Key takeaways
- YouTube shows no storage figure: YouTube Studio > Content lists your uploads, and the size in GB comes from a Google Takeout export.
- Takeout downloads videos in their original upload format, in ZIP or TGZ archives of up to 50 GB that expire after about 7 days.
- Studio downloads give only 720p or 360p MP4 files, one video at a time, so Takeout is the route for a whole library.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your size or video count, years of history and the number of people who manage the channel ready, and the data vendor anonymizes the records before any AI lab sees them.
01
What is YouTube data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
YouTube data is the library of videos a company has uploaded to its channel, with the titles, descriptions and upload dates attached to them. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy a copy because a company's own videos show its people explaining products, training staff and walking through tasks on screen while they talk.
What a company channel holds
A YouTube channel is an account's page of uploaded videos. Businesses use theirs for product demonstrations, customer training, how-to walkthroughs and recorded talks, and each video is stored with a title, a description and a date. A video can be public, unlisted (only people with the link can watch it) or private (only people the owner picks can watch it).
Why a long video teaches an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. A demonstration video pairs spoken explanation with what is happening on screen, and the title and description say what the video covers. That pairing teaches a model how a skilled person explains a task while performing it.
AI labs now want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, and an agent learns a job from records of that job being done. A recorded walkthrough of a task is exactly such a record. The full mechanism is in AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data.
How YouTube fits into a dataset
YouTube is usually one of several sources in a company's dataset, which may also include recorded meetings such as Zoom and other video and social accounts. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each source on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does YouTube show how much data you have?
The short answer
YouTube does not show a channel's storage. YouTube Studio lists every uploaded video under Content, so you can count the videos there, but the size in GB comes from running a Google Takeout export of the channel and adding up the archive sizes. Exporting requires the channel owner's login, or a switch to the Brand Account that holds the channel.
How to see your uploads
- Sign in to YouTube Studio as the owner of the channel. A Brand Account is a channel that has its own name instead of a person's, and if yours is one, switch into it before you go on.
- Choose Content in the left menu. The page lists every video the channel uploaded, and you can read the count and the dates of the oldest and newest.
- Run the Takeout export described in the export section and add up the sizes of the archive files. The total is the number to report in GB.
Why Studio alone cannot give a size
Studio counts videos and does not report how many bytes they take. Two channels with 200 videos each can differ by a factor of ten in size if one posts short screen recordings and the other posts hour-long webinars in high resolution.
Who can see the channel
Only the signed-in owner, or an account switched to the Brand Account that uploaded the videos, can export them. Takeout contains only videos that account uploaded, so videos spread over several accounts need a separate export for each.
03
What should you know about your YouTube data before you apply?
The short answer
Have three facts ready: the total size of your Takeout archives in GB, how many years the channel has been uploading and how many people manage it. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. You don't need to run an export to find them, and an estimate marked as one is fine.
The size
The size is the combined size of every archive file Takeout produces for the channel, in GB. If you also know the total hours of video, mention it, because hours say more about what a video library holds than gigabytes do.
The years of history
Years of history run from the day of the channel's first upload to today. The oldest video in Studio's Content list gives you the date.
The number of seats
Seats are the people who manage the channel, such as the owner, the marketing team member who uploads videos and any agency with access.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub an export. The data vendor anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full YouTube history?
The short answer
Open Google Takeout under the Google Account that is tied to the channel, tick YouTube with its videos, pick an archive size of up to 50 GB and create the export. Google emails a link, and you download every archive part before the archives expire after about 7 days. Takeout returns the videos in their original upload format.
Google Takeout: the steps
Google Takeout is Google's tool for downloading a copy of the data in a Google Account.
- Open Google Takeout and sign in using the Google Account tied to the channel, then switch into the Brand Account if that is where the videos were uploaded.
- Deselect every product, then select YouTube and open its list of included data to make sure the videos are ticked.
- Choose ZIP or TGZ as the file type, and choose an archive size of up to 50 GB. Takeout splits a large export into parts of that size, and 50 GB makes the fewest parts.
- Create the export and wait for Google's email. It typically arrives the same day, though Google says it can take anywhere from minutes to days.
- Follow the link in the email and download every archive part.
Google's guide to downloading your Google data describes each option, and notes that TGZ files may need extra software to open on Windows.
Limits to plan around
Takeout archives expire after about 7 days, and each archive can be downloaded 5 times. Download all the parts the day the email arrives and keep a second copy, because an expired archive means running the export again.
Takeout saves videos in the format they were uploaded in, or as MP4 files with H.264 video and AAC audio, which are two widely used codecs for compressing video and sound.
Why a Brand Account matters
If videos you expected are absent from the export, the channel probably sits under a Brand Account. Log in to the Google Account tied to it, switch into the Brand Account that uploaded them and request the export a second time.
Takeout against downloading from Studio
Studio can download a video through Content, by picking the video and using the Menu then Download, but it gives an MP4 in 720p or 360p only. It also caps downloads of the same video at 5 in 24 hours. The diagram sets the two routes side by side.
Studio downloads do not work for removed videos, for videos with copyright or Community Guidelines strikes, or for videos that use preapproved audio tracks, as YouTube's help page for downloading your own videos explains. For a whole library, Takeout is the practical route.
What a YouTube export leaves out
You can download only videos your own account uploaded, so videos from other channels are never in the export.
How long an export takes
Google says the email usually arrives the same day. A large library takes longer, so start the export well before you need the files.
Sources: Google Help, Download YouTube videos that you've uploaded and How to download your Google data. Steps checked against these pages in November 2026.
05
What stays private when YouTube data is licensed?
The short answer
The company decides which videos are in scope, and unlisted and private videos count as uploads, so the company reviews them and leaves out any it does not want licensed. The data vendor anonymizes the records before an AI lab sees them. The company keeps ownership of its videos, and the license covers defined material for a defined use.
You choose what is in scope
A Takeout export contains every video the account uploaded, including unlisted and private ones. A company should go through that list before the license is signed and remove anything that was never meant to be public, such as an internal training session or a recording of a customer.
Review who appears on screen
Videos can show employees and customers and play recorded voices. The company is best placed to know who appears in which video, so it should flag any that include a person who did not agree to be recorded. The data vendor then applies its anonymization process, and the guide on how company data is anonymized for AI training covers the method, including what is deleted outright and how you review samples.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does Google Takeout give us the original YouTube video files?
Takeout downloads videos in the format they were uploaded in, or as MP4 files. That is higher quality than a Studio download, which is limited to 720p or 360p.
Why are some of our videos missing from the Takeout export?
Most likely the channel sits under a Brand Account. Log in with the Google Account tied to it, switch into the Brand Account that uploaded the videos and run the export again.
Can we export videos that other channels uploaded?
No. You can only download videos that your own account uploaded.
How long can we download a Takeout archive?
About 7 days, and each archive can be downloaded 5 times. Download every part as soon as the email arrives, and start a new export if the archives expire.
Do we need to export YouTube before we apply?
No. The application takes about two minutes and shares no data. You only need your approximate size or video count, your years of history and the number of people who manage the channel for the intro call. The Takeout export is needed later, when the records are transferred after you sign the license.
Can we license only some of our videos?
Yes. The company decides which videos are in scope, and public videos alone are a sound starting point. Unlisted and private videos come out in the export too, so go through them and drop the ones you want kept out.
What is YouTube data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
A video library is priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on its own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show real work. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in YouTube, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.