Handles are short and unique channel identifiers that make it easier for you to find and connect with creators on Youtube. Handles start with the "@" symbol (for example, @youtubecreators) and are distinct from channel names. Learn how to change, view, or hide your handle.
You’ll see handles in places like comments, mentions, Live Chat, and Shorts. You can also use your handle outside of YouTube to promote your channel.
Handle naming guidelines
- Is between 3-30 characters, except:
- - Han/Hangul: 1-10 characters
- - Ethiopic/Hiragana/Katakana: 2-20 characters
- - Mixed script handles may have different minimum and maximum limits
- Uses alphabet letters or numbers from one of our 75 supported languages
- - Handles aren’t case-sensitive
- - Your handle can also include underscores (_), hyphens (-), periods (.), Latin middle dots (·), but not at the beginning or end of your handle
- - Mixed scripts are only allowed in certain circumstances. Left-to-right scripts cannot be mixed with right-to-left scripts in a single handle except when numbers are added to the end of the handle
- Is not URL-like or phone number-like
- Is not already being used
- Follows YouTube's Community Guidelines
We don’t allow:
- Violent, offensive, or spammy handles. If your handle violates our Community Guidelines, YouTube will revoke the handle and generate a new one for your channel.
- The sale and transfer of handles
Considerations when choosing handles in some languages
If your handle includes characters other than the letters A-Z, numbers 0-9, or separators [_-.], there are 2 potential considerations:
- People searching for you: People may not be able to easily type your handle to search for you if they do not have the relevant keyboard for your handle.
- Sharing links on apps and websites outside of YouTube: Some apps and websites outside of YouTube may not properly display or support your youtube.com/@myHandle link, making it appear broken or preventing it from directing to your channel page. This is because internationalization is not uniformly supported across apps and websites on the internet. These issues can occur with both typed links and copied links from the YouTube app or website.
- The handle URL will be copied from the browser in an encoded form in accordance with internet standards. The encoding ensures the URL will work correctly.
- Example of encoded URL:
https://www.youtube.com/c/Handle%EC%A7%81%ED%95%A8.
- When sharing to external apps using Share
the channel page may be shared using the channel ID URL (instead of the handle URL).
- Example of channel ID URL:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0L1uV8pgO4pCAIBNGxxy5w.
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Search using handles
Viewers and creators can search for your channel directly on YouTube using the @ symbol followed by your handle, which can be found on your channel page or profile card. All channels will have an associated handle to find and interact with other users.
Share using a handle URL
Your handle will also automatically become the new YouTube URL for your channel. For example, youtube.com/@youtubecreators. You can use this URL to direct people to your channel when they’re not on YouTube.
You can share a channel page using the handle URL by:
- Clicking or tapping Share
- Copying and pasting the URL directly from your browser's address bar.