From Video Lessons to Vivid, Engaging GIFs – No Download Needed

How to Convert YouTube Videos to GIFs

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

A GIF adds an extra element to any conversation and makes the reader feel connected to the post. Using GIF can turn useful if done rightly. It narrates a story in a single animated image for social media conversation. In this article, we will brief you about how to convert YouTube to gif, various GIF converters, their uses, and the pros and cons of each converter.

Let’s get started!

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

Here is a quick way to convert the YouTube video to GIFs without typing a YouTube to GIF website.

Gif.com is a free and easy-to-use video editor available with multiple effects. This converter was created keeping in mind how people spend hours and money on paid platforms.

Follow the below steps to convert a YouTube video into gifs.

In the YouTube video page, add gif before youtube.com. For example, I want to convert the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk to GIFs, here is how it looks like after adding gif at the beginning: https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk . Press the enter button on your keyboard and you will enter the gifs.com directly.

In gifs.com, you can play and pause the YouTube video and drag the bar to select a desired moment for gif. Press the “Create Gif” button on the top right side to convert the specific part of the YouTube video to gif.
You will then be directed to the result page to see your GIF created using the YouTube video, and you can change the GIF title and the tag.
Lastly, you need to copy the link and share it!

Pros of converting YouTube to GIFs with Gifs.com:

The interface is easy to use and it provides lots of tools to adjust.
Simple functionality.

Cons:

The watermark on your created GIF can be removed only after purchasing the premium version.
GIFs can be downloaded only by registered users.

2. FreeGifMaker.me

FreeGifMaker is one simple online tool that allows the creation of animated Gifs for free. A minimum of two pictures has to be uploaded out of ten. It takes few seconds and is super easy to make a GIF from a YouTube video. You can use FreeGifMaker.me in some easy steps.

Open the website http://freegifmaker.me/youtube-to-gif/ on your desktop.
Go to YouTube and copy the video URL you want to create a GIF of and paste it on the website mentioned above.
Then click “Load YouTube Video” below the URL and wait for a few seconds while the tool checks the video source.
Once the YouTube video is loaded, enter the gif duration, start time, and click on the “Make a GIF button.” It will redirect you to the result page.

Pros:
Conversion size is unlimited**.**
There is no usage of ads.
Easy to make Gifs.
Cons:
The upload speed is slow.
The converter gives limited options for editing.

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

Online UniConverter converts video into a high-quality animated GIF and allows editing. It is a simple converter with unique features.

If you want to convert your YouTube video into a GIF, follow the steps.

You need to upload your video through the “Choose Files” option. You can also copy the link from YouTube.
Wait for some time once you upload the file; you can then set your start time, end time, frame rate according to your needs.
Lastly, click on “Create GIF” and download your GIF. You can also save it through the dropdown option available besides “Download.”

Pros:
Easy to handle.
A wide range of customization tools is available.
Zero ads.
Cons:
Upload speed is slow.
Conversion size is limited.

4. GifRun

It is a video maker that started in 2013, and GifRun converts videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sources to high-quality GIFs. You can create Gifs free of cost from GifRun.

Here is how you can use Gifrun.

Open the website and paste the URL you want to convert into Gif. Later, press “Get Video” option below the URL box.
In this step, you can adjust the duration, start time, add text, and also pause and preview the video. Once you’re done altering the video, click “Create GIF.”
Lastly, click on the “Download” button beside the add text button, or share the link directly.

Pros:
Fast conversion and download.
There is no upload limit.
The video preview feature is available.
Cons:
UI is ad-infested.
Supports YouTube videos only.

5. Makeagif

This GIF converter creates high-quality GIFs in no time. You need to paste the URL in Makeagif and nothing much. It can make GIFs from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms easily.

The only issue is that it supports one type of conversion with a maximum limit of 25MB.

Here is how you can make your favorite GIF in few steps.

Open makeagif.com and paste the YouTube URL in the box available.
Once you paste the URL, the website will automatically take you to the edit page to edit GIF length, start time, speed, and add caption and stickers. The next step is to select the category to which the video belongs available on the left side of the screen.
After editing, click on “Continue to publishing” then “Create GIF” at the lower right corner of the screen. Voila! Your GIF is ready to use.

Pros:

The UI is user-friendly.
Ads are minimal
Various GIF conversions are supported.

Cons:

The conversion size is small.
Batch conversions are not available.

6. ImgFlip

It is a creative GIF website supporting various videos from other websites such as Vimeo and YouTube. ImgFlip has innovative customization tools for cropping, reshaping, adding text and, a lot more, but you just need to be aware of the ads.

Want to know how to create GIF? Go through these simple steps.

You can make GIFs both from Video and Images. To make GIF from a video, paste the YouTube URL in the box at the top, upload the tape from your device’s file.
After pasting the URL, you will be given lots of customization options. Choose the effect of your choice for your GIF.
Lastly, click on “Generate GIF” available on the right side of the screen. You can now share the GIF via your device or download it.

Pros:
Plenty of customization options.
Fast conversion.
Easy to upload and use.
Cons:
Ads pop up frequently.
Offline conversion is unavailable.

7. GIPHY

It is a free GIF converter that helps you download free YouTube GIFs. You can also make GIFs from your photos, videos available on your device along with video URLs and images. The only problem is, to use Giphy you first have to log in to the app.

Follow the below steps to create a GIF from YouTube videos with Giphy:

Open Giphy on your device and click on “Create” on the top right-side of your screen.
Paste the URL in the space given below. A pop-up will tell you to log in. Log in to the website to continue.
The video you choose should be less than 15 seconds and under 100MB. You will be given editing options from which you can select the start time and duration of your GIF along with Captions and Tags.
In the end, press the “Create GIF” button to make the GIF. When it’s done, you will be redirected to the GIF page. You can then share your GIF on any social media site.

Pros:
Ads are absent
Uploading is fast
Wide range of free GIFs available
Cons:
Not perfect for green hands

8. Imgur

It is one of the best apps that offers tons of images, memes, and GIFs. You can make GIFs of less than 60 seconds with high quality, which you can share anywhere.

Here are three easy steps to make GIFs

Visit the page “imgur.com/vidgif” and paste your YouTube URL there.
Set a start time by clicking or dragging on the timeline. The total runtime is also adjustable, with 60 seconds as the maximum time for GIFs.
Lastly, press on “Create GIF” to see the magic. The GIF is converted from the YouTube video.

Pros:

The users can share the post of their choice
Users can save posts.
Great collection of short GIFs and videos.

Cons:

During loading, the screen flashes.

9 VEED.IO

Veed is a simple YouTube video converter that makes your work super easy. It converts YouTube videos into GIFs with various editing options like crop, trim, text ads, and many more.

Check out how to use VEED in 3 steps.

Start by pasting the URL of your YouTube video into VEED, Your video will be ready to convert into GIF.
Now you are all set to edit your video. You have the option to crop and trim the video. You can also include different font styles, colors, and sizes of your choice.
Lastly, download the GIF you made in VEED.

Pros:
Downloading the software is not mandatory.
UI is simple and easy to navigate.
The subtitle option is present.
Cons:
It takes a lot of time to upload video.
Many basic tools.

10. Kapwing

Kapwing is a helpful video converter that can easily turn any video into GIFs with a click. It can also convert different files such as 3GP, GIF, WEBM.

To create beautiful GIFs with this video editor, follow these easy steps.

Open Kapwing video editor and upload your video from YouTube.
Choose the “Export dropdown” option and choose the format you wish to convert.

You can also preview the GIF and customize it as per your choice.

In the final step, export the video by clicking the “Export Video” button. Save and download the newly created GIF and share it anywhere with your friends.

Pros:
Great editing tools.
Easy to use.
Cons:
Available only on the website.
Too many tools for the same purpose.

Final Thoughts

With the increased use of GIFs on social media, you can now easily convert your favorite YouTube videos into GIFs on your own. All you have to do is simply choose the tools mentioned above and share it with your friends.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Let’s get started!

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

Here is a quick way to convert the YouTube video to GIFs without typing a YouTube to GIF website.

Gif.com is a free and easy-to-use video editor available with multiple effects. This converter was created keeping in mind how people spend hours and money on paid platforms.

Follow the below steps to convert a YouTube video into gifs.

In the YouTube video page, add gif before youtube.com. For example, I want to convert the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk to GIFs, here is how it looks like after adding gif at the beginning: https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk . Press the enter button on your keyboard and you will enter the gifs.com directly.

In gifs.com, you can play and pause the YouTube video and drag the bar to select a desired moment for gif. Press the “Create Gif” button on the top right side to convert the specific part of the YouTube video to gif.
You will then be directed to the result page to see your GIF created using the YouTube video, and you can change the GIF title and the tag.
Lastly, you need to copy the link and share it!

Pros of converting YouTube to GIFs with Gifs.com:

The interface is easy to use and it provides lots of tools to adjust.
Simple functionality.

Cons:

The watermark on your created GIF can be removed only after purchasing the premium version.
GIFs can be downloaded only by registered users.

2. FreeGifMaker.me

Open the website http://freegifmaker.me/youtube-to-gif/ on your desktop.
Go to YouTube and copy the video URL you want to create a GIF of and paste it on the website mentioned above.
Then click “Load YouTube Video” below the URL and wait for a few seconds while the tool checks the video source.
Once the YouTube video is loaded, enter the gif duration, start time, and click on the “Make a GIF button.” It will redirect you to the result page.

Pros:
Conversion size is unlimited**.**
There is no usage of ads.
Easy to make Gifs.
Cons:
The upload speed is slow.
The converter gives limited options for editing.

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

Online UniConverter converts video into a high-quality animated GIF and allows editing. It is a simple converter with unique features.

If you want to convert your YouTube video into a GIF, follow the steps.

You need to upload your video through the “Choose Files” option. You can also copy the link from YouTube.
Wait for some time once you upload the file; you can then set your start time, end time, frame rate according to your needs.
Lastly, click on “Create GIF” and download your GIF. You can also save it through the dropdown option available besides “Download.”

Pros:
Easy to handle.
A wide range of customization tools is available.
Zero ads.
Cons:
Upload speed is slow.
Conversion size is limited.

4. GifRun

It is a video maker that started in 2013, and GifRun converts videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sources to high-quality GIFs. You can create Gifs free of cost from GifRun.

Here is how you can use Gifrun.

Open the website and paste the URL you want to convert into Gif. Later, press “Get Video” option below the URL box.
In this step, you can adjust the duration, start time, add text, and also pause and preview the video. Once you’re done altering the video, click “Create GIF.”
Lastly, click on the “Download” button beside the add text button, or share the link directly.

Pros:
Fast conversion and download.
There is no upload limit.
The video preview feature is available.
Cons:
UI is ad-infested.
Supports YouTube videos only.

5. Makeagif

This GIF converter creates high-quality GIFs in no time. You need to paste the URL in Makeagif and nothing much. It can make GIFs from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms easily.

The only issue is that it supports one type of conversion with a maximum limit of 25MB.

Here is how you can make your favorite GIF in few steps.

Open makeagif.com and paste the YouTube URL in the box available.
Once you paste the URL, the website will automatically take you to the edit page to edit GIF length, start time, speed, and add caption and stickers. The next step is to select the category to which the video belongs available on the left side of the screen.
After editing, click on “Continue to publishing” then “Create GIF” at the lower right corner of the screen. Voila! Your GIF is ready to use.

Pros:

The UI is user-friendly.
Ads are minimal
Various GIF conversions are supported.

Cons:

The conversion size is small.
Batch conversions are not available.

6. ImgFlip

Want to know how to create GIF? Go through these simple steps.

You can make GIFs both from Video and Images. To make GIF from a video, paste the YouTube URL in the box at the top, upload the tape from your device’s file.
After pasting the URL, you will be given lots of customization options. Choose the effect of your choice for your GIF.
Lastly, click on “Generate GIF” available on the right side of the screen. You can now share the GIF via your device or download it.

Pros:
Plenty of customization options.
Fast conversion.
Easy to upload and use.
Cons:
Ads pop up frequently.
Offline conversion is unavailable.

7. GIPHY

Follow the below steps to create a GIF from YouTube videos with Giphy:

Open Giphy on your device and click on “Create” on the top right-side of your screen.
Paste the URL in the space given below. A pop-up will tell you to log in. Log in to the website to continue.
The video you choose should be less than 15 seconds and under 100MB. You will be given editing options from which you can select the start time and duration of your GIF along with Captions and Tags.
In the end, press the “Create GIF” button to make the GIF. When it’s done, you will be redirected to the GIF page. You can then share your GIF on any social media site.

Pros:
Ads are absent
Uploading is fast
Wide range of free GIFs available
Cons:
Not perfect for green hands

8. Imgur

It is one of the best apps that offers tons of images, memes, and GIFs. You can make GIFs of less than 60 seconds with high quality, which you can share anywhere.

Here are three easy steps to make GIFs

Visit the page “imgur.com/vidgif” and paste your YouTube URL there.
Set a start time by clicking or dragging on the timeline. The total runtime is also adjustable, with 60 seconds as the maximum time for GIFs.
Lastly, press on “Create GIF” to see the magic. The GIF is converted from the YouTube video.

Pros:

The users can share the post of their choice
Users can save posts.
Great collection of short GIFs and videos.

Cons:

During loading, the screen flashes.

9 VEED.IO

Veed is a simple YouTube video converter that makes your work super easy. It converts YouTube videos into GIFs with various editing options like crop, trim, text ads, and many more.

Check out how to use VEED in 3 steps.

Start by pasting the URL of your YouTube video into VEED, Your video will be ready to convert into GIF.
Now you are all set to edit your video. You have the option to crop and trim the video. You can also include different font styles, colors, and sizes of your choice.
Lastly, download the GIF you made in VEED.

Pros:
Downloading the software is not mandatory.
UI is simple and easy to navigate.
The subtitle option is present.
Cons:
It takes a lot of time to upload video.
Many basic tools.

10. Kapwing

Kapwing is a helpful video converter that can easily turn any video into GIFs with a click. It can also convert different files such as 3GP, GIF, WEBM.

To create beautiful GIFs with this video editor, follow these easy steps.

Open Kapwing video editor and upload your video from YouTube.
Choose the “Export dropdown” option and choose the format you wish to convert.

You can also preview the GIF and customize it as per your choice.

In the final step, export the video by clicking the “Export Video” button. Save and download the newly created GIF and share it anywhere with your friends.

Pros:
Great editing tools.
Easy to use.
Cons:
Available only on the website.
Too many tools for the same purpose.

Final Thoughts

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Let’s get started!

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

Here is a quick way to convert the YouTube video to GIFs without typing a YouTube to GIF website.

Gif.com is a free and easy-to-use video editor available with multiple effects. This converter was created keeping in mind how people spend hours and money on paid platforms.

Follow the below steps to convert a YouTube video into gifs.

In the YouTube video page, add gif before youtube.com. For example, I want to convert the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk to GIFs, here is how it looks like after adding gif at the beginning: https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk . Press the enter button on your keyboard and you will enter the gifs.com directly.

In gifs.com, you can play and pause the YouTube video and drag the bar to select a desired moment for gif. Press the “Create Gif” button on the top right side to convert the specific part of the YouTube video to gif.
You will then be directed to the result page to see your GIF created using the YouTube video, and you can change the GIF title and the tag.
Lastly, you need to copy the link and share it!

Pros of converting YouTube to GIFs with Gifs.com:

The interface is easy to use and it provides lots of tools to adjust.
Simple functionality.

Cons:

The watermark on your created GIF can be removed only after purchasing the premium version.
GIFs can be downloaded only by registered users.

2. FreeGifMaker.me

Open the website http://freegifmaker.me/youtube-to-gif/ on your desktop.
Go to YouTube and copy the video URL you want to create a GIF of and paste it on the website mentioned above.
Then click “Load YouTube Video” below the URL and wait for a few seconds while the tool checks the video source.
Once the YouTube video is loaded, enter the gif duration, start time, and click on the “Make a GIF button.” It will redirect you to the result page.

Pros:
Conversion size is unlimited**.**
There is no usage of ads.
Easy to make Gifs.
Cons:
The upload speed is slow.
The converter gives limited options for editing.

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

Online UniConverter converts video into a high-quality animated GIF and allows editing. It is a simple converter with unique features.

If you want to convert your YouTube video into a GIF, follow the steps.

You need to upload your video through the “Choose Files” option. You can also copy the link from YouTube.
Wait for some time once you upload the file; you can then set your start time, end time, frame rate according to your needs.
Lastly, click on “Create GIF” and download your GIF. You can also save it through the dropdown option available besides “Download.”

Pros:
Easy to handle.
A wide range of customization tools is available.
Zero ads.
Cons:
Upload speed is slow.
Conversion size is limited.

4. GifRun

It is a video maker that started in 2013, and GifRun converts videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sources to high-quality GIFs. You can create Gifs free of cost from GifRun.

Here is how you can use Gifrun.

Open the website and paste the URL you want to convert into Gif. Later, press “Get Video” option below the URL box.
In this step, you can adjust the duration, start time, add text, and also pause and preview the video. Once you’re done altering the video, click “Create GIF.”
Lastly, click on the “Download” button beside the add text button, or share the link directly.

Pros:
Fast conversion and download.
There is no upload limit.
The video preview feature is available.
Cons:
UI is ad-infested.
Supports YouTube videos only.

5. Makeagif

This GIF converter creates high-quality GIFs in no time. You need to paste the URL in Makeagif and nothing much. It can make GIFs from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms easily.

The only issue is that it supports one type of conversion with a maximum limit of 25MB.

Here is how you can make your favorite GIF in few steps.

Open makeagif.com and paste the YouTube URL in the box available.
Once you paste the URL, the website will automatically take you to the edit page to edit GIF length, start time, speed, and add caption and stickers. The next step is to select the category to which the video belongs available on the left side of the screen.
After editing, click on “Continue to publishing” then “Create GIF” at the lower right corner of the screen. Voila! Your GIF is ready to use.

Pros:

The UI is user-friendly.
Ads are minimal
Various GIF conversions are supported.

Cons:

The conversion size is small.
Batch conversions are not available.

6. ImgFlip

Want to know how to create GIF? Go through these simple steps.

You can make GIFs both from Video and Images. To make GIF from a video, paste the YouTube URL in the box at the top, upload the tape from your device’s file.
After pasting the URL, you will be given lots of customization options. Choose the effect of your choice for your GIF.
Lastly, click on “Generate GIF” available on the right side of the screen. You can now share the GIF via your device or download it.

Pros:
Plenty of customization options.
Fast conversion.
Easy to upload and use.
Cons:
Ads pop up frequently.
Offline conversion is unavailable.

7. GIPHY

Follow the below steps to create a GIF from YouTube videos with Giphy:

Open Giphy on your device and click on “Create” on the top right-side of your screen.
Paste the URL in the space given below. A pop-up will tell you to log in. Log in to the website to continue.
The video you choose should be less than 15 seconds and under 100MB. You will be given editing options from which you can select the start time and duration of your GIF along with Captions and Tags.
In the end, press the “Create GIF” button to make the GIF. When it’s done, you will be redirected to the GIF page. You can then share your GIF on any social media site.

Pros:
Ads are absent
Uploading is fast
Wide range of free GIFs available
Cons:
Not perfect for green hands

8. Imgur

It is one of the best apps that offers tons of images, memes, and GIFs. You can make GIFs of less than 60 seconds with high quality, which you can share anywhere.

Here are three easy steps to make GIFs

Visit the page “imgur.com/vidgif” and paste your YouTube URL there.
Set a start time by clicking or dragging on the timeline. The total runtime is also adjustable, with 60 seconds as the maximum time for GIFs.
Lastly, press on “Create GIF” to see the magic. The GIF is converted from the YouTube video.

Pros:

The users can share the post of their choice
Users can save posts.
Great collection of short GIFs and videos.

Cons:

During loading, the screen flashes.

9 VEED.IO

Veed is a simple YouTube video converter that makes your work super easy. It converts YouTube videos into GIFs with various editing options like crop, trim, text ads, and many more.

Check out how to use VEED in 3 steps.

Start by pasting the URL of your YouTube video into VEED, Your video will be ready to convert into GIF.
Now you are all set to edit your video. You have the option to crop and trim the video. You can also include different font styles, colors, and sizes of your choice.
Lastly, download the GIF you made in VEED.

Pros:
Downloading the software is not mandatory.
UI is simple and easy to navigate.
The subtitle option is present.
Cons:
It takes a lot of time to upload video.
Many basic tools.

10. Kapwing

Kapwing is a helpful video converter that can easily turn any video into GIFs with a click. It can also convert different files such as 3GP, GIF, WEBM.

To create beautiful GIFs with this video editor, follow these easy steps.

Open Kapwing video editor and upload your video from YouTube.
Choose the “Export dropdown” option and choose the format you wish to convert.

You can also preview the GIF and customize it as per your choice.

In the final step, export the video by clicking the “Export Video” button. Save and download the newly created GIF and share it anywhere with your friends.

Pros:
Great editing tools.
Easy to use.
Cons:
Available only on the website.
Too many tools for the same purpose.

Final Thoughts

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Let’s get started!

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

Here is a quick way to convert the YouTube video to GIFs without typing a YouTube to GIF website.

Gif.com is a free and easy-to-use video editor available with multiple effects. This converter was created keeping in mind how people spend hours and money on paid platforms.

Follow the below steps to convert a YouTube video into gifs.

In the YouTube video page, add gif before youtube.com. For example, I want to convert the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk to GIFs, here is how it looks like after adding gif at the beginning: https://www.gifyoutube.com/watch?v=40fuGLmwHwk . Press the enter button on your keyboard and you will enter the gifs.com directly.

In gifs.com, you can play and pause the YouTube video and drag the bar to select a desired moment for gif. Press the “Create Gif” button on the top right side to convert the specific part of the YouTube video to gif.
You will then be directed to the result page to see your GIF created using the YouTube video, and you can change the GIF title and the tag.
Lastly, you need to copy the link and share it!

Pros of converting YouTube to GIFs with Gifs.com:

The interface is easy to use and it provides lots of tools to adjust.
Simple functionality.

Cons:

The watermark on your created GIF can be removed only after purchasing the premium version.
GIFs can be downloaded only by registered users.

2. FreeGifMaker.me

Open the website http://freegifmaker.me/youtube-to-gif/ on your desktop.
Go to YouTube and copy the video URL you want to create a GIF of and paste it on the website mentioned above.
Then click “Load YouTube Video” below the URL and wait for a few seconds while the tool checks the video source.
Once the YouTube video is loaded, enter the gif duration, start time, and click on the “Make a GIF button.” It will redirect you to the result page.

Pros:
Conversion size is unlimited**.**
There is no usage of ads.
Easy to make Gifs.
Cons:
The upload speed is slow.
The converter gives limited options for editing.

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

Online UniConverter converts video into a high-quality animated GIF and allows editing. It is a simple converter with unique features.

If you want to convert your YouTube video into a GIF, follow the steps.

You need to upload your video through the “Choose Files” option. You can also copy the link from YouTube.
Wait for some time once you upload the file; you can then set your start time, end time, frame rate according to your needs.
Lastly, click on “Create GIF” and download your GIF. You can also save it through the dropdown option available besides “Download.”

Pros:
Easy to handle.
A wide range of customization tools is available.
Zero ads.
Cons:
Upload speed is slow.
Conversion size is limited.

4. GifRun

It is a video maker that started in 2013, and GifRun converts videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sources to high-quality GIFs. You can create Gifs free of cost from GifRun.

Here is how you can use Gifrun.

Open the website and paste the URL you want to convert into Gif. Later, press “Get Video” option below the URL box.
In this step, you can adjust the duration, start time, add text, and also pause and preview the video. Once you’re done altering the video, click “Create GIF.”
Lastly, click on the “Download” button beside the add text button, or share the link directly.

Pros:
Fast conversion and download.
There is no upload limit.
The video preview feature is available.
Cons:
UI is ad-infested.
Supports YouTube videos only.

5. Makeagif

This GIF converter creates high-quality GIFs in no time. You need to paste the URL in Makeagif and nothing much. It can make GIFs from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms easily.

The only issue is that it supports one type of conversion with a maximum limit of 25MB.

Here is how you can make your favorite GIF in few steps.

Open makeagif.com and paste the YouTube URL in the box available.
Once you paste the URL, the website will automatically take you to the edit page to edit GIF length, start time, speed, and add caption and stickers. The next step is to select the category to which the video belongs available on the left side of the screen.
After editing, click on “Continue to publishing” then “Create GIF” at the lower right corner of the screen. Voila! Your GIF is ready to use.

Pros:

The UI is user-friendly.
Ads are minimal
Various GIF conversions are supported.

Cons:

The conversion size is small.
Batch conversions are not available.

6. ImgFlip

Want to know how to create GIF? Go through these simple steps.

You can make GIFs both from Video and Images. To make GIF from a video, paste the YouTube URL in the box at the top, upload the tape from your device’s file.
After pasting the URL, you will be given lots of customization options. Choose the effect of your choice for your GIF.
Lastly, click on “Generate GIF” available on the right side of the screen. You can now share the GIF via your device or download it.

Pros:
Plenty of customization options.
Fast conversion.
Easy to upload and use.
Cons:
Ads pop up frequently.
Offline conversion is unavailable.

7. GIPHY

Follow the below steps to create a GIF from YouTube videos with Giphy:

Open Giphy on your device and click on “Create” on the top right-side of your screen.
Paste the URL in the space given below. A pop-up will tell you to log in. Log in to the website to continue.
The video you choose should be less than 15 seconds and under 100MB. You will be given editing options from which you can select the start time and duration of your GIF along with Captions and Tags.
In the end, press the “Create GIF” button to make the GIF. When it’s done, you will be redirected to the GIF page. You can then share your GIF on any social media site.

Pros:
Ads are absent
Uploading is fast
Wide range of free GIFs available
Cons:
Not perfect for green hands

8. Imgur

It is one of the best apps that offers tons of images, memes, and GIFs. You can make GIFs of less than 60 seconds with high quality, which you can share anywhere.

Here are three easy steps to make GIFs

Visit the page “imgur.com/vidgif” and paste your YouTube URL there.
Set a start time by clicking or dragging on the timeline. The total runtime is also adjustable, with 60 seconds as the maximum time for GIFs.
Lastly, press on “Create GIF” to see the magic. The GIF is converted from the YouTube video.

Pros:

The users can share the post of their choice
Users can save posts.
Great collection of short GIFs and videos.

Cons:

During loading, the screen flashes.

9 VEED.IO

Veed is a simple YouTube video converter that makes your work super easy. It converts YouTube videos into GIFs with various editing options like crop, trim, text ads, and many more.

Check out how to use VEED in 3 steps.

Start by pasting the URL of your YouTube video into VEED, Your video will be ready to convert into GIF.
Now you are all set to edit your video. You have the option to crop and trim the video. You can also include different font styles, colors, and sizes of your choice.
Lastly, download the GIF you made in VEED.

Pros:
Downloading the software is not mandatory.
UI is simple and easy to navigate.
The subtitle option is present.
Cons:
It takes a lot of time to upload video.
Many basic tools.

10. Kapwing

Kapwing is a helpful video converter that can easily turn any video into GIFs with a click. It can also convert different files such as 3GP, GIF, WEBM.

To create beautiful GIFs with this video editor, follow these easy steps.

Open Kapwing video editor and upload your video from YouTube.
Choose the “Export dropdown” option and choose the format you wish to convert.

You can also preview the GIF and customize it as per your choice.

In the final step, export the video by clicking the “Export Video” button. Save and download the newly created GIF and share it anywhere with your friends.

Pros:
Great editing tools.
Easy to use.
Cons:
Available only on the website.
Too many tools for the same purpose.

Final Thoughts

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Unlocking the Secrets: Elevating Your YouTube Presence in Gameplay

The Guide to Starting a Successful YouTube Gaming Channel

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.

Table of Content:

Have a Greater Purpose
Create an Identity
Type of Gaming Videos
Have a Budget
Optimization Matter
Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
Built-in plentiful templates and effects
Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.

Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .

It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.

2. Create an Identity

Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?

1. Be Original

Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.

1. Let’s Plays

Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).

Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.

2. Reviews

When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.

3. Walkthrough

Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.

4. Reactions

Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.

5. Skills

Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.

4. Have a Budget

When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.

Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.

Key Takeaways

Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Table of Content:

Have a Greater Purpose
Create an Identity
Type of Gaming Videos
Have a Budget
Optimization Matter
Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
Built-in plentiful templates and effects
Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

2. Create an Identity

1. Be Original

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

1. Let’s Plays

2. Reviews

3. Walkthrough

4. Reactions

5. Skills

4. Have a Budget

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Key Takeaways

Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Table of Content:

Have a Greater Purpose
Create an Identity
Type of Gaming Videos
Have a Budget
Optimization Matter
Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
Built-in plentiful templates and effects
Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

2. Create an Identity

1. Be Original

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

1. Let’s Plays

2. Reviews

3. Walkthrough

4. Reactions

5. Skills

4. Have a Budget

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Key Takeaways

Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Table of Content:

Have a Greater Purpose
Create an Identity
Type of Gaming Videos
Have a Budget
Optimization Matter
Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
Built-in plentiful templates and effects
Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

2. Create an Identity

1. Be Original

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

1. Let’s Plays

2. Reviews

3. Walkthrough

4. Reactions

5. Skills

4. Have a Budget

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Key Takeaways

Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Youtube Help

From Video Lessons to Vivid, Engaging GIFs – No Download Needed for 2024

From Video Lessons to Vivid, Engaging GIFs – No Download Needed

How to Convert YouTube Videos to GIFs

Shanoon Cox

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

2. FreeGifMaker.me

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

4. GifRun

5. Makeagif

6. ImgFlip

7. GIPHY

8. Imgur

9 VEED.IO

10. Kapwing

Shanoon Cox

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

2. FreeGifMaker.me

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

4. GifRun

5. Makeagif

6. ImgFlip

7. GIPHY

8. Imgur

9 VEED.IO

10. Kapwing

Shanoon Cox

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

2. FreeGifMaker.me

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

4. GifRun

5. Makeagif

6. ImgFlip

7. GIPHY

8. Imgur

9 VEED.IO

10. Kapwing

Shanoon Cox

How to Convert a YouTube Video into GIFs?

1. YouTube to GIF Directly

2. FreeGifMaker.me

3. Wondershare Online UniConverter

4. GifRun

5. Makeagif

6. ImgFlip

7. GIPHY

8. Imgur

9 VEED.IO

10. Kapwing

Unlocking the Secrets: Elevating Your YouTube Presence in Gameplay

The Guide to Starting a Successful YouTube Gaming Channel

Richard Bennett

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

1. Have a Greater Purpose

1. Give Value

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

2. Create an Identity

1. Be Original

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

3. Type of Gaming Videos

1. Let’s Plays

2. Reviews

3. Walkthrough

4. Reactions

5. Skills

4. Have a Budget

1. Many Games Are Free

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

5. Optimization Matters

1. Tags and Title

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

3. Engage with Other Gamers

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike