Exploring YouTube’s Functionality Following Uploaded Videos

How Does YouTube Work After a Video Is Uploaded

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

You use YouTube to watch videos, post your own content, and build up a following. That is how YouTube works for you. This article is about how YouTube works technically. There are a lot of steps which occur between you clicking ‘upload’ and a viewer clicking ‘play’. Understanding this process can be useful to YouTubers because it can help shed light on where problems may be occurring when you have issues uploading or watching videos. Generally when there is a problem it is on your end and there are multiple simple things you can do to fix it.

This article will explain what goes on behind the scenes when you upload a video, where that video really goes, and what happens when somebody clicks play.

How Does YouTube Work

1. What Happens When You Upload?

When you upload a video your computer or device packages it into IP packets. Packets are fragments of information containing both data from your video and the address you are sending it to, in this case YouTube. The packets are encoded into radio signals which are sent through a wifi or cellular network. Your video travels through switches and routers on the internet until they reach YouTube’s servers. Your video is then reassembled and stored.

If uploading takes a long time for you it probably has nothing to do with YouTube; there is a lot that needs to happen for your video to even get there. How long the upload process takes depends on a number of factors including how many devices share your internet connection, how strong your wifi signal is, and the age of your router. If your uploads are taking too long consider compressing your videos before you upload them. You can also try uploading from your college campus or public libraries as institutions like these tend to have fast internet speeds.

2. Where is Your Video Stored?

As it is owned by Google YouTube uses Google’s ‘Bigtable’, a compressed data storage system which allows it to store the 500+ hours of video uploaded to its servers every minute. Bigtable is software, though, not hardware. YouTube and Google both have massive amounts of data and it needs to be physically housed somewhere.

Google has Modular Data Centers all over the world where it keeps its servers. These centers could cost as much as $600 million dollars each and consume huge amounts of electricity. There are six of them in the United States, three in Europe, two in Asia, and one is South America.

3. What Happens When Someone Watches Your Video?

When a viewer clicks on your video their computer sends an encoded request through the internet to YouTube’s servers. After YouTube receives the play request it chooses which format to play the video in based on the viewer’s browser. Your video is again turned into packets, which are again sent as radio signals over the internet to your viewer. Your viewer’s computer or device reforms the packets into your video and their browser plays it.

If videos take a long time to load for you then there are a few things you can do to speed them up. First, consider changing the channel of your wifi router. Most people stay on the channel their router was set to when they first got it and so there is a good chance you and your neighbors are all on the same channel. This causes your networks to interfere with each other. You can also delete the temporary files on your computer. Besides helping you stream video faster this will free up storage space. Another thing you can do is make sure there are as few devices connected to your network as possible while you are watching videos. Besides mobile phones and laptops you may have appliances, like coffee machines and refrigerators, which are wifi enabled. Disconnect them temporarily and it will help your videos to load faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Master Thumbnail Design for Mac Users - YouTube Edition

How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail On Mac

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

As a Youtuber, the first thing you would want is to achieve is a high number of views on your videos. One of the most crucial factors that determine whether the video will be a success or not is the thumbnail.

You need to design an attractive youtube custom thumbnail as it can up your game and get you significantly more views. this calls for you to exercise your artistic skills to the best, to be able to create thumbnails that make it almost irresistible for the viewers to scroll down without watching the video.

However, if you are wondering how that can be achieved then fret no longer for this article will explain the simple process of creating youtube thumbnails easily. All you need is a capable thumbnail maker like FilmoraX that can do it all for you in one automagical flourish!

What is a Youtube Thumbnail?

A youtube thumbnail is a smaller version of the video, a snapshot that you choose as a preview of your video. A Thumbnail is extremely important because it is essentially the outer packaging of your video; its front cover.

Much like the cover of a book, a thumbnail has to be attractive so that it can tempt your potential viewers to stop and watch your video while they are scrolling on youtube.

thumbnails are a significant factor in determining the number of views a Youtuber gets on his videos.

If you don’t create a thumbnail then youtube will generate one by itself which may not be so enticing for viewers. The purpose of the thumbnail is to make your videos stand out among the rest so you need to pay attention to it!

How to make Youtube Thumbnails on Mac

You can easily create interesting thumbnails for youtube videos using a thumbnail maker likeFilmoraX . Here is a step by step guide:

1. Preview the video and choose the still snapshot

The first step in creating a thumbnail is to import the final video into the FilmoraX editor on your MacBook.

Then, use the thumbnail editor to play your video and choose the snapshot that you want to be appearing as your thumbnail.

You can easily choose the frame from the video or use the preview frame button to view the frames one by one!

2. Add text, shape, and image overlays

Once you’ve chosen the frame for the thumbnail, the next step would be to add text to it to catch the attention of the audience. You can also adjust the thumbnail size as per your requirement, however, the ideal size would be 1280x720 pixels with a minimum width of 640 pixels.

3. Add effects

FilmoraX has a wide range of effects that you can apply to your videos or pictures to make them look more attractive.

4. Save the thumbnail

After you are done with all the editing, the final step would be to save the youtube thumbnail by hitting the save button.

Once you save you’ll see how your thumbnail will feature on different platforms like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

So, using this thumbnail maker you can easily create custom thumbnails for your videos!

Conclusion

Hopefully, the above-mentioned steps have given you enough insight and clarity on making creative and good youtube thumbnails. Using FilmoraX will further simplify the process for you with its amazing tools and features!

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

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