A YouTube handle is a unique identifier that starts with @, such as @yourchannel. It is separate from your channel’s display name, appears in places such as comments and Live Chat, and forms the channel’s handle URL. Choose one that represents your public identity, follows YouTube’s rules, is available, and is easy for your intended audience to recognize and share.
What a YouTube handle is—and what it is not
A handle identifies a channel on YouTube; it is not the same as the channel name shown to viewers. YouTube uses handles in channel interactions including comments, mentions, Live Chat, and Shorts. Each channel has a handle, and YouTube creates a matching handle URL when the owner selects or changes it. YouTube Help explains handles and their rules.
A handle URL has the form youtube.com/@yourhandle. It gives people a direct way to visit the channel, but the handle does not replace the channel’s display name.
How to choose a handle
- Start with your channel identity. YouTube’s guidance is to select a handle that best represents your public identity on the platform. Consider the name viewers already associate with you, your channel, project, or organization.
- Make it easy for your audience to recognize and enter. Prefer a name people can recall and type accurately. This is practical advice, not a claim that YouTube ranks handles by memorability.
- Consider how it will work when shared. Less common characters can be harder for some people to type, and some apps outside YouTube may display or support those links poorly.
- Check availability and the naming rules. Enter your choice in YouTube’s handle field. If it is unavailable, YouTube suggests trying periods, numbers, or underscores; an unavailable result may also mean the proposed name does not meet the rules.
- Allow for future changes. If your channel may change focus or identity, choose a handle that can still make sense. This is a planning consideration, not a YouTube requirement.
YouTube handle rules
YouTube’s current guidance sets these requirements and restrictions. Character ranges can vary for some writing systems, so check the official rules if your handle uses a non-Latin script.
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- Most handles must be 3–30 characters. Exceptions include Han and Hangul handles of 1–10 characters, and Ethiopic, Hiragana, and Katakana handles of 2–20 characters. Mixed-script cases may vary.
- Handles use letters or numbers from supported languages. YouTube allows underscores, hyphens, periods, and Latin middle dots, but separators cannot appear at the beginning or end.
- Handles are not case-sensitive.
- A handle must not be URL-like or phone-number-like, must not already be in use, and must comply with YouTube’s Community Guidelines.
- There are restrictions on combining scripts, including limits involving left-to-right and right-to-left scripts.
- Selling or transferring handles is not allowed. YouTube reserves the right to change, reclaim, or remove a handle. It says it may revoke one that violates Community Guidelines and generate a new one.
How to set or change your handle
On a computer, use YouTube Studio. The labels below follow YouTube Help’s current desktop instructions.
- Sign in to YouTube Studio.
- Select Customization, then Profile.
- Edit the Handle field. Check that your choice is available and meets the rules.
- Select Publish to apply the change.
You can change your handle twice within a 14-day period. After a change, YouTube holds your previous handle for 14 days, during which you can switch back and both the former and updated handle URLs work. After that period, another user may be able to choose the old handle. See YouTube’s handle-change instructions for current details.
Handle URLs, custom URLs, and older links
YouTube creates a handle URL when you choose or change your handle. Existing custom URLs continue to work and redirect to the newer handle-based channel URL, but YouTube no longer allows new custom URLs to be created or existing ones to be changed. Depending on a channel’s history, it may also have an ID-based URL or a legacy username URL. YouTube’s pages on channel URL types and custom URLs describe how those links work.
If your handle uses characters beyond A–Z, 0–9, or the listed separators, some people may not have a keyboard that makes it easy to type, and some external apps may handle its link poorly. YouTube says copied URLs use encoding; sharing from the YouTube app may sometimes use the channel ID URL instead.
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