How To Find and Recover a Deleted YouTube Video

YouTube has become an integral part of internet culture, with billions of videos being uploaded and watched every day. Unfortunately, videos sometimes get deleted from YouTube, whether accidentally or intentionally. When this happens, many YouTube users desperately want to recover their lost videos.

As a digital media professional with over 10 years of experience, I have helped numerous clients restore their deleted YouTube videos. In this article, I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to find and recover deleted YouTube videos using various methods.

Why Do YouTube Videos Get Deleted?

There are several common reasons why YouTube videos may get deleted:

  • Accidental Deletion: The video uploader may have accidentally deleted their own video. This can happen by clicking the “Delete Video” button without realizing it.
  • Copyright Takedowns: If a video contains copyrighted content, the copyright holder can issue a DMCA takedown notice to have it removed.
  • Community Guidelines Violations: Videos that violate YouTube’s policies on hate speech, harassment, etc. may get removed by YouTube.
  • Channel Termination: If a YouTube channel gets terminated, all videos uploaded to that channel will become inaccessible.
  • Data Loss: Hardware failure, data corruption, or accidental formatting can cause data loss that deletes locally saved copies of YouTube videos.

Method 1: Retrieve From YouTube Video Manager

If your video was recently deleted from YouTube within the past few weeks, the easiest way to recover it is through YouTube Studio. Here’s how:

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and go to the “Content” tab.
  2. Under the “Deleted videos and playlists” section, you’ll find your recently deleted videos.
  3. Click the dropdown menu next to the video and select “Restore”.

This will immediately restore your video back onto YouTube.

However, YouTube only keeps deleted videos in your Video Manager for a few weeks before permanently erasing them. So this method only works if the deletion was very recent.

Method 2: Find Video in Wayback Machine Archives

The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the internet that saves historical copies of web pages. We can leverage this to view deleted YouTube videos.

Here are the steps:

  1. Go to archive.org and enter your video’s URL in the search bar.
  2. Click on the calendar icon to see a list of archived snapshots of that URL from different dates.
  3. Click on an archived date before the video’s deletion to open that historical version.
  4. You should now see your deleted YouTube video restored in the archived version!

Save or download the video from the Wayback Machine before it gets deleted from the archives.

Method 3: Recover with File Recovery Software

If you had downloaded the YouTube video onto your computer before it got deleted, data recovery software may be able to restore it.

Follow these steps:

  1. Stop Using Drive: Immediately stop saving new data onto the drive containing the deleted video, as this can overwrite the video data.
  2. Install Recovery Software: Download and install a data recovery program like Stellar Photo Recovery.
  3. Scan Drive: Select the drive and scan it for recoverable video files. This may take some time.
  4. Preview and Recover: The software will display recoverable video files. Select your deleted YouTube video, preview it, and click “recover”.
  5. Save Video: Choose a safe storage location to save the restored YouTube video.

File recovery software works best if you act quickly before the deleted video data gets overwritten by new data.

Method 4: Re-Upload Video If You Still Have It

If you have a backup copy of your deleted YouTube video saved locally (e.g. on your computer or external drive), you can simply re-upload it to YouTube as a new video.

Here is a quick guide:

  1. Sign in to your YouTube account and go to the YouTube Studio upload page.
  2. Click the “Select files” button and choose your deleted video file to upload.
  3. Edit the video details and metadata as you wish.
  4. Click “Upload” to publish your video again on YouTube.

The new video will have a different URL, but your video will be restored onto YouTube. This method is only possible if you still have your original video file.

Tips to Avoid Losing Videos Again

Once you recover your deleted YouTube video, take precautions to avoid repeat data loss:

  • Enable Video Backups: Turn on YouTube’s auto-backup option to store copies of your videos on Google Drive.
  • Download Videos: Periodically download copies of important YouTube videos onto your computer or external drives.
  • Version Control: Use a version control system that archives historical copies of video projects as you edit them.
  • Cloud Storage: Back up videos to cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox to access them from anywhere.
  • Local & Offline Backups: Maintain both local and offline backups of your videos on external hard drives stored securely.

By implementing comprehensive video backup practices, you can have peace of mind knowing you’ll always have access to your important YouTube videos.

Conclusion

Restoring deleted YouTube videos may seem daunting but is possible through various methods. First, try directly recovering from YouTube Studio. If that fails, leverage Wayback Machine’s archives or data recovery software. As a last resort, re-upload your video if you still have your original file stored locally.

I hope this guide gives you a better understanding of how to recover deleted YouTube videos. Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions!