VideoBB
Upload Premium Sign in

Import a video from a link or from YouTube

Bring a video into VideoBB from a YouTube link or a direct file link, up to 4 GB. See the daily limits, the rights rule, and why a link is refused.

Paste a YouTube link or a direct link to a video file, and VideoBB downloads it, encodes it and adds it to your channel. A direct link must point at the file itself, not at a web page. YouTube links are the one exception: paste the normal link to the video.

How to import a video

  1. Open the upload page and choose Import from link.
  2. Paste a YouTube link, or the direct download link of the video file. For a YouTube link, tick I own this video or have the rights to upload it.
  3. Add a title if you like, and choose Private draft, Unlisted or Public. The menu starts on the visibility from your upload defaults. Public needs a chosen display name.
  4. Press Import video. Progress shows on the page and under Imports in your studio.

Only import videos you made or have the right to publish. The community guidelines apply to imports just as they do to uploads.

Import a video from YouTube

You can bring one of your YouTube videos to VideoBB by pasting its link. Watch links, youtu.be links and Shorts links work, including links from the YouTube mobile site and YouTube Music.

  • Rights. You must tick the box that says you own the video or have the rights to upload it. The import does not start without it.
  • What comes across. The video at up to 360p, its title and its description, trimmed to the VideoBB limits of 150 and 5,000 characters. If you type your own title, it is used instead.
  • What stays behind. YouTube's views, likes and comments are not copied. Your video starts fresh on VideoBB.
  • Thumbnail. VideoBB makes its own thumbnails as usual. The YouTube thumbnail is used only until they are ready.
  • Settings. The video gets your upload defaults, like any upload. Public needs a chosen display name.
  • Once per channel. Each YouTube video can be imported once into your channel. If you delete the imported copy, you can import it again.

Better quality than 360p

A YouTube import is a 360p copy. For better quality, download the video from YouTube yourself and upload the file as a normal upload. In YouTube Studio: Content → the video's Options menu → Download. Google Takeout can also export your YouTube videos.

The best source is the original file from your camera or editor. An upload keeps every quality it was made in, up to 4K, and resumable uploads carry large files through a dropped connection.

YouTube videos that cannot be imported

  • Playlists and channel pages. Open one video and paste its link.
  • Live streams that are still live or have not started, and finished streams that YouTube is still processing.
  • Age-restricted videos. VideoBB does not allow 18+ content.
  • Private videos, members-only videos and videos that are unavailable on YouTube.
  • Videos longer than 4 hours, or larger than 4 GB.

Sometimes YouTube refuses the download. The import then fails with the message "YouTube refused the direct download; try again later". A failed import does not use up one of your daily YouTube imports, so you can simply try again later.

YouTube import limits

YouTube imports have their own allowance, separate from other link imports: 5 in any 24 hours on a free account, or 20 on Premium. Imports that fail, and imports you cancel while they run, do not count. The import panel shows how many you have used.

What a direct link looks like

A direct link opens or downloads the file itself, and it often ends in a file name such as clip.mp4. A link to a page with a player on it will not work. Good sources are a file on your own server, a direct download link from cloud storage, or a clip you made on Higgsfield.

Daily limit and file size

You can run 10 direct-link imports in any 24 hours on a free account, or 100 on Premium. YouTube imports are counted separately, as described above. Each file can be up to 4 GB, the same as a normal upload.

Why a link is refused

  • It does not start with http or https.
  • It has a user name or password written into it.
  • It uses an unusual port instead of the standard web ports.
  • It points to a private or local network address.
  • It leads to a web page, not a video file.
  • The file is larger than 4 GB, the server answers with an error, or the download takes too long.

After the import

The video gets your upload defaults, then goes through the same encoding as any upload; see encoding times after upload. If it is three minutes or shorter, it becomes a Short.

If a cloud storage link opens a preview page, look for a download or direct link option in that service, and paste that link instead.