How to Find a YouTube Channel ID (and What It Is)
Published 2026-09-20 · 5 min read · YTDetective
TL;DR
- For your own channel, YouTube Help says to open your profile picture, then Settings, then Advanced settings.
- A channel ID is a fixed identifier. A handle (the @name) is what people see and can change.
- The ID we checked starts with UC and is 24 characters long: UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ.
- For someone else's channel, the ID is not always visible in the address bar. A lookup tool reads it from the channel record for you.
You need a channel ID when a tool, an API or a form asks for one and the @name will not do. Finding your own takes a few clicks. Finding someone else's is where people get stuck, because the address they see often has no ID in it.
Your own channel
YouTube Help gives the route: sign in to YouTube, select your profile picture in the top right, choose Settings, then choose Advanced settings from the left menu. The same page states that "each YouTube channel has a unique user ID and channel ID." The ID is shown in that advanced section.
ID, handle and custom URL are different things
A handle is the name that starts with @. YouTube's handle rules say it can be 3 to 30 characters long for most alphabets, and that you can change it twice within a 14-day period. A channel ID is a separate identifier that does not depend on the name you pick.
We looked up the ID for the channel @YouTube using the YouTube Data API as a check. The answer was UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ: the letters UC, then 22 more characters, 24 in all. That is one channel, so treat the pattern as an observation, not a rule YouTube documents.
The distinction matters in practice. Change your handle and the address people use changes. The ID stays attached to the same channel, which is why APIs and many third-party services ask for it.
Someone else's channel
If the address looks like youtube.com/channel/UC and then a long string, the ID is right there. Many channel addresses do not look like that. They use a handle (youtube.com/@name) or an older custom URL, and neither of those contains the ID.
Our Channel ID Finder accepts a handle, a custom URL or a channel page link. It first resolves the input to the channel's canonical record, then returns the stable ID used by the YouTube Data API. Results are cached, so repeated lookups do not use up API quota.
Why tools ask for the ID
The YouTube Data API can look a channel up by handle or by ID. We used the handle for @YouTube in our check, and the response carried the ID. Once you have the ID, later requests can use it directly, which is why our tool keeps it as the stable reference and caches lookups. If a service asks for a channel ID and you paste a handle, a not-found error is a likely symptom. Check that what you pasted starts with UC.
- 01
Copy the channel's address
Use the address from the browser or the Share option on the channel page. A handle such as @name works too.
- 02
Paste it into the Channel ID Finder
The tool resolves handles, custom URLs and channel links. If it cannot find the channel, check the spelling of the handle first.
- 03
Copy the ID that starts with UC
Keep it exactly as shown. The ID is case sensitive and can contain hyphens and underscores.
Confidence note
The Settings route and the statement about unique IDs come from YouTube Help as read on 2026-09-20. The ID format is an observation: we checked one channel through the YouTube Data API and it matches what our tool returns. YouTube's Help pages we read do not describe the format or say whether an ID can ever change.
FAQ
Is a channel ID the same as a handle?
No. The handle is the @name people see and can change. The channel ID is a separate identifier that starts with UC in the cases we have checked.
Can I find a channel ID without the YouTube API?
Yes for your own channel: it is in Settings under Advanced settings. For someone else's, use a lookup tool such as our Channel ID Finder, or open the channel through a youtube.com/channel/ address if you have one.
Does changing my handle change my channel ID?
YouTube Help describes the handle as a name you can change and the channel ID as a unique identifier. We did not find a page that says the ID changes when the handle does.
Why does the tool ask for a handle or URL and not just a name?
Names are not unique, so two channels can share one. Handles and URLs point to one channel only.
Related reading
Sources
- YouTube Help: Find your YouTube user & channel IDs · read on 2026-09-20
- YouTube Help: Learn about YouTube handles · read on 2026-09-20
- Google for Developers: Channels: list (YouTube Data API) · read on 2026-09-20