YouTube provides spreadsheet templates that you can use to provide the metadata for the content you're delivering to YouTube. Each row in a spreadsheet represents the metadata for an asset in the YouTube rights management system.
There's a separate template for each type of content you can upload to YouTube–audio recordings, movies, television shows, and web videos– and for different monetization options, such as with ads, purchase, or reference only.
Available spreadsheet templates
Spreadsheet templates allow you to update the metadata for previously delivered videos and update multiple videos at once. The available spreadsheet templates are:
| Template | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Asset Update | Update the metadata for previously delivered video assets by providing their asset IDs or custom IDs. (The other available update templates identify videos by their video IDs.) You can't replace media files using the template. |
| Audio - Art Tracks | Create art tracks from sound recordings. |
| Audio - Composition | Provide information about your publishing rights for musical compositions. You don't upload any media files for compositions; YouTube uses the rights information for Content ID or AudioSwap. |
| Audio - Sound Recording | Deliver or update sound recordings used with Content ID or AudioSwap. Use this template if you don't control any music publishing rights for the compositions that are in the sound recordings you upload. YouTube doesn't create art tracks for recordings uploaded with this template; use the "Audio - Art Tracks" template to create art tracks. |
| Movie - Reference Only | Deliver movies that you don't plan to make available for viewing on YouTube. YouTube uses the movie media files for Content ID matching. |
| Movie - Rental or Purchase | Deliver movies that you plan to make available for rental or purchase. Use this template when you have a video Order ID. |
| Movie - Update | Update the metadata for previously delivered movies (with ads, rental, or purchase). You can't replace media files using the template. |
| Music Video | Deliver premium music videos and make them available for viewing on YouTube. |
| Music Video - Reference Only | Deliver premium music videos for Content ID matching, without making the video available for viewing on YouTube. |
| Music Video - Update | Update the metadata for previously delivered music videos. You can't replace media files using the template. |
| Playlist - Management | Add and delete videos from a playlist |
| Reference - Management | Activate, deactivate, and delete references |
| TV Episode - Rental or Purchase | Deliver individual episodes of television shows. You must create the TV Shows and TV Seasons before delivering episodes. |
| TV Episode - Reference Only | Deliver individual episodes of television shows for Content ID matching, without making them available for viewing on YouTube. |
| TV Episode - Update | Update the metadata for previously delivered television episodes (with ads or purchase). You can't replace media files using the template. |
| TV Show | Create television show assets. You must create a show before you can add seasons or episodes for the show. |
| TV Season | Create seasons for previously created television shows. You must create seasons before you can add episodes for the show. |
| Unlink Music Asset | Unlink music assets. Labels can break links between Music Video and Sound Recording assets. Publishers can break links between Sound Recordings and Compositions. |
| Video - Localization Update | Provide localized metadata, captions, and audio for previously delivered videos. |
| Web Video | Deliver web videos and make them available for viewing on YouTube. |
| Web Video - Reference Only | Deliver web videos for Content ID matching, without making the video available for viewing on YouTube. |
| Web Video - Update | Update the metadata for previously delivered web videos. You can't replace media files using the template. |
Use a template to deliver content
To deliver content files using a spreadsheet template:
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Sign in to Studio Content Manager.
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From the left menu, select Content updates
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Click the Templates tab.
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Download the appropriate template for the type of content you are delivering. You can download the template as a .csv file or open the template in Google Sheets (recommended).
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Refer to the table below for information about available templates. If the spreadsheet for your content type doesn't appear, contact your partner manager.
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Enter the metadata for your content into the spreadsheet, one item per row.
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The spreadsheet template includes instructions about the data to add in each column. For general guidelines, go to Spreadsheet formatting guidelines.
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If you entered the data into Google Sheets, download the completed sheet as a comma-separated values (.csv) file.
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Upload the spreadsheet and the referenced media files using the Package Uploader, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) dropbox, or Aspera dropbox.