public videos by YouTube. This means that you cannot use the copyright audio or video and it will be reviewed by the YouTube team if other users flag it as inappropriate content within a timeframe of 24-hours .

What Unlisted YouTube Videos Can Do

The unlisted videos can be shared with family and friends. If you are conducting a webinar and wish to share the video with only the registered users, an unlisted video can be used. You may also use the unlisted video for giving access to the people who embedded it while cleaning the YouTube page. For getting feedback from closed groups for market research or to share online resume link for job applications, the unlisted videos can be of great help.

Takeaway: Unlisted videos are a great way to share personal videos with just your family and friends, or to get feedback from people you trust on videos before you decide whether to make them public.

2. What is Private YouTube Video

The videos that do not appear in the recommendations, search options in YouTube or in your tab are the private videos. When you select the private setting for a video, the subscribers don’t get a notification. The private videos can be seen only by the uploader and the mentioned Google accounts. It is not available for friends of friends which mean if you share a private video with a friend, only that person can see it. If your friend shares it with someone, it won’t be visible to others. If anyone wishes to view a private video, the person has to request permission to view to the uploader.

What Private Youtube Videos Can Do

By using private YouTube videos, the internal company information can be kept confidential, the family videos can be shared safely with the people you wish to, and also store your personal data without worrying about being hacked by the strangers. By choosing the private setting, you may upload and schedule the date and time when a video can be made public on YouTube. It helps in saving storage space on your phone.

Takeaway: A private YouTube video is only available to YouTube users that you invite to view it.

3. What are Public Youtube Videos

The Public setting in the YouTube video is a default setting which allows everyone to see the video you post. When you want your video to appear in the search engine results and want more and more viewers and traffic on your video, you can keep the Public default setting on.

What Public YouTube Videos Can Do

Do you wish to grow your brand awareness? Select the Public default setting as it is the best way to do it. You may use the Public setting in any of these situations below:

• Having a video sharing business like explainer videos, product reviews, commercials, etc. with customers or prospective viewers
• Targeting at earning money through YouTube videos
• Looking forward to the growing personal brand by a YouTuber
• Looking for more and more subscribers on YouTube

But, you must remember that once you post the video, it will be available for everyone throughout the world on YouTube. Even if you decide to change the settings or delete the video, later on, you will be subjected to judgment, professionally and personally. While posting a video with Public setting, you must have an answer to questions like-

• Shall the senior or your boss see this video?
• Can your job prospect hamper with this video?
• Does the video contain harassing or offensive content?
• Can your friends ridicule you after seeing the video content?

If all the questions are answered in YES… then it is better to think hard and long before uploading the video content with Public setting on YouTube. You may upload the content with unlisted or private settings.

Takeaway: If you make a video public, anyone will be able to find and watch it. When uploading a video using default settings through YouTube, it will always default to being a public video.

Below is a brief comparison table about the differences among YouTube Unlisted, Private and Public video settings.

Feature	Unlisted	Private	Public
Can I share video URL to friends?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I add video to YouTube channel?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I shows up video in YouTube platform?	No	No	Yes
Can I post video on my channel?	No	No	Yes
Can I leave a comment?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I see it in landing page?	Yes	No	Yes
Do People need an account to watch it?	No	No	Yes

Part 2: How to Make an Unlisted YouTube Video

Follow the below-mentioned steps to make an unlisted YouTube video -

• Log in to your YouTube channel
• In the top right corner, click the add video button
• Find the drop-down menu and choose Upload Video
• Select the setting by clicking on Public and a drop-down menu appears to unlisted
• Search the instruction select files to upload your video
• When you start uploading your video, a message box appears, Click Public on the right side corner and select unlisted from the drop-down menu
• Once you have selected unlisted, click Done in the top right corner and your video is published

Part 3: How to Share Your Unlisted Video

If you wish to share the unlisted video , just share the published video link with anyone you wish to share. A Google account is not required to see the video. So, if the person you shared the link with is not logged in to his Google account, still the video can be viewed. The people who have the link to your video can also share and re-share the link in a number of ways. It can be shared on the social media or just forwarded amongst their friends. But, if you don’t want your friends to re-share it, change the settings to Private.

You can see a message showing “this video is unlisted” on YouTube when you want to share someone else’s unlisted video on social platforms. Think before you consider sharing an unlisted video.

Conclusion

Now, that you clearly know what does unlisted mean on YouTube, consider the option while uploading a video. It helps in retaining the privacy of your video.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether personal or professional purposes, YouTube is a great platform for sharing videos but, there are times, when you don’t wish to share it with each and everyone across the globe. The YouTube unlisted meaning is a video which can be viewed only by the users having the link to it. At the back of your mind, you may be wondering how safe an unlisted video is. Let’s learn in detail what does unlisted mean on YouTube.

• Part 1: What is Unlisted Video on YouTube
• Part 2: How to Make YouTube Videos Unlisted
• Part 3: How to Share Unlisted Video

Wondershare Filmora video editor is one of the most widely used video editing software for YouTubers, it makes the video editing simplified with the pre-programmed effects and templates. You can download the free trial version to check.

---

Part 1: What Does Unlisted Video Mean on YouTube

The YouTube unlisted meaning is that your video will neither come up in the search results nor on your channel. Only the users who have the link to the video can view it. The link can be shared with anyone and everyone, even with the users who do not have a YouTube account. Many people don’t know the difference between private and unlisted YouTube videos . In order to understand what does unlisted mean on YouTube in a detailed way, let’s dive deeper into it and know the difference between public videos, unlisted videos, and private videos.

1. What is Unlisted YouTube Video

Between private and public, you can find the unlisted videos. What does unlisted mean on YouTube? An unlisted video does not appear in the search results, suggestions or video tab. If you unlist a new video, your subscribers won’t receive any notification informing about it. You can share an unlisted video with the people you wish to share and the users having a link to the video can see it. It can also be viewed by the friend of friends if they share the link with their friends.

The unlisted videos are treated like public videos by YouTube. This means that you cannot use the copyright audio or video and it will be reviewed by the YouTube team if other users flag it as inappropriate content within a timeframe of 24-hours .

What Unlisted YouTube Videos Can Do

The unlisted videos can be shared with family and friends. If you are conducting a webinar and wish to share the video with only the registered users, an unlisted video can be used. You may also use the unlisted video for giving access to the people who embedded it while cleaning the YouTube page. For getting feedback from closed groups for market research or to share online resume link for job applications, the unlisted videos can be of great help.

Takeaway: Unlisted videos are a great way to share personal videos with just your family and friends, or to get feedback from people you trust on videos before you decide whether to make them public.

2. What is Private YouTube Video

The videos that do not appear in the recommendations, search options in YouTube or in your tab are the private videos. When you select the private setting for a video, the subscribers don’t get a notification. The private videos can be seen only by the uploader and the mentioned Google accounts. It is not available for friends of friends which mean if you share a private video with a friend, only that person can see it. If your friend shares it with someone, it won’t be visible to others. If anyone wishes to view a private video, the person has to request permission to view to the uploader.

What Private Youtube Videos Can Do

By using private YouTube videos, the internal company information can be kept confidential, the family videos can be shared safely with the people you wish to, and also store your personal data without worrying about being hacked by the strangers. By choosing the private setting, you may upload and schedule the date and time when a video can be made public on YouTube. It helps in saving storage space on your phone.

Takeaway: A private YouTube video is only available to YouTube users that you invite to view it.

3. What are Public Youtube Videos

The Public setting in the YouTube video is a default setting which allows everyone to see the video you post. When you want your video to appear in the search engine results and want more and more viewers and traffic on your video, you can keep the Public default setting on.

What Public YouTube Videos Can Do

Do you wish to grow your brand awareness? Select the Public default setting as it is the best way to do it. You may use the Public setting in any of these situations below:

• Having a video sharing business like explainer videos, product reviews, commercials, etc. with customers or prospective viewers
• Targeting at earning money through YouTube videos
• Looking forward to the growing personal brand by a YouTuber
• Looking for more and more subscribers on YouTube

But, you must remember that once you post the video, it will be available for everyone throughout the world on YouTube. Even if you decide to change the settings or delete the video, later on, you will be subjected to judgment, professionally and personally. While posting a video with Public setting, you must have an answer to questions like-

• Shall the senior or your boss see this video?
• Can your job prospect hamper with this video?
• Does the video contain harassing or offensive content?
• Can your friends ridicule you after seeing the video content?

If all the questions are answered in YES… then it is better to think hard and long before uploading the video content with Public setting on YouTube. You may upload the content with unlisted or private settings.

Takeaway: If you make a video public, anyone will be able to find and watch it. When uploading a video using default settings through YouTube, it will always default to being a public video.

Below is a brief comparison table about the differences among YouTube Unlisted, Private and Public video settings.

Feature	Unlisted	Private	Public
Can I share video URL to friends?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I add video to YouTube channel?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I shows up video in YouTube platform?	No	No	Yes
Can I post video on my channel?	No	No	Yes
Can I leave a comment?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I see it in landing page?	Yes	No	Yes
Do People need an account to watch it?	No	No	Yes

Part 2: How to Make an Unlisted YouTube Video

Follow the below-mentioned steps to make an unlisted YouTube video -

• Log in to your YouTube channel
• In the top right corner, click the add video button
• Find the drop-down menu and choose Upload Video
• Select the setting by clicking on Public and a drop-down menu appears to unlisted
• Search the instruction select files to upload your video
• When you start uploading your video, a message box appears, Click Public on the right side corner and select unlisted from the drop-down menu
• Once you have selected unlisted, click Done in the top right corner and your video is published

Part 3: How to Share Your Unlisted Video

If you wish to share the unlisted video , just share the published video link with anyone you wish to share. A Google account is not required to see the video. So, if the person you shared the link with is not logged in to his Google account, still the video can be viewed. The people who have the link to your video can also share and re-share the link in a number of ways. It can be shared on the social media or just forwarded amongst their friends. But, if you don’t want your friends to re-share it, change the settings to Private.

You can see a message showing “this video is unlisted” on YouTube when you want to share someone else’s unlisted video on social platforms. Think before you consider sharing an unlisted video.

Conclusion

Now, that you clearly know what does unlisted mean on YouTube, consider the option while uploading a video. It helps in retaining the privacy of your video.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether personal or professional purposes, YouTube is a great platform for sharing videos but, there are times, when you don’t wish to share it with each and everyone across the globe. The YouTube unlisted meaning is a video which can be viewed only by the users having the link to it. At the back of your mind, you may be wondering how safe an unlisted video is. Let’s learn in detail what does unlisted mean on YouTube.

• Part 1: What is Unlisted Video on YouTube
• Part 2: How to Make YouTube Videos Unlisted
• Part 3: How to Share Unlisted Video

Wondershare Filmora video editor is one of the most widely used video editing software for YouTubers, it makes the video editing simplified with the pre-programmed effects and templates. You can download the free trial version to check.

---

Part 1: What Does Unlisted Video Mean on YouTube

The YouTube unlisted meaning is that your video will neither come up in the search results nor on your channel. Only the users who have the link to the video can view it. The link can be shared with anyone and everyone, even with the users who do not have a YouTube account. Many people don’t know the difference between private and unlisted YouTube videos . In order to understand what does unlisted mean on YouTube in a detailed way, let’s dive deeper into it and know the difference between public videos, unlisted videos, and private videos.

1. What is Unlisted YouTube Video

Between private and public, you can find the unlisted videos. What does unlisted mean on YouTube? An unlisted video does not appear in the search results, suggestions or video tab. If you unlist a new video, your subscribers won’t receive any notification informing about it. You can share an unlisted video with the people you wish to share and the users having a link to the video can see it. It can also be viewed by the friend of friends if they share the link with their friends.

The unlisted videos are treated like public videos by YouTube. This means that you cannot use the copyright audio or video and it will be reviewed by the YouTube team if other users flag it as inappropriate content within a timeframe of 24-hours .

What Unlisted YouTube Videos Can Do

The unlisted videos can be shared with family and friends. If you are conducting a webinar and wish to share the video with only the registered users, an unlisted video can be used. You may also use the unlisted video for giving access to the people who embedded it while cleaning the YouTube page. For getting feedback from closed groups for market research or to share online resume link for job applications, the unlisted videos can be of great help.

Takeaway: Unlisted videos are a great way to share personal videos with just your family and friends, or to get feedback from people you trust on videos before you decide whether to make them public.

2. What is Private YouTube Video

The videos that do not appear in the recommendations, search options in YouTube or in your tab are the private videos. When you select the private setting for a video, the subscribers don’t get a notification. The private videos can be seen only by the uploader and the mentioned Google accounts. It is not available for friends of friends which mean if you share a private video with a friend, only that person can see it. If your friend shares it with someone, it won’t be visible to others. If anyone wishes to view a private video, the person has to request permission to view to the uploader.

What Private Youtube Videos Can Do

By using private YouTube videos, the internal company information can be kept confidential, the family videos can be shared safely with the people you wish to, and also store your personal data without worrying about being hacked by the strangers. By choosing the private setting, you may upload and schedule the date and time when a video can be made public on YouTube. It helps in saving storage space on your phone.

Takeaway: A private YouTube video is only available to YouTube users that you invite to view it.

3. What are Public Youtube Videos

The Public setting in the YouTube video is a default setting which allows everyone to see the video you post. When you want your video to appear in the search engine results and want more and more viewers and traffic on your video, you can keep the Public default setting on.

What Public YouTube Videos Can Do

Do you wish to grow your brand awareness? Select the Public default setting as it is the best way to do it. You may use the Public setting in any of these situations below:

• Having a video sharing business like explainer videos, product reviews, commercials, etc. with customers or prospective viewers
• Targeting at earning money through YouTube videos
• Looking forward to the growing personal brand by a YouTuber
• Looking for more and more subscribers on YouTube

But, you must remember that once you post the video, it will be available for everyone throughout the world on YouTube. Even if you decide to change the settings or delete the video, later on, you will be subjected to judgment, professionally and personally. While posting a video with Public setting, you must have an answer to questions like-

• Shall the senior or your boss see this video?
• Can your job prospect hamper with this video?
• Does the video contain harassing or offensive content?
• Can your friends ridicule you after seeing the video content?

If all the questions are answered in YES… then it is better to think hard and long before uploading the video content with Public setting on YouTube. You may upload the content with unlisted or private settings.

Takeaway: If you make a video public, anyone will be able to find and watch it. When uploading a video using default settings through YouTube, it will always default to being a public video.

Below is a brief comparison table about the differences among YouTube Unlisted, Private and Public video settings.

Feature	Unlisted	Private	Public
Can I share video URL to friends?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I add video to YouTube channel?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I shows up video in YouTube platform?	No	No	Yes
Can I post video on my channel?	No	No	Yes
Can I leave a comment?	Yes	No	Yes
Can I see it in landing page?	Yes	No	Yes
Do People need an account to watch it?	No	No	Yes

Part 2: How to Make an Unlisted YouTube Video

Follow the below-mentioned steps to make an unlisted YouTube video -

• Log in to your YouTube channel
• In the top right corner, click the add video button
• Find the drop-down menu and choose Upload Video
• Select the setting by clicking on Public and a drop-down menu appears to unlisted
• Search the instruction select files to upload your video
• When you start uploading your video, a message box appears, Click Public on the right side corner and select unlisted from the drop-down menu
• Once you have selected unlisted, click Done in the top right corner and your video is published

Part 3: How to Share Your Unlisted Video

If you wish to share the unlisted video , just share the published video link with anyone you wish to share. A Google account is not required to see the video. So, if the person you shared the link with is not logged in to his Google account, still the video can be viewed. The people who have the link to your video can also share and re-share the link in a number of ways. It can be shared on the social media or just forwarded amongst their friends. But, if you don’t want your friends to re-share it, change the settings to Private.

You can see a message showing “this video is unlisted” on YouTube when you want to share someone else’s unlisted video on social platforms. Think before you consider sharing an unlisted video.

Conclusion

Now, that you clearly know what does unlisted mean on YouTube, consider the option while uploading a video. It helps in retaining the privacy of your video.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Icon & Logo Havens: A Guide to 6 Unique Online Resources

6 Completely Different Places to Get Icons and Logos for YouTube Videos

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Whether you need YouTube icons and logos to use as pop-up graphics in your videos, to serve as your channel icon, to use as watermarks, or to liven up your channel art or video thumbnails – don’t worry. There are lots of places to get them.

We’ve made a list of 6 sites where you can download icons and logos for free for YouTub videos, and explained how they work.

• Flaticon.com
• Freepik.com
• Seeklogo.net
• IconArchive.com
• Logaster.com
• Icons8.com

You might also want to check out these YouTube channels offering free profile picture templates .

1. Flaticon.com

Key Points:

• Great selection of icons/logos
• It’s easy to change the colors before you download

I’m putting Flaticon.com right at the top of this list because it has something that really sets it apart from the other sites on this list – it lets you edit pre-made icons before you download them.

You start out on Flaticon by searching for a theme like beauty, gaming, flowers, or emojis. I searched for ‘birds’ and found these cuties.

These aren’t all the birds on Flaticon, just a few. They had a huge selection in all the different searches I tried.

I clicked on the brown bird to open up the download screen, and then clicked into ‘Edit icon’. There may be a pop up that tells you editing tools are only available to registered users, but it’s wrong. Just close it and keep going, unless you want to register.

You can edit the colors in your icon just by clicking on the color you want to replace, and then clicking on the color in the color selector you want to replace it with. I made my birdie FLY.

I never apologize for puns.

Once you like the look of your icon, just click Download. You will be prompted to choose a format. PNG is the most popular because it is supported the most places (including on YouTube), and because it allows for a transparent background.

After clicking on a format you will also be prompted to choose a size for your image. It’s always best to go with the largest image you can – its way easier to shrink things and keep them looking good than it is to have to enlarge them.

Flaticon has a great selection, it’s free, and they make it really easy to edit your creations. I would strongly recommend this site to anyone in the market for an icon or logo.

Flaticon asks that you include an “Icon made by [author link] from <www.flaticon.com> ” somewhere (i.e. video description, channel ‘about’ section) when you use their icons for free.

2. Freepik.com

Key Points:

• Good selection of icons.
• No way to customise them on the site.
• Attribution requried.

On freepik, you start off by searching for a theme (like the genre of your YouTube title or the topic of a video, i.e. ‘makeup’ or ‘music’). I searched for ‘cat’.

A few of the sets available on freepik. The crown icon means you need to be a paying Premium member, but most things are free.

You can’t edit on freepik, and in order to download for free you need to include an attribution/credit to freepik where you use the images.

You do not choose what format to download your images in on freepik. When you hit ‘Free Download’ it will automatically download a zip file which will contain both a .jpg and a .eps. The EPS is editable in any ‘vector graphics editor’, like Adobe Illustrator, and YouTube supports .jpg files.

3. Seeklogo.net

Key Points:

• Logos from major brands
• Great for channels that do product reviews

Seeklogo.net has a slightly more corporate slant than some of the other sites on this list. It has logos for a lot of major companies and brands available for download.

In the ‘search’ on Seeklogo.net, you can type in the name of a brand or industry and see if the well-known logo you’re looking for is available. This may be especially useful for people with sports related channels since they have a lot of logos for major teams.

I searched for YouTube – you never know when you might need the YouTube logo.

Although the site does not advertise PNG in the list of formats on their front page, downloads do include PNG versions (which is useful if you need transparency and don’t have a program which can edit vector files, like .eps).

4. IconArchive.com

Key Points:

• Site has an office/business slant.
• Detailed search tool lets you sort by color, theme, etc.

IconArchive has a huge selection of icons with somewhat of an office/business slant. I searched for ‘flower’ and half the results were of file-folders with flowers on them.

Could be cool for a lifestyle video about school or work?

My favorite thing about IconArchive is its search features. It allows you to filter results by color, size (down to the specific resolution), category, background color, style, and a lot more.

Color is under ‘Display’, meaning that it won’t filter out results that have different colors it’ll just list the color you select first.

The ‘Category’ filter is useful because there are some genres you probably recognize there, like ‘Lifestyle’. However, you should be careful not to over-filter. This site is pretty literal in how it categorizes. For example – there are no ‘flower’ images under ‘Lifestyle’.

Downloads are available in different sizes and formats including PNG. PNG is always a good option because it is supported by YouTube and includes transparent backgrounds.

Note that all of your different download buttons will be located underneath your image. They favor those ads that look like ‘download’ or ‘start now’ buttons, and the ads sit right next to the images on the right, so it’s easy to get confused and click on the ad.

5. Logaster.com

Key Points:

• You’ll have to pay for larger images.
• Focused more on businesses.
• Incorporates your channel name.

Logaster is really a service for businesses – they make and sell business cards, letterheads, and other office-y things like that. However, they are still a good choice for YouTubers because they have a free logo creator. Sort of.

You actually have to pay $9.99 to get larger images and remove the watermark, but the process is free.

When you arrive on Logaster there’s a button right on their home page that says ‘Create a logo for free’. Click on it.

In Step 1 it’ll ask for your company name and an activity type. You just need to put in your channel name and choose something from the activity drop down that you focus on in your videos.

My heart burns with the secret desire to be YouTube’s Neil Degrasse Tyson (it doesn’t really, but he is super cool) so I tried ‘Katie Does Science’ and ‘Science, Studies, Education’. Here’s what it came up with:

There are 10 pages of suggestions!

You can see how, unless you have a short channel name, you’re probably not going to be able to use any of these as an icon, but a lot of them would look cool on a banner. There’s an ‘Edit Logo Concept’ button which allows you to make changes to the layout, but you can still only choose from preset layouts. For example, some logo concepts allow you to choose whether the icon is above your text or next to it.

After you click ‘save’ in the last step you’ll be prompted to provide an email address and password. Once you sign in, you’ll be able to download a small logo for free, or purchase the higher resolution image.

I personally wouldn’t recommend buying an image from here unless your channel is for your small business and you need things like branded business cards and letterhead. This site might be better for gathering inspiration than actually downloading a logo from.

6. Icons8.com

Key Points:

• You need to link back to them to use their icons.
• You can edit the colors on the site and even add details.
• There’s a size limit on the free service (100x100px)

At Icons8 they have free and paid services. If you download an icon for free it will be a PNG file (which should be fine, YouTube supports PNG and it’s good for transparency) that is no larger than 100x100px. This is not ideal since YouTube recommends 800x800px for profile pictures, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker either. Profile pictures render down to much smaller than that.

You will also need to link to Icons8 if you use their icons for free (i.e. in the ‘about’ section of your channel page).

To get started on Icons8, type something into the search bar on the home page that you think might work as an icon or as part of whatever graphics you have planned. I typed in ‘game’ for this one, since gaming is the biggest genre on YouTube. Here are a few of the results that came up:

Lower down in the results there were different kinds of sports balls, hand-held gaming systems, playing cards, joy sticks, baseball caps and more.

After you find an icon you like, click on it and it will appear on the right side of your screen where you’ll be able to make a few changes (an editing screen will pop up once you start clicking on things). You can edit your colors, overlay small decals, add text, and add a border, change your background and adjust your size. Here’s the editing screen:

You can give your icon a pretty different look from its default. Check this out:

You cannot download your icon from the editing screen. You need to click Save, and then download it from the main display screen here:

You can change the size with that drop down menu, but you’ll be limited in your options if you don’t want to pay.

I downloaded my image and tried to see how it would look as an icon/profile picture. As you can see, it was pretty blurry in the preview:

However, the preview is larger than the actual profile picture. Once I set it, it looked alright.

Looking for somewhere you can build your own icon/logo from scratch? Check out this list of logo makers .

After downloading the icons or logos, it is time to add them to your YouTube video. Here I recommend our Wondershare Filmora video editor . Below is a video tutorial about how to add a logo to video in Filmora . Remember to download the free trial version to test.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Whether you need YouTube icons and logos to use as pop-up graphics in your videos, to serve as your channel icon, to use as watermarks, or to liven up your channel art or video thumbnails – don’t worry. There are lots of places to get them.

We’ve made a list of 6 sites where you can download icons and logos for free for YouTub videos, and explained how they work.

• Flaticon.com
• Freepik.com
• Seeklogo.net
• IconArchive.com
• Logaster.com
• Icons8.com

You might also want to check out these YouTube channels offering free profile picture templates .

1. Flaticon.com

Key Points:

• Great selection of icons/logos
• It’s easy to change the colors before you download

I’m putting Flaticon.com right at the top of this list because it has something that really sets it apart from the other sites on this list – it lets you edit pre-made icons before you download them.

You start out on Flaticon by searching for a theme like beauty, gaming, flowers, or emojis. I searched for ‘birds’ and found these cuties.

These aren’t all the birds on Flaticon, just a few. They had a huge selection in all the different searches I tried.

I clicked on the brown bird to open up the download screen, and then clicked into ‘Edit icon’. There may be a pop up that tells you editing tools are only available to registered users, but it’s wrong. Just close it and keep going, unless you want to register.

You can edit the colors in your icon just by clicking on the color you want to replace, and then clicking on the color in the color selector you want to replace it with. I made my birdie FLY.

I never apologize for puns.

Once you like the look of your icon, just click Download. You will be prompted to choose a format. PNG is the most popular because it is supported the most places (including on YouTube), and because it allows for a transparent background.

After clicking on a format you will also be prompted to choose a size for your image. It’s always best to go with the largest image you can – its way easier to shrink things and keep them looking good than it is to have to enlarge them.

Flaticon has a great selection, it’s free, and they make it really easy to edit your creations. I would strongly recommend this site to anyone in the market for an icon or logo.

Flaticon asks that you include an “Icon made by [author link] from <www.flaticon.com> ” somewhere (i.e. video description, channel ‘about’ section) when you use their icons for free.

2. Freepik.com

Key Points:

• Good selection of icons.
• No way to customise them on the site.
• Attribution requried.

On freepik, you start off by searching for a theme (like the genre of your YouTube title or the topic of a video, i.e. ‘makeup’ or ‘music’). I searched for ‘cat’.

A few of the sets available on freepik. The crown icon means you need to be a paying Premium member, but most things are free.

You can’t edit on freepik, and in order to download for free you need to include an attribution/credit to freepik where you use the images.

You do not choose what format to download your images in on freepik. When you hit ‘Free Download’ it will automatically download a zip file which will contain both a .jpg and a .eps. The EPS is editable in any ‘vector graphics editor’, like Adobe Illustrator, and YouTube supports .jpg files.

3. Seeklogo.net

Key Points:

• Logos from major brands
• Great for channels that do product reviews

Seeklogo.net has a slightly more corporate slant than some of the other sites on this list. It has logos for a lot of major companies and brands available for download.

In the ‘search’ on Seeklogo.net, you can type in the name of a brand or industry and see if the well-known logo you’re looking for is available. This may be especially useful for people with sports related channels since they have a lot of logos for major teams.

I searched for YouTube – you never know when you might need the YouTube logo.

Although the site does not advertise PNG in the list of formats on their front page, downloads do include PNG versions (which is useful if you need transparency and don’t have a program which can edit vector files, like .eps).

4. IconArchive.com

Key Points:

• Site has an office/business slant.
• Detailed search tool lets you sort by color, theme, etc.

IconArchive has a huge selection of icons with somewhat of an office/business slant. I searched for ‘flower’ and half the results were of file-folders with flowers on them.

Could be cool for a lifestyle video about school or work?

My favorite thing about IconArchive is its search features. It allows you to filter results by color, size (down to the specific resolution), category, background color, style, and a lot more.

Color is under ‘Display’, meaning that it won’t filter out results that have different colors it’ll just list the color you select first.

The ‘Category’ filter is useful because there are some genres you probably recognize there, like ‘Lifestyle’. However, you should be careful not to over-filter. This site is pretty literal in how it categorizes. For example – there are no ‘flower’ images under ‘Lifestyle’.

Downloads are available in different sizes and formats including PNG. PNG is always a good option because it is supported by YouTube and includes transparent backgrounds.

Note that all of your different download buttons will be located underneath your image. They favor those ads that look like ‘download’ or ‘start now’ buttons, and the ads sit right next to the images on the right, so it’s easy to get confused and click on the ad.

5. Logaster.com

Key Points:

• You’ll have to pay for larger images.
• Focused more on businesses.
• Incorporates your channel name.

Logaster is really a service for businesses – they make and sell business cards, letterheads, and other office-y things like that. However, they are still a good choice for YouTubers because they have a free logo creator. Sort of.

You actually have to pay $9.99 to get larger images and remove the watermark, but the process is free.

When you arrive on Logaster there’s a button right on their home page that says ‘Create a logo for free’. Click on it.

In Step 1 it’ll ask for your company name and an activity type. You just need to put in your channel name and choose something from the activity drop down that you focus on in your videos.

My heart burns with the secret desire to be YouTube’s Neil Degrasse Tyson (it doesn’t really, but he is super cool) so I tried ‘Katie Does Science’ and ‘Science, Studies, Education’. Here’s what it came up with:

There are 10 pages of suggestions!

You can see how, unless you have a short channel name, you’re probably not going to be able to use any of these as an icon, but a lot of them would look cool on a banner. There’s an ‘Edit Logo Concept’ button which allows you to make changes to the layout, but you can still only choose from preset layouts. For example, some logo concepts allow you to choose whether the icon is above your text or next to it.

After you click ‘save’ in the last step you’ll be prompted to provide an email address and password. Once you sign in, you’ll be able to download a small logo for free, or purchase the higher resolution image.

I personally wouldn’t recommend buying an image from here unless your channel is for your small business and you need things like branded business cards and letterhead. This site might be better for gathering inspiration than actually downloading a logo from.

6. Icons8.com

Key Points:

• You need to link back to them to use their icons.
• You can edit the colors on the site and even add details.
• There’s a size limit on the free service (100x100px)

At Icons8 they have free and paid services. If you download an icon for free it will be a PNG file (which should be fine, YouTube supports PNG and it’s good for transparency) that is no larger than 100x100px. This is not ideal since YouTube recommends 800x800px for profile pictures, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker either. Profile pictures render down to much smaller than that.

You will also need to link to Icons8 if you use their icons for free (i.e. in the ‘about’ section of your channel page).

To get started on Icons8, type something into the search bar on the home page that you think might work as an icon or as part of whatever graphics you have planned. I typed in ‘game’ for this one, since gaming is the biggest genre on YouTube. Here are a few of the results that came up:

Lower down in the results there were different kinds of sports balls, hand-held gaming systems, playing cards, joy sticks, baseball caps and more.

After you find an icon you like, click on it and it will appear on the right side of your screen where you’ll be able to make a few changes (an editing screen will pop up once you start clicking on things). You can edit your colors, overlay small decals, add text, and add a border, change your background and adjust your size. Here’s the editing screen:

You can give your icon a pretty different look from its default. Check this out:

You cannot download your icon from the editing screen. You need to click Save, and then download it from the main display screen here:

You can change the size with that drop down menu, but you’ll be limited in your options if you don’t want to pay.

I downloaded my image and tried to see how it would look as an icon/profile picture. As you can see, it was pretty blurry in the preview:

However, the preview is larger than the actual profile picture. Once I set it, it looked alright.

Looking for somewhere you can build your own icon/logo from scratch? Check out this list of logo makers .

After downloading the icons or logos, it is time to add them to your YouTube video. Here I recommend our Wondershare Filmora video editor . Below is a video tutorial about how to add a logo to video in Filmora . Remember to download the free trial version to test.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Whether you need YouTube icons and logos to use as pop-up graphics in your videos, to serve as your channel icon, to use as watermarks, or to liven up your channel art or video thumbnails – don’t worry. There are lots of places to get them.

We’ve made a list of 6 sites where you can download icons and logos for free for YouTub videos, and explained how they work.

• Flaticon.com
• Freepik.com
• Seeklogo.net
• IconArchive.com
• Logaster.com
• Icons8.com

You might also want to check out these YouTube channels offering free profile picture templates .

1. Flaticon.com

Key Points:

• Great selection of icons/logos
• It’s easy to change the colors before you download

I’m putting Flaticon.com right at the top of this list because it has something that really sets it apart from the other sites on this list – it lets you edit pre-made icons before you download them.

You start out on Flaticon by searching for a theme like beauty, gaming, flowers, or emojis. I searched for ‘birds’ and found these cuties.

These aren’t all the birds on Flaticon, just a few. They had a huge selection in all the different searches I tried.

I clicked on the brown bird to open up the download screen, and then clicked into ‘Edit icon’. There may be a pop up that tells you editing tools are only available to registered users, but it’s wrong. Just close it and keep going, unless you want to register.

You can edit the colors in your icon just by clicking on the color you want to replace, and then clicking on the color in the color selector you want to replace it with. I made my birdie FLY.

I never apologize for puns.

Once you like the look of your icon, just click Download. You will be prompted to choose a format. PNG is the most popular because it is supported the most places (including on YouTube), and because it allows for a transparent background.

After clicking on a format you will also be prompted to choose a size for your image. It’s always best to go with the largest image you can – its way easier to shrink things and keep them looking good than it is to have to enlarge them.

Flaticon has a great selection, it’s free, and they make it really easy to edit your creations. I would strongly recommend this site to anyone in the market for an icon or logo.

Flaticon asks that you include an “Icon made by [author link] from <www.flaticon.com> ” somewhere (i.e. video description, channel ‘about’ section) when you use their icons for free.

2. Freepik.com

Key Points:

• Good selection of icons.
• No way to customise them on the site.
• Attribution requried.

On freepik, you start off by searching for a theme (like the genre of your YouTube title or the topic of a video, i.e. ‘makeup’ or ‘music’). I searched for ‘cat’.

A few of the sets available on freepik. The crown icon means you need to be a paying Premium member, but most things are free.

You can’t edit on freepik, and in order to download for free you need to include an attribution/credit to freepik where you use the images.

You do not choose what format to download your images in on freepik. When you hit ‘Free Download’ it will automatically download a zip file which will contain both a .jpg and a .eps. The EPS is editable in any ‘vector graphics editor’, like Adobe Illustrator, and YouTube supports .jpg files.

3. Seeklogo.net

Key Points:

• Logos from major brands
• Great for channels that do product reviews

Seeklogo.net has a slightly more corporate slant than some of the other sites on this list. It has logos for a lot of major companies and brands available for download.

In the ‘search’ on Seeklogo.net, you can type in the name of a brand or industry and see if the well-known logo you’re looking for is available. This may be especially useful for people with sports related channels since they have a lot of logos for major teams.

I searched for YouTube – you never know when you might need the YouTube logo.

Although the site does not advertise PNG in the list of formats on their front page, downloads do include PNG versions (which is useful if you need transparency and don’t have a program which can edit vector files, like .eps).

4. IconArchive.com

Key Points:

• Site has an office/business slant.
• Detailed search tool lets you sort by color, theme, etc.

IconArchive has a huge selection of icons with somewhat of an office/business slant. I searched for ‘flower’ and half the results were of file-folders with flowers on them.

Could be cool for a lifestyle video about school or work?

My favorite thing about IconArchive is its search features. It allows you to filter results by color, size (down to the specific resolution), category, background color, style, and a lot more.

Color is under ‘Display’, meaning that it won’t filter out results that have different colors it’ll just list the color you select first.

The ‘Category’ filter is useful because there are some genres you probably recognize there, like ‘Lifestyle’. However, you should be careful not to over-filter. This site is pretty literal in how it categorizes. For example – there are no ‘flower’ images under ‘Lifestyle’.

Downloads are available in different sizes and formats including PNG. PNG is always a good option because it is supported by YouTube and includes transparent backgrounds.

Note that all of your different download buttons will be located underneath your image. They favor those ads that look like ‘download’ or ‘start now’ buttons, and the ads sit right next to the images on the right, so it’s easy to get confused and click on the ad.

5. Logaster.com

Key Points:

• You’ll have to pay for larger images.
• Focused more on businesses.
• Incorporates your channel name.

Logaster is really a service for businesses – they make and sell business cards, letterheads, and other office-y things like that. However, they are still a good choice for YouTubers because they have a free logo creator. Sort of.

You actually have to pay $9.99 to get larger images and remove the watermark, but the process is free.

When you arrive on Logaster there’s a button right on their home page that says ‘Create a logo for free’. Click on it.

In Step 1 it’ll ask for your company name and an activity type. You just need to put in your channel name and choose something from the activity drop down that you focus on in your videos.

My heart burns with the secret desire to be YouTube’s Neil Degrasse Tyson (it doesn’t really, but he is super cool) so I tried ‘Katie Does Science’ and ‘Science, Studies, Education’. Here’s what it came up with:

There are 10 pages of suggestions!

You can see how, unless you have a short channel name, you’re probably not going to be able to use any of these as an icon, but a lot of them would look cool on a banner. There’s an ‘Edit Logo Concept’ button which allows you to make changes to the layout, but you can still only choose from preset layouts. For example, some logo concepts allow you to choose whether the icon is above your text or next to it.

After you click ‘save’ in the last step you’ll be prompted to provide an email address and password. Once you sign in, you’ll be able to download a small logo for free, or purchase the higher resolution image.

I personally wouldn’t recommend buying an image from here unless your channel is for your small business and you need things like branded business cards and letterhead. This site might be better for gathering inspiration than actually downloading a logo from.

6. Icons8.com

Key Points:

• You need to link back to them to use their icons.
• You can edit the colors on the site and even add details.
• There’s a size limit on the free service (100x100px)

At Icons8 they have free and paid services. If you download an icon for free it will be a PNG file (which should be fine, YouTube supports PNG and it’s good for transparency) that is no larger than 100x100px. This is not ideal since YouTube recommends 800x800px for profile pictures, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker either. Profile pictures render down to much smaller than that.

You will also need to link to Icons8 if you use their icons for free (i.e. in the ‘about’ section of your channel page).

To get started on Icons8, type something into the search bar on the home page that you think might work as an icon or as part of whatever graphics you have planned. I typed in ‘game’ for this one, since gaming is the biggest genre on YouTube. Here are a few of the results that came up:

Lower down in the results there were different kinds of sports balls, hand-held gaming systems, playing cards, joy sticks, baseball caps and more.

After you find an icon you like, click on it and it will appear on the right side of your screen where you’ll be able to make a few changes (an editing screen will pop up once you start clicking on things). You can edit your colors, overlay small decals, add text, and add a border, change your background and adjust your size. Here’s the editing screen:

You can give your icon a pretty different look from its default. Check this out:

You cannot download your icon from the editing screen. You need to click Save, and then download it from the main display screen here:

You can change the size with that drop down menu, but you’ll be limited in your options if you don’t want to pay.

I downloaded my image and tried to see how it would look as an icon/profile picture. As you can see, it was pretty blurry in the preview:

However, the preview is larger than the actual profile picture. Once I set it, it looked alright.

Looking for somewhere you can build your own icon/logo from scratch? Check out this list of logo makers .

After downloading the icons or logos, it is time to add them to your YouTube video. Here I recommend our Wondershare Filmora video editor . Below is a video tutorial about how to add a logo to video in Filmora . Remember to download the free trial version to test.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Whether you need YouTube icons and logos to use as pop-up graphics in your videos, to serve as your channel icon, to use as watermarks, or to liven up your channel art or video thumbnails – don’t worry. There are lots of places to get them.

We’ve made a list of 6 sites where you can download icons and logos for free for YouTub videos, and explained how they work.

• Flaticon.com
• Freepik.com
• Seeklogo.net
• IconArchive.com
• Logaster.com
• Icons8.com

You might also want to check out these YouTube channels offering free profile picture templates .

1. Flaticon.com

Key Points:

• Great selection of icons/logos
• It’s easy to change the colors before you download

I’m putting Flaticon.com right at the top of this list because it has something that really sets it apart from the other sites on this list – it lets you edit pre-made icons before you download them.

You start out on Flaticon by searching for a theme like beauty, gaming, flowers, or emojis. I searched for ‘birds’ and found these cuties.

These aren’t all the birds on Flaticon, just a few. They had a huge selection in all the different searches I tried.

I clicked on the brown bird to open up the download screen, and then clicked into ‘Edit icon’. There may be a pop up that tells you editing tools are only available to registered users, but it’s wrong. Just close it and keep going, unless you want to register.

You can edit the colors in your icon just by clicking on the color you want to replace, and then clicking on the color in the color selector you want to replace it with. I made my birdie FLY.

I never apologize for puns.

Once you like the look of your icon, just click Download. You will be prompted to choose a format. PNG is the most popular because it is supported the most places (including on YouTube), and because it allows for a transparent background.

After clicking on a format you will also be prompted to choose a size for your image. It’s always best to go with the largest image you can – its way easier to shrink things and keep them looking good than it is to have to enlarge them.

Flaticon has a great selection, it’s free, and they make it really easy to edit your creations. I would strongly recommend this site to anyone in the market for an icon or logo.

Flaticon asks that you include an “Icon made by [author link] from <www.flaticon.com> ” somewhere (i.e. video description, channel ‘about’ section) when you use their icons for free.

2. Freepik.com

Key Points:

• Good selection of icons.
• No way to customise them on the site.
• Attribution requried.

On freepik, you start off by searching for a theme (like the genre of your YouTube title or the topic of a video, i.e. ‘makeup’ or ‘music’). I searched for ‘cat’.

A few of the sets available on freepik. The crown icon means you need to be a paying Premium member, but most things are free.

You can’t edit on freepik, and in order to download for free you need to include an attribution/credit to freepik where you use the images.

You do not choose what format to download your images in on freepik. When you hit ‘Free Download’ it will automatically download a zip file which will contain both a .jpg and a .eps. The EPS is editable in any ‘vector graphics editor’, like Adobe Illustrator, and YouTube supports .jpg files.

3. Seeklogo.net

Key Points:

• Logos from major brands
• Great for channels that do product reviews

Seeklogo.net has a slightly more corporate slant than some of the other sites on this list. It has logos for a lot of major companies and brands available for download.

In the ‘search’ on Seeklogo.net, you can type in the name of a brand or industry and see if the well-known logo you’re looking for is available. This may be especially useful for people with sports related channels since they have a lot of logos for major teams.

I searched for YouTube – you never know when you might need the YouTube logo.

Although the site does not advertise PNG in the list of formats on their front page, downloads do include PNG versions (which is useful if you need transparency and don’t have a program which can edit vector files, like .eps).

4. IconArchive.com

Key Points:

• Site has an office/business slant.
• Detailed search tool lets you sort by color, theme, etc.

IconArchive has a huge selection of icons with somewhat of an office/business slant. I searched for ‘flower’ and half the results were of file-folders with flowers on them.

Could be cool for a lifestyle video about school or work?

My favorite thing about IconArchive is its search features. It allows you to filter results by color, size (down to the specific resolution), category, background color, style, and a lot more.

Color is under ‘Display’, meaning that it won’t filter out results that have different colors it’ll just list the color you select first.

The ‘Category’ filter is useful because there are some genres you probably recognize there, like ‘Lifestyle’. However, you should be careful not to over-filter. This site is pretty literal in how it categorizes. For example – there are no ‘flower’ images under ‘Lifestyle’.

Downloads are available in different sizes and formats including PNG. PNG is always a good option because it is supported by YouTube and includes transparent backgrounds.

Note that all of your different download buttons will be located underneath your image. They favor those ads that look like ‘download’ or ‘start now’ buttons, and the ads sit right next to the images on the right, so it’s easy to get confused and click on the ad.

5. Logaster.com

Key Points:

• You’ll have to pay for larger images.
• Focused more on businesses.
• Incorporates your channel name.

Logaster is really a service for businesses – they make and sell business cards, letterheads, and other office-y things like that. However, they are still a good choice for YouTubers because they have a free logo creator. Sort of.

You actually have to pay $9.99 to get larger images and remove the watermark, but the process is free.

When you arrive on Logaster there’s a button right on their home page that says ‘Create a logo for free’. Click on it.

In Step 1 it’ll ask for your company name and an activity type. You just need to put in your channel name and choose something from the activity drop down that you focus on in your videos.

My heart burns with the secret desire to be YouTube’s Neil Degrasse Tyson (it doesn’t really, but he is super cool) so I tried ‘Katie Does Science’ and ‘Science, Studies, Education’. Here’s what it came up with:

There are 10 pages of suggestions!

You can see how, unless you have a short channel name, you’re probably not going to be able to use any of these as an icon, but a lot of them would look cool on a banner. There’s an ‘Edit Logo Concept’ button which allows you to make changes to the layout, but you can still only choose from preset layouts. For example, some logo concepts allow you to choose whether the icon is above your text or next to it.

After you click ‘save’ in the last step you’ll be prompted to provide an email address and password. Once you sign in, you’ll be able to download a small logo for free, or purchase the higher resolution image.

I personally wouldn’t recommend buying an image from here unless your channel is for your small business and you need things like branded business cards and letterhead. This site might be better for gathering inspiration than actually downloading a logo from.

6. Icons8.com

Key Points:

• You need to link back to them to use their icons.
• You can edit the colors on the site and even add details.
• There’s a size limit on the free service (100x100px)

At Icons8 they have free and paid services. If you download an icon for free it will be a PNG file (which should be fine, YouTube supports PNG and it’s good for transparency) that is no larger than 100x100px. This is not ideal since YouTube recommends 800x800px for profile pictures, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker either. Profile pictures render down to much smaller than that.

You will also need to link to Icons8 if you use their icons for free (i.e. in the ‘about’ section of your channel page).

To get started on Icons8, type something into the search bar on the home page that you think might work as an icon or as part of whatever graphics you have planned. I typed in ‘game’ for this one, since gaming is the biggest genre on YouTube. Here are a few of the results that came up:

Lower down in the results there were different kinds of sports balls, hand-held gaming systems, playing cards, joy sticks, baseball caps and more.

After you find an icon you like, click on it and it will appear on the right side of your screen where you’ll be able to make a few changes (an editing screen will pop up once you start clicking on things). You can edit your colors, overlay small decals, add text, and add a border, change your background and adjust your size. Here’s the editing screen:

You can give your icon a pretty different look from its default. Check this out:

You cannot download your icon from the editing screen. You need to click Save, and then download it from the main display screen here:

You can change the size with that drop down menu, but you’ll be limited in your options if you don’t want to pay.

I downloaded my image and tried to see how it would look as an icon/profile picture. As you can see, it was pretty blurry in the preview:

However, the preview is larger than the actual profile picture. Once I set it, it looked alright.

Looking for somewhere you can build your own icon/logo from scratch? Check out this list of logo makers .

After downloading the icons or logos, it is time to add them to your YouTube video. Here I recommend our Wondershare Filmora video editor . Below is a video tutorial about how to add a logo to video in Filmora . Remember to download the free trial version to test.

Richard Bennett

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

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