[2023] How to legally use Clips from other YouTube Videos?

September 25, 2023

In this article, we will look into the policies that guide the re-use of YouTube clips. We will also guide you through the step by process to re-use a video so that we can answer your question, “Can I use Clips from other YouTube Videos?”

So without any delay, let’s get straight to the point and know about the steps and policies that guide the re-use of YouTube content.

Table of Contents

Can I use Clips from other YouTube Videos?

Whether or not you can use other YouTube videos depends upon the copyrights associated with that particular video. You must check for the copyrights the video has beforehand you use it in your video or upload it directly on public domain.

We need to confirm that is the video subject to a copyright owner or it is under the creative commons license, or it has no such protection to reuse it. In order to check for it you need to take following steps:

Steps for how to check YouTube Video License:

Go to youtube.com.
Look for the video that you would like to reuse.
Click on the video/video link to open it.
Scroll down a bit to find the description about the video.
Check for the type of license under the license section.

Once you get to know about the details pertains to the Video license you can proceed accordingly to use it in your video. Read the below section of this article to find the ways by which you can use Clips from other YouTube Videos legally.

Legitimate Ways to Use Clips from other YouTube Videos:

The under mentioned methods serve as answer to one of the most common question asked by YouTubers, “How Can I use Clips from other YouTube Videos?” So, without further interruption let’s get straight into these methods.

Method 1: Using Videos with Creative Commons License

As mentioned above the first step is to check for copyrights associated with certain YouTube video. If you discover that the video has a Creative Commons license, you can liberally use that video without any hesitation.

So, the first method is to check the description of the video for the license and use the video in yours if it has “Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)”

However you must remember to give proper credits in your video description i.e.; mention the copyright owner’s name or nickname, briefings on the changes you have made to original content, and also insert a link to the text of the creative commons license, as given below:

“http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode”.

Method 2: Getting Permission of reuse from the Owner

In case you want to go legal, just take authorization from Owner of the video to use if that video is Copyright protected. You have to seek permission in writing and then reuse the video. However, please make it very clear that YouTube by no means will help you in contacting or getting the rights to the video.

Note: The permission should be only a written one and no verbal or casual handshake deal will work or considered as the true consent of the owner.

Here’s the means by which you can reach the original contributor/creator of the video seeking for the permission to reuse the whole or part of their content.

You can approach them via the email they have mentioned in the about section of their channel. Following steps will help you to reach the creator:

Go to the YouTube Channel with whom you want to contact.
Then select the About option of the channel.
Find Business Enquiry Email and select “View Email Address.” (If you don’t see a Business Enquiry Email that means the channel owner didn’t offer you with that option and you can’t do anything about that.)
Now use the email to contact the channel owner and send them the request for reuse of content.

Method 3: Using video as per Fair Use Policy

When you have no proper contact details available about the copyright owner to approach them with reuse request permission, but still you wish for using Clips from other YouTube videos, you can do so by following the fair use policy and guidelines. A few of the key points under fair use policy are given below:

End product should be transformative, that means you can’t directly copy the content as it is.
Bring into play small parts of the video (i.e.; about 15 seconds or less) subject to the size of the segment you are going to use. Moreover you have to make sure that this segment of the video being reused must not contain/cover the central idea of original video’s content.
Most importantly, there should be no loss of revenue for the Copyright owner because of your content. If that is the case then it will not be treated as a Fair use.

Note: Even if you follow all the necessary guidelines, there is still possibility that your content might be taken down any time based on the Copyright owner’s request.

Summing Up:

For one of the most frequently asked question Can I use Clips from other YouTube Videos?, the answer would be, yes..!! The only thing which you need to keep in mind is to abide by the rules and policies governing the reuse of the copyright content.

However there are chances that despite of you following the set of guidelines, the copyright owners could request YouTube to delete a particular video if they are unpleasant or sending a wrong message to viewers.

FAQs

Can I Use Clips from other YouTube Videos?

Yes! You can use small clips from other youtube videos but you have to follow the guidelines and policies of YouTube for reuse of the copyright content.