Find a Channel ID

To find any YouTube channel's ID, open the channel's page, click its description under the channel name (the "more" link) to open the About panel, scroll to the bottom, click Share channel, then Copy channel ID. For your own channel, YouTube Help gives a second way: sign in, click your profile image, then Settings > Advanced settings, or go straight to youtube.com/account_advanced, where the channel ID and user ID are shown (Find your YouTube user & channel IDs). A channel ID is a fixed code such as UCwTAdSZQ8EWKjSqRLo4sCOA; it never changes, even when the channel's name or handle does.

Quick facts

How do I find a YouTube channel ID?

Any channel, on a computer:

1. Open the channel's page (for example youtube.com/@musicfactoryfreedom).
2. Under the channel name, click the description or its more link. The About panel opens, with the channel's links and details.
3. At the bottom of the panel, click Share channel.
4. Click Copy channel ID. The ID is now on your clipboard.

Vi.ki checked on Nov 6, 2026 that the panel offers Share channel and Copy channel ID.

Your own channel:

1. Sign in to youtube.com and click your profile image at the top right.
2. Click Settings, then Advanced settings in the menu on the left.
3. The Channel ID and User ID are listed there.

YouTube Help says you need to be signed in as the channel's primary owner to see them there (Find your YouTube user & channel IDs). In YouTube Studio the ID is also in the browser's address bar: Studio's addresses read studio.youtube.com/channel/ followed by the ID.

6:28 Stephen Robles showed one more place in Studio, in a Nov 3, 2023 video: click Customization in the left sidebar, then Basic info, and scroll to Channel URL. The text after channel/ in that address is your channel ID, which he called an easier way than digging through the channel page's source.

From the page source: on a channel page, press Ctrl + U (View page source) and search for channel/UC. The page's main (canonical) address is youtube.com/channel/ followed by the ID (tested Nov 6, 2026 on the Music Factory channel).

Handles, IDs and the other addresses

Every channel has several addresses, which YouTube Help lays out in Understand your YouTube channel's URLs:

Use the ID wherever a link or a tool must keep working: a handle can be changed, and YouTube releases the old one 14 days later for anyone to take, while the ID stays. Many tools, embeds and feeds ask for the ID rather than the handle, such as the always-current live link in Share the Live Link.

6:52 A feed is one example. Every channel has an RSS feed of its new uploads, whose address ends in videos.xml?channel_id= followed by the ID, and in his video Stephen Robles built that address from his own ID to make phone shortcuts that fetch his latest video.

When the ID was hard to find

For a time YouTube showed no channel ID on channel pages. George Vanous, who runs the Freedom! YouTube network, recorded a video about the hidden ID, and his tips note the route that works on YouTube itself: open About, then Share, to copy the ID. If an older guide tells you to look for the ID in the address of a channel page, that only works for channels opened through a /channel/ link; most channel pages now open at their @handle.

Frequently asked questions

What is a YouTube channel ID? The permanent code YouTube gives every channel, 24 characters starting with UC. It appears in the address youtube.com/channel/ followed by the ID, and never changes.

How do I find my YouTube channel ID? Sign in, click your profile image, choose Settings, then Advanced settings. YouTube lists your channel ID and user ID there, also at youtube.com/account_advanced.

How do I find someone else's YouTube channel ID? Open their channel, click the description to open the About panel, then Share channel and Copy channel ID.

Is a YouTube handle the same as a channel ID? No. A handle (@name) is chosen by the creator and can be changed; the YouTube channel ID is assigned by YouTube and stays the same.

How do I get a YouTube channel ID from a handle? Open youtube.com/@handle, then use the About panel's Share channel > Copy channel ID. The page's canonical address in its source also contains the ID.

Sources

• Find your YouTube user & channel IDs, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• Understand your YouTube channel's URLs, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• YouTube Channel ID visible again (was hidden before) after adding Heartbeat Moments Chrome extension, Freedom!, Aug 29, 2023 (video)
• 13 Easy YouTube Shortcuts for Creators and Viewers, Stephen Robles, Nov 3, 2023 (video)
• Change, view, or hide your handle, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• George Vanous's YouTube tips document, channel ID from the About panel, read Nov 6, 2026
• Vi.ki's reading of a channel page and its About panel, Nov 6, 2026