How to Make a YouTube Playlist

One of the best things about YouTube, aside from the massive amount of video content, is the ease with which you can organize content. It’s very simple to create playlists and rewatch certain videos at your leisure, without having to manually search for them.

How to Make a YouTube Playlist on Browser

There’s no need to create your own channel to build one or more playlists on YouTube. If you simply sign into your account, you can start making playlists. And there are a couple of ways to do this too.

Method #1

1. Search for the video that you want to add
   
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2. From the list of results, click the “three-dotted icon” on the right.
   
   
   
3. Select the “Save to Playlist” option.
   
   
   
4. Save the video to one of your existing playlists or “Create a new playlist.”
   
   
   
5. Name your new playlist and hit “Create.”
   
   
   
6. Resume finding more videos.

Method #2

1. Find a video and start the playback.
   
   
   
2. If you like it, click on the “Save (Plus icon)” button under the player.
   
   
   
3. Add it to an existing playlist or create a new one.
   
   
   

How to Make a YouTube Playlist on iPhone

Here’s how you can save videos to playlists on your iPhone.

1. Launch the YouTube app.
   
   
   
2. Find a new video that you want to watch.
   
   
   
3. Tap the “Save” button underneath the player.
   
   
   
4. When prompted, select the playlist you want to send the video to.
   
   

How to Make a YouTube Playlist on an Android Device

Android devices have a nearly identical process of creating a YouTube playlist. When using the YouTube app, do the following:

1. Launch the YouTube app and log in.
   
   
   
2. Go to your “Library” tab.
   
   
   
3. Tap the “New Playlist” button.
   
   
   
4. Select videos from your watch history.
   
   
   
5. Tap “Next.”
   
   
   
6. Name your playlist and edit the privacy settings.
   
   
   
7. Tap “Create” to save it.
   
   

How to Make a YouTube Playlist without an Account

We told you that you don’t need a channel to create a playlist. Having a Google or YouTube account is enough to create a playlist and save it. But what if you don’t have an account?

You can make a YouTube playlist even if you don’t have an account or if you simply don’t want to sign in. It’s a lengthier process but you can also save this playlist so you can listen to it later.

1. First, go to YouTube and start playing some videos.
   
   
   
2. Copy and paste the video URL into a text document.
   
   
   
3. Save the last portion of the URL, or the video’s ID.
   For this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz6XNSB0F3E the “Qz6XNSB0F3E” part is the unique ID.
   
   
4. Copy paste the following line in your browser
   https://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?video_ids=
   
   
   
5. Add the music video IDs after the “=” in sequence and separate them with commas,
   Example – https://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?video_ids=Qz6XNSB0F3E,w_DKWlrA24k,QK-Z1K67uaA
   
   
   
6. Press enter to open a YouTube playlist that features those videos in order.
   
   

You can save that link in your inbox, bookmark it, or save it in a text document for later use. Even though you can’t save the playlist on YouTube (because you don’t have an account), the link recreates the playlist every time.

Youtube Playlist Extras

Advanced Settings

If you’re using the browser version of YouTube, you also have access to an Advanced Settings menu.

1. Open any playlist.
   
   
   
2. Click the “three-dotted icon.”
   
   
   
3. Select “Playlist Settings.”
   
   
   
4. Click the “Advanced Settings” option.
   
   
   
5. Under the “Basic” tab, edit privacy and order settings.
   
   
6. Under the “Auto” add tab, select parameters that allow YouTube to automatically add new videos to your playlist.
   
   
   
7. Under the “Collaborate” tab, invite collaborators and give them editing privileges over the playlist.
   
   
8. Click the “Get Link” button to generate a unique invite link to give to other people.
   

If you want to use the Auto Add function, know that there are three rules you can set:

1. Title Contains.
2. Description Contains.
3. Tag.

For each of those rules, you can add certain keywords. YouTube’s algorithm then adds newly uploaded videos that fall under those rules to the playlist of your choice. However, YouTube won’t add videos that already exist and match your criteria.

How to Share a Youtube Playlist

If you have public playlists saved on your YouTube account, everyone can view them – in theory. However, people need to access a link to see the playlist. You can create a link that you can then share with friends or your social media.

1. Launch the YouTube app or open YouTube in a browser.
   
   
   
2. Go through your playlists and find one you want to share.
   
   
   
3. Hit the “three-dotted menu” button next to the playlist.
   
   
   
4. Hit the “Share” button.
   
   
   
5. Choose a social media platform you want to share the playlist on.
   
   

It helps if you’ve linked your YouTube account with your other accounts. When you click or tap the Share button, YouTube also generates a unique link for the playlist. You can copy that link and paste it manually in a chat tab, as a status update, and so on.

But, make sure that the playlist you want to share isn’t set to private.

How to Make a YouTube Playlist Repeat

Assuming you’re using the browser version of YouTube on a computer, looping a playlist is very simple.

1. Go to the left panel menu on YouTube.
   
   
   
2. Click the “Show More” button to see your playlists.
   
   
   
3. Click on a playlist to select it.
   
   
   
4. Start playback on any video in the playlist.
   
   
   
5. In the right-side menu, click on the “Loop” button.
   
   

How to Delete a YouTube Playlist

Deleting playlists, on any device or version of YouTube, is very easy.

1. Log into your account.
   
   
   
2. Go into the “Library” tab.
   
   
   
3. Go to the “Playlists” section and select a playlist.
   
   
   
4. Click or tap on the “three-dotted menu” button.
   
   
   
5. Select the “Delete Playlist” option.
   
   
   
6. Confirm the action.
   
   

That playlist will no longer be available, not even in searches or in YouTube Analytics. However, the playlist may still appear in watch histories.

Difference Between Channels, Playlist and YouTube Queue

Your YouTube channel is the total sum of all your videos. It’s a representation of your YouTube account, the medium where videos get posted. Users can subscribe to channels but they can’t subscribe to playlists.

Playlists on the other hand are just collections of videos that users have made. Channels can showcase many playlists.

YouTube’s Queue feature is quite different from the traditional playlist. You can add a video to your queue from the home page, recommendations list, and search page. You can also do it before or after starting a video playback. To add to the queue, hover on any video thumbnail and press the queue button. You can do this as many times as you want. Once you start a queue, you can add more videos to it and the queue remains there, even if you load a new YouTube page. But, unlike a playlist, you can see the queue with those videos in a mini-player that pops up in the lower right corner of the screen. Note that if you have the Autoplay feature on; when you’re done with your current video the queued videos won’t automatically start.

Final Thoughts

Although YouTube dropped some playlist-related features recently, it still has one of the smoothest playlist creation and editing processes.

Let us know if you’ve experienced any issues with defining privacy settings, sharing playlists, or adding your favorite videos.