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How to Avoid Copyright on YouTube: What Creators Need to Know
How to Avoid Copyright on YouTube: What Creators Need to Know
8min read·Leon Rupia·Feb 13, 2026
Publishing videos on YouTube can be an excellent way to build a brand, educate audiences, or promote products. Why? Well, with over 2.5 billion users, YouTube lets creators reach a wide, diverse audience.
But if you aren’t careful about where you source the content in your YouTube videos, you could receive a copyright infringement claim. Spending hours, days, or even weeks creating the perfect video only to discover you can’t share it with viewers can be incredibly frustrating.
This raises the question: How can you avoid copyright infringement on YouTube? In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know, including how YouTube detects copyright violations and how to resolve copyright issues when they occur.
Table of Contents
- What is copyright infringement on YouTube?
- How to avoid copyright claims and strikes on YouTube
- Common YouTube copyright mistakes
- How to deal with a Content ID claim
- How to deal with a copyright strike
- Publish videos free of copyright claims
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How to Avoid Copyright on YouTube: What Creators Need to Know
What is copyright infringement on YouTube?
Copyright infringement on YouTube happens when a creator shares music, videos, or other material without owning it or having permission to use it, violating the rights of the original copyright owner.
YouTube uses Content ID, a tool that can scan the platform’s extensive video database and compare your video against matches or potential matches.
If Content ID scans your content and detects copyrighted material, it will automatically apply a Content ID claim to it. If your content receives a Content ID claim (often referred to as a copyright claim), you may face these consequences:
- Demonetization: Some or all of the advertising revenue you earn could be redirected to the copyright owner.
- Blocked content: The copyright owner may block your content, making it unavailable to YouTube viewers.
While it’s highly unlikely, the copyright owner may also decide to let your video stay on YouTube as it is and track your viewership statistics.
However, in some cases, the copyright owner may decide to take drastic measures and submit a copyright removal request, commonly known as a takedown notice. As the name suggests, it’s a legal request for YouTube to remove your video from the platform for copyright infringement.
If YouTube removes your content due to a copyright removal request, your channel will receive a copyright strike. After the first copyright strike, if your channel receives another two strikes within 90 days, YouTube will permanently terminate it.
How to avoid copyright claims and strikes on YouTube
Using copyrighted material — even unknowingly — isn’t a valid defense against copyright violation. Bearing that in mind, here’s what you can do to avoid getting hit with copyright claims on YouTube:
Only use content you have the right to use
The easiest way to avoid copyright issues on YouTube is to use only material you have the right to use. If you want to use a copyrighted video or music in your content, you must get permission to use the material from the copyright owner.
Use original content
Using content you created yourself, such as original music, videos, or graphics, is another surefire way to avoid penalties for copyright infringement.
Use royalty-free music
Many YouTube creators often violate copyright by using copyrighted music. Want to protect your channel from getting flagged because of using copyrighted music? Use royalty-free music. This is music you can use in your content without paying royalties to the original creator or rights holder.
Some websites where you can get free royalty-free music include:
- Free Music Archive
- Pixabay
- Free-Stock-Music.com
- Creator Mix
Besides these websites, there are other sites where you can get royalty-free music for a one-time fee or a recurring subscription to access a catalog of music. These include:
- Bensound
- Epidemic Sound
- Artlist
- Uppbeat
Use YouTube Audio Library
YouTube provides creators with various tools to streamline the content creation process. One of them, Audio Library, has over 150,000 royalty-free tracks — some requiring attribution (Creative Commons) and others not.
While sifting through the extensive library to find the perfect sound for your video can be time-consuming, using tracks from it is a guaranteed way to avoid being penalized for using copyrighted music. Follow these steps to access the Audio Library:
- Log in to YouTube Studio.
- Select the Audio library optionfrom the menu to the left.
Obtain a license to use the track you want
Feel like royalty-free music won’t cut it for your video? If you want to use a famous song in your content, you’ll need to get a license to use it. While it’s unlikely you’ll get a response if you reach out to a chart-topping artist, you can purchase licenses to use popular songs in your YouTube videos from a music licensing website like Lickd.
Understand fair use
Fair use is a legal exception that allows you to use copyrighted material without the owner’s consent. But there’s a catch. Fair use typically only allows content creators to use copyrighted material as long as it’s done to critique the material, comment on it, parody it, or for educational purposes.
Put it simply, when applying fair use, you shouldn’t simply copy the original content. You should transform it to give it new meaning. Additionally, you shouldn’t use the entire original material. You should use snippets of it, or you could receive a copyright claim or strike.
That said, fair use is a relatively gray area. In fact, YouTube states that there’s no guarantee you’ll be protected against copyright infringement even if you apply fair use correctly. So, it’s best to err on the side of caution when exercising it.
Common YouTube copyright mistakes
There’s a lot of false information circulating online about how to avoid copyright issues on YouTube. That said, here are common mistakes many creators make:
Using copyrighted material for unmonetized videos
Some content creators believe that they can get away with using copyrighted material because they aren’t making money on YouTube. This is false. Even if you aren’t profiting from your videos, you must still obtain a license or seek permission to use copyrighted material from the rights holder.
Stating ”I don’t own the rights to this content.”
Many creators think they can avoid copyright issues on YouTube by simply saying, “I don’t own the rights to this song or video” in the description or the actual video. While this might seem sensible, it doesn’t allow you to use copyrighted material. It just lets viewers know you’re using copyrighted material without the original owner’s permission.
Changing the tempo of music
Another hack some content creators use is speeding up or slowing down the tempo of the music they want to use, with the aim of tricking YouTube’s Content ID. While this trick may work, YouTube is constantly refining its Content ID system to prevent this.
Using a short sample of copyrighted material
Some content creators think they can avoid infringing copyright by using only a few seconds of copyrighted material. This is a myth. You must still seek permission to use copyrighted material from the copyright holder, even if you’re only using a snippet of the original content.
Failing to read license agreements
License agreements aren’t all the same. Even if you receive a license to use copyrighted material, you must stick to the terms of the license. For instance, you may need to attribute the original owner in a certain way. If you don’t credit the owner properly, you may still receive a copyright claim or strike.
How to deal with a Content ID claim
Content creators get hit with Content ID claims every so often. If you receive a claim, here are measures you can take:
Review the copyright claim
First, head over to YouTube Studio and click Content in the left menu to check for any potential penalties. If the copyright owner hasn’t decided to take any actions that affect the visibility or monetization of your video, you can leave the claim on your video.
Remove the claimed content
If a claim affects the visibility or monetization of your video and you believe it’s legitimate, you can remove the flagged content without uploading a new video. Here are actions you can take to remove the claim:
- Edit the segment: You can trim out the claimed segment from your video.
- Replace the track: If the copyright owner claims the audio in your video, you may be able to replace it with another audio track from the YouTube Audio Library.
- Mute the audio: You may also choose to mute the audio in your video if the copyright holder claims it. This may work particularly well if your video doesn’t rely on or have a voiceover.
Dispute the copyright claim
As a last resort, you can dispute the copyright claim if you know you have all the necessary rights to the content in your video. But there’s a caveat. Disputing a claim can be time-consuming, as copyright owners have up to 30 days to respond.
That said, if you strongly feel you received an unfair copyright claim, follow these steps to dispute it on a desktop device:
- Log in to YouTube Studio.
- Click Content from the left menu.
- Find the video with the claim you want to challenge in the Videos tab.
- Place your cursor over Copyright in the Restrictions column.
- Select See details.
- Under Content used, identify the correct claim and choose Take action, then Dispute.
How to deal with a copyright strike
Copyright strikes are more serious than claims, as they could lead to the termination of your channel if you receive three strikes. If you get a copyright strike, here are three actions you can take to resolve it:
- Enroll in Copyright School. If you complete the coursework, your strike will expire 90 days from the day YouTube applied it to your channel.
- Contact the person who submitted the copyright removal request and ask them to withdraw the takedown notice.
- If you think YouTube took down your content by mistake or your use of the copyrighted content qualifies as fair use, you can file a copyright counter-notification in YouTube Studio.
Publish videos free of copyright claims
Copyright claims can be daunting. But they don’t have to be. Whether you want to avoid them or you’ve already received one in your inbox, there’s no need to panic. By learning YouTube’s rules on copyright and only using material you have the right to use, you can prevent copyright infringement issues and handle them confidently when they occur.