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Glossary

What Is Content ID on YouTube?

Content ID is YouTube’s system that checks uploads against copyright owners’ files and, on a match, blocks the video, monetizes it for the owner or tracks it.

Copyright owners who qualify give YouTube reference files of their music, films and shows. YouTube scans each new upload against that database, and a match puts a Content ID claim on the video. The owner’s chosen action then applies: block the video, run ads on it, sometimes sharing revenue with the uploader, or track its viewing statistics. Actions can differ by country, so a video can be blocked in one and monetized in another.

Content ID is available to owners of a substantial body of original material that is often uploaded to YouTube. YouTube monitors claims and disputes, and owners who repeatedly make wrong claims can lose access.

A Content ID claim is not a copyright strike, but it can take a video’s earnings or its audience in some countries. For a creator, the safest ground is music and footage you have the rights to, such as YouTube’s Audio Library, and a dispute when a claim is wrong.

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Questions

Is a Content ID claim a copyright strike?

No. A claim is automatic and lets the owner block, monetize or track the video. A strike follows a legal removal request and counts against the channel.

Who can use Content ID?

Copyright owners with exclusive rights to a substantial body of original material that is often uploaded to YouTube, YouTube says.

Can Content ID decide fair use?

No. It matches files; fair use is a legal question that only a court can decide. You can dispute a claim you believe is wrong.

Can a claimed video still make money for me?

Sometimes: YouTube says a monetize action may share revenue with the uploader. Often the owner takes the earnings.

Sources

Related terms

Copyright strike

What YouTube gives a channel when a copyright owner has one of its videos removed with a legal takedown request. Three active strikes end the channel.

Open

Reused content

Reused content is YouTube’s name for videos that repurpose material from YouTube or elsewhere online without significant commentary, changes or added value.

Open

Fair use

Fair use is a rule of US copyright law that allows some use of copyrighted material without the owner’s permission. A court decides it, case by case.

Open

Public domain footage

Public domain footage is video no longer, or never, protected by copyright, so anyone may use it without permission. It is not the same as free stock footage.

Open