Password Protect A YouTube Video: All You Need To Know

Alright, before we begin, let's make one thing clear:

You cannot password protect a youtube video.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't other options. On the contrary, there are a few privacy and security settings on YouTube that we should look at. Let's take a moment to discuss these settings and present you with an alternative solution for your business, shall we?

YouTube Private vs. Unlisted

There are only two ways to secure a YouTube video: set it to “private” or to “unlisted”. However, even with only two settings, it's often difficult to determine which is best for your business needs.

YouTube Private Videos

If you're looking to restrict who sees your videos, the “private” setting is the better option. Nobody can watch your video unless you give him or her explicit permission.

So, Yes, private YouTube videos can be shared. However, in order to share your content, you'll need to add each person's email address one at a time. This isn't so bad unless you want to share your private video with your entire team and you have to enter 50+ individual addresses. Still, it’s the best way to upload a private video to YouTube and keep prying eyes away from it.

YouTube Unlisted Videos

Setting your videos to “unlisted” ensures that they do not come up in search results. In order to share unlisted videos, you only need to pass along the URL. The big downside here is that anyone with the link can view the video. This easy sharing option opens a huge backdoor for people to exploit.

How to make a YouTube video “private” or “unlisted”

To make a YouTube video “private” or “unlisted”:

Click your profile photo and select YouTube Studio from the drop-down menu
Click Videos from the menu on the left.
Hover your mouse over the Visibility setting of a video, click and select the option you want.

If you're using Creator Studio Classic, open up your Video Manager. Go to the video you wish to change and click Edit. Under the YouTube Privacy Settings make your selection then click Save Changes.

How to share a YouTube private video

To share a YouTube private video:

Click your profile photo and select YouTube Studio from the drop-down menu
Click Videos from the menu on the left
Click on the thumbnail of the video you wish to share
On the left-hand side select Other Features > Share Privately.

This will open a new window with a box where you can enter the emails of the people you want to share the video with.

How to actually password protect a video

Unfortunately, YouTube does not offer password protection or anything similar for your videos. If you wish to password protect a video, you’ll need to sign up with a business video platform such as StreamingVideoProvider.

StreamingVideoProvider gives you the ability to lock your videos with custom passwords. Click the demo below to see it in action!

Besides setting a simple passcode, you can also create expiration dates for viewing your video and limit the number of times it can be viewed. You even have the ability to generate multiple passwords.

Private YouTube Channel

Unfortunately, making your YouTube channel “private” isn’t actually possible. Instead, you have the option to “hide” your channel. This permanently deletes your comments and replies while also hiding your channel name, uploads, likes, subscriber info, etc.

You can always disable the “hidden” setting, but do you really want to hide it in the first place?

Hiding your YouTube account makes your info and content invisible to EVERYONE, including your team members and your potential customers. This isn’t a restrictive setting where you can choose who can view your content.

In short, there is no way to secure your YouTube channel and give access to specific people. Either everyone sees your videos, or no one does.

The alternative

If you’re looking to have a private and secure video channel that you can easily share with your team or within your company network, use a video platform for business such as StreamingVideoProvider.

With StreamingVideoProvider, you can fine-tune your privacy and security by assigning custom restrictions per playlist (channel) or video

StreamingVideoProvider gives you continuous high-quality protection for ALL of your videos by offering everything you need to share videos privately—IP and geo restrictions, password protection, encrypted videos, domain hotlinking, and dynamic watermarking.

When NOT to use YouTube for Business Videos

Certainly, there are lots of benefits of using YouTube for business and it can help you grow your business, but it’s not always the best option. YouTube is the place for public videos because it’s really a social media platform.

If you’re planning to upload private business videos, it’s best to stay away from YouTube. Here are a few examples of when you shouldn't use YouTube...

When you’re uploading internal company videos, meeting recordings, and anything that may contain sensitive business info. You don’t want your company meetings to come up in the YouTube search results, do you?
When you’re uploading paid video content. A free video-sharing site like YouTube cannot protect your content from pirates and it offers no viable options to sell your videos online.
If there is a list of the 15 best YouTube video downloaders, imagine how many there are… Anyone can download your content if they want to.
When you want to keep the copyrights to your videos. The web is full of YouTube copyrights horror stories. For example, YouTuber TheFatRat got his song stolen due to a false copyright claim. While he is waiting for justice, company Ramjets is reportedly making $3,000/mo in ad revenue from his work.
When you don’t want ads to distract your viewers. If you’re using YouTube to promote your own products or services, keep in mind that viewers can easily be distracted by ads and videos from your competitors.
When you want to have access to technical support. Free video platforms like YouTube don’t offer customer service. If you need any help, you’re on your own.

Securing Your Videos Round-Up

Review the table below to see what security options are offered to you.

	YouTube Private	YouTube Unlisted	Business Video Hosting (StreamingVideoProvider)
Password Protection	No	No	Yes
Shareable Link	No	Yes	Yes
Restricted Access	Yes	No	Yes
Encrypted	No	No	Yes