Content ID is a popular digital finger printing system that content creators can use to easily identify and manage their copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by content owners, looking for any matches.
If you upload a video that contains copyright-protected material, you could end up with a Content ID claim. These claims are issued by companies that own music, movies, TV shows, video games, or other copyright-protected material.
Content owners can set Content ID to block material from YouTube when a claim is made. They can also allow the video to remain live on YouTube with ads. In those cases, the advertising revenue goes to the copyright owners of the claimed content.
To see if you have any Content ID claims on your videos, go to your Videos page in YouTube Studio. We may also email you when you get a Content ID claim, if your video or account is affected.
Probably not. In most cases, getting a Content ID claim isn’t a bad thing for your YouTube channel. It just means, “Hey, we found some content in your video that’s owned by someone else.”
It’s up to the copyright owners to decide whether or not others can reuse their original material. In many cases, copyright owners allow their content to be used in YouTube videos in exchange for having ads run on those videos. These ads may play before the video or during it (if the video is longer than 10 minutes).
However, there are some actions copyright owners can take if they don’t want their material reused:
In some cases, you can’t monetize a video that has a Content ID claim. Instead, the copyright owners can choose to monetize your video. But in other cases, like if music is claimed in your video, you may be able to share the advertising revenue with the music’s copyright owners.
If you get a Content ID claim, there are a few different things you can do, depending on the situation: