Uploading your clip

Create an account

To post your own video clips - or rate and comment on other people's - you'll need to sign up as a YouTube user.

Click the Sign Up link in the top-right corner of the screen. Fill out the form that appears, click to untick the box for the weekly email if you don't want it > Sign Up.

Confirm your account

Click the blue Upload tab, top-right. Type your email address into the box > Send Email.

YouTube sends a welcome message and then, some time later, a second email. Click on the link in this email to confirm your account.

All about your clip

On the YouTube upload page, fill out the form with details of your masterpiece, including its title, a short description, a category and tags.

Tags are keywords (such as 'holiday', 'speedboat' or 'France') that help others to find your video when they search YouTube. Select your language from the drop-down list > Continue.

Upload your clip

Next, click Browse. Locate the video clip you want to upload from your hard disk and click Open.

YouTube imposes a limit on the length of clips (10 minutes) and their size (100MB).

If your clip is bigger, you'll need to edit it before uploading.

Private or public

If you want only friends to view your clip, click Private. To create a contacts list, click My Account > My Friends and enter email addresses. Finally, click Upload video.

Hot tips

• YouTube accepts video in a number of different formats, including AVI, MOV and MPG files. For the best results, read the site's guidelines before you create your clips.
  
  
• Viewers can enjoy anything from homemade comedy sketches and crazy stunts to gadget reviews. Out-takes and rare footage from films and TV shows also make an appearance. But it's illegal to distribute such material unless you're the copyright owner - so only officially sanctioned clips, such as trailers, are available legitimately.