YouTube is no doubt the most popular video streaming platform. While the website and the app are sufficient by themselves, you can still achieve much more by trying a few URL tricks. Interestingly, many of these tricks can be applied merely by exploiting the URLs of YouTube videos.
Secret YouTube URL Tricks you did not know
Some of the YouTube URL tricks are features of YouTube and others are managed by third-party software creators. YouTube has less to do with the tricks created by third-party software creators, though it may object to options like accessing NSFW content without signing in.
- Get the thumbnail of any video from YouTube
- Open the list of your YouTube Subscriptions, Shorts, and Library quickly
- Skip a fixed time for each intro or start the video from a different time
- Bypass age restrictions without signing in
- Repeat YouTube video in a loop
1] Get the thumbnail of any video from YouTube
Many of you would like to download YouTube thumbnails as images on your system. If you wish to do it, one method is to take a screenshot, but the image would be miniature plus the procedure is cumbersome.
You can easily get the thumbnail of any YouTube video with the following trick.
Open the YouTube video on your browser. As an example, consider the URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8
- In this URL, pick the video ID. As in the example mentioned above, the video ID would be
Rab9M34AcO8.
Now, replace [Video ID] in the following URL template with the video ID you took from your YouTube video.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/[VideoID]/maxresdefault.jpg
As in the example above, the ID URL to copy-paste on the address bar will become:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rab9M34AcO8/maxresdefault.jpg
Hit Enter and the thumbnail will be displayed as a full-size image on your screen.
Right-click on the image, select Save Image As… and save the image to the correct location on your computer.
2] Open the list of your YouTube Subscriptions, Shorts, and Library quickly
YouTube allows you to subscribe to channels once logged in to the platform. If you wish to open the page for the Subscriptions, Shorts, and Library quickly, you can simply copy-paste the following URLs to the address bar of your browser:
- For YouTube Subscriptions – https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
- For YouTube Shorts – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/
- For YouTube Library – https://www.youtube.com/feed/library
Isn’t it easy?
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3] Skip a fixed time for each intro or start the video from a different time
Let us say you often watch videos from a specific channel on YouTube. The intro of each video is 26 seconds long and you know it. Now, instead of forwarding the video each time you play it, you can directly skip each video by 26 seconds.
Let us assume that the URL of the original video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8
All you need to do is add &start=25 at the end of the URL and the video will play from the 25th second directly.
In the example mentioned above, the URL will become
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v&start=25
Alternatively, suppose you want your video to start playing from a certain time instead of the beginning. In that case, it can be done by adding &t=<seconds> at the end of the video, where <seconds> is the number of seconds from which you wish to start the video.
Eg, if you wish to start it from 90 seconds before it ends, then the URL will become
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v&t=90
This post will show you in detail how to link to a YouTube video from a specific start time to end time.
4] Bypass YouTube age restrictions without signing in
As per YouTube’s policy, you need to sign in to YouTube to access NSFW content. The reason is that it allows YouTube to verify your age since your age had been set while creating the YouTube/Google account. However, if you wish to bypass age restrictions without signing in, then add NSFW before the URL and hit Enter.
Eg. If the YouTube URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v, then to allow it to open without signing in (considering the content is NSFW), simply make the URL:
https://www.nsfwyoutube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v.
5] Repeat YouTube video in a loop
Repeating YouTube videos can be useful if you want to listen to your favorite music while studying or working. If you wish to repeat your YouTube video in a loop, you need to replace the word YouTube in the URL with YouTubeRepeater.
Eg, If the URL in the question is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v , then the URL for the loop video will become:
http://youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=Rab9M34AcO8v
Once you change the URL, hit Enter to open the YouTube loop video page.
TIP: Block ads on YouTube with this simple URL trick.
What are the hidden features of YouTube?
YouTube has a lot of hidden features. You can use them by trying YouTube Tips and Tricks. These include YouTube keyboard shortcuts, access to NSFW content without signing in, using YouTube through the keyboard only, turning AutoPlay ON and OFF, etc.