How to subscribe to YouTube RSS Feeds without third-party services

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 1, 2022
Updated • Jul 31, 2022
Youtube
|
9

YouTube, at one time, supported RSS feeds. Anyone could subscribe to channel feeds to receive updates in any RSS reader.

youtube channel rss feed

Google made it harder over the years to subscribe to channels, likely to push YouTube's own subscriptions feature. Unlike feeds, subscriptions requires that users are signed in to an account to receive updates.

Third-party apps like NewPipe for Android or the Vivaldi web browser support subscriptions out of the box. Even Microsoft is experimenting with a "follow creator" feature in its Edge browser.

While those options are great, some users prefer to use a dedicated feed reader instead. Ideally, they'd subscribe to all their favorite channels to receive notifications whenever new videos are posted. One extra benefit of that is that there is no artificial limit in place.

How to subscribe to YouTube creator RSS feeds manually

It takes a bit of code digging to reveal the RSS feed of a channel or a playlist without third-party tools.

The core URL that you require is https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNELID.

You need to replace CHANNELID with the ID of the channel, and that is where it may get tricky for some.

Most YouTube channels use personalized names in the URL and not the channel ID. While you may access a YouTube channel using the personalized name and the channel ID, you can't access the RSS feed using the personalized name.

One example:

  • Mr. Beast Channel ID URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA
  • Mr. Beast Personalized URL: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrBeast6000

Reveal the YouTube channel ID

youtube channel id

You need to display the source code of the channel on YouTube to reveal the ID. Here is how that is done:

  1. Open the creator channel on YouTube, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie
  2. Right-click on a blank part of the page and select "view page source". Depending on the browser that you use, it may have a slightly different name. Alternatively, prepend view-source: before the URL and hit the Enter-key.
  3. Search for browse_id. You may open the search option with Ctrl-F, or from the browser's main menu.
  4. The browser jumps to the first instance of browse_id in the source code. Copy the string of the value field that is right next to it; this is the channel's ID.

Create the YouTube channel RSS feed URL

Now that you have the channel ID and the default feed address, you can combine the two to create a working feed address:

  • Default URL: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNELID
  • Channel ID: UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA
  • Working Feed URL: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA

The easiest way to test the feed URL is to load it in the browser. The browser should display the content of the XML file. You may subscribe to the channel using that URL in any feed reader that supports it.

Create a YouTube playlist RSS feed URL

youtube playlist rss feed

You may create RSS feed URLs of playlists on YouTube as well. Thankfully, this is easier as the IDs of playlists are already visible in playlist URLs.

The default feed address for playlists: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=PLAYLISTID

Here is how that is done:

  1. Open the playlist on YouTube, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktxBUqy6PT4&list=PLYH8WvNV1YEnOwmzyWz4vR0HsX1Qn0PoU
  2. The ID begins after list=; in the case above, it is PLYH8WvNV1YEnOwmzyWz4vR0HsX1Qn0PoU
  3. Replace PLAYLISTID of the default feed address with the real ID to create the RSS feed for the playlist. In the example above, you get https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=PLYH8WvNV1YEnOwmzyWz4vR0HsX1Qn0PoU

Now You: are you subscribe to YouTube channels?

Summary
How to subscribe to YouTube RSS Feeds without third-party services
Article Name
How to subscribe to YouTube RSS Feeds without third-party services
Description
Find out how to create YouTube channel feeds and YouTube playlist RSS feeds without using any third-party tools.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
Logo
Advertisement

Tutorials & Tips


Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. James said on December 19, 2023 at 10:45 pm
    Reply

    Is there a way to do get the RSS feed of comments posted to a YouTube channel’s Community tab?

    Thank you!

  2. Anonymous said on April 15, 2023 at 12:37 am
    Reply

    How do you insert an rss feed into various social media websites twitter or example?

  3. pol128 said on August 4, 2022 at 4:35 pm
    Reply

    Go to “Videos Page” of particular youtube channel, display page source, search for “rssUrl”.

    1. James said on August 25, 2022 at 7:58 pm
      Reply

      Is anyone having issues with adding a RSS connector for YouTube in Microsoft Teams? I have had the rssUrl added for a while but it broke back in May. Not sure if there is something else I could do you fix the feed.

  4. KERR said on August 2, 2022 at 2:09 am
    Reply

    You can use the addon FeedBro for this, also NewPipe android youtube app lets you subscribe to channels without an account. You can also export/import your subscriptions.

  5. Swaruu said on August 1, 2022 at 2:10 pm
    Reply

    Simply go to the main channel, for example:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX2g_5wqEZjeb4Qo06UgFTA/featured

    Then click on the “videos” tab and copy the URL:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX2g_5wqEZjeb4Qo06UgFTA/videos

    Use and RSS reader, for example Thunderbird.
    For RSS to Email: BlogTrottr.com

  6. Apostolis said on August 1, 2022 at 1:07 pm
    Reply

    Cool trick to know.
    Kinda pointless if you have many subscriptions though.
    I use InoReader and they’ve implemented an import procedure for your youtube subs.

  7. RossN said on August 1, 2022 at 12:40 pm
    Reply

    Great! Successfully added a favourite youtuber to ‘The Old Reader’.

  8. Tim said on August 1, 2022 at 12:39 pm
    Reply

    Nice!

    The RSS reader I use (InoReader) does this automatically, but it’s good to know how to do it manually.

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.