Whether your YouTube playlist is private or public greatly affects who can view it. By default, YouTube playlists are public, meaning anyone can see them. However, you can easily make your playlists private so only you can view them.
Public Playlists
When you create a new playlist on YouTube, it is automatically set to public viewing by default. This means that anyone who comes across your playlist can view all the videos it contains.
Your public playlists also show up on your YouTube channel page, allowing channel visitors to browse through them. In addition, your public playlists may appear in YouTube’s search results and suggestions if people search for related content.
The main advantage of a public playlist is that it allows you to easily share a collection of videos with friends, subscribers, or anyone else you want to view it. It also helps other YouTube users discover videos they may be interested in through your curated selection.
However, the downside is that you lose control over who can see your playlist. Anyone, including people you may not know or want viewing your video collection, will have access to a public playlist.
Private Playlists
You can change the visibility setting of any playlist you create to private. Doing this restricts viewing of the playlist so only you can see it.
Private playlists do not appear publicly on your YouTube channel page or in search results/suggestions. Other users cannot browse through your private playlist content. The only way someone else could view a private playlist is if you directly shared the playlist link with them.
Making a playlist private is recommended if you want to:
- Prevent random people from seeing a specialized video collection you curated for yourself.
- Hide videos you don’t necessarily want associated with your public YouTube persona.
- Avoid spoiling video content for a future planned public playlist.
The main limitation with a private playlist is that you cannot leverage it to publicly share videos or direct an audience to specific content. Private playlists are solely for your personal use.
How to Make a YouTube Playlist Private
You can easily change your YouTube playlist visibility setting to private or public at any time. Here are the steps:
- Open the YouTube playlist you want to edit.
- Click on the 3-dot More Options menu next to the playlist title.
- Select the Privacy option.
- On the popup, choose the Private radio button.
- Click Save to make the playlist private.
You can toggle the playlist back to Public the same way if you later decide you want to make it viewable by anyone again.
Who Can See a Private Playlist
Setting a YouTube playlist to private limits viewing access to just you. However, you can grant playlist access to others by sharing the direct URL to the playlist.
To allow specific people to view your private playlist:
- Open the private YouTube playlist you want to share.
- Copy the playlist URL from your browser bar.
- Send the playlist URL directly to the people you want to grant access.
Anyone you share the private playlist link with will be able to fully view the playlist content. They do not need to be logged into a YouTube/Google account.
However, anyone you haven’t shared the link with will not be able to find or access the private playlist. It will not appear on your channel or in search results to anyone except those you directly shared the URL with.
Limits to Private Playlists
While making a playlist private is an easy way to control access, there are some limitations to be aware of:
- YouTube allows embeds of videos from private playlists. Someone with the link could potentially embed one of your private videos into a public page.
- Playlist privacy only applies to the playlist itself. If viewers can find your individual videos from other sources, they can still view them normally even if they are in a private playlist.
- YouTube compiles viewing history and recommendations based on all playlist activity, regardless of privacy settings.
In most cases, private YouTube playlists operate as expected. However, these edge cases illustrate that full privacy depends on also keeping the videos themselves private.
Private Playlist Usage Guidelines
YouTube places certain restrictions around private playlist creation and usage:
- To create private playlists, you must register for a free YouTube account.
- Private playlists count toward your total playlists allowed (limit depends on account standing).
- Switching a playlist from public to private or vice versa does not change its web address. Only those you directly share the link with can view a private playlist.
- You can share private playlist links with up to 50 different Google accounts and email addresses.
- Private playlists follow YouTube’s standard content guidelines – no illegal, dangerous, or abusive videos.
As long as you follow YouTube’s policies, you can create and curate as many private playlists as you want to organize and store collections of videos for your own personal use.
Is a Private Playlist Completely Hidden?
Enabling the private setting on a YouTube playlist makes it completely invisible to the public. It will not show up anywhere on YouTube except to your own account and any users you directly share the playlist URL with.
However, any individual videos within a private playlist can be accessed if people find them through other means, such as if you uploaded them publicly. The playlist itself remains hidden though.
YouTube also logs private playlist watch history and factors it into recommendations. So your private viewing activity indirectly influences suggestions YouTube makes, even if no one can see the actual playlists.
Overall, making a playlist private effectively hides the full curated collection from public sight, with just minor exceptions. It lets you securely create specialized playlists just for your own purposes without sharing them widely.
Can YouTube See Your Private Playlists?
Yes, YouTube can fully view all playlists you create, including private ones. Making a playlist private prevents general YouTube users from accessing it without a direct link. But it does not block YouTube or its algorithms from seeing your playlist content.
YouTube needs access to all playlists, public and private, in order to:
- Track watch history statistics to serve personalized recommendations
- Scan playlist content to ensure policy compliance
- Improve search relevance based on full scope of curated content
- Enable shareability through direct linking
So private playlists are only private in terms of limiting public visibility. YouTube still monitors and utilizes data on private playlist activity to improve its services. Keep this in mind when using private playlists – don’t store prohibited or illegal content in them.
Balancing Privacy and Discoverability
Choosing between making playlists public versus private involves tradeoffs between sharing your content widely and maintaining control over access.
Public YouTube playlists help get your videos discovered, allowing you to promote curated content to viewers. But anyone can stumble upon public playlists, potentially revealing more than you intended.
Private YouTube playlists let you securely save and organize video collections for personal use. However, the content remains hidden, which prevents public discovery.
Consider keeping most topical playlists public to grow your audience. Use private playlists sparingly for content you specifically don’t want exposed. Treat public and private playlists as complementary options for managing different types of content rather than mutually exclusive choices.
YouTube’s flexible playlist privacy settings empower you to decide what’s discoverable by the world and what’s just for you and your selected viewers.
