Reference

The YouTube channel RSS feed

Every public YouTube channel has an RSS feed of its latest uploads, at youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id= followed by the channel ID. YouTube doesn't link it from the interface, but it's free and needs no account or API key.

The URL

Take the channel ID and drop it in here:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID

A channel ID starts with UC. The channel's name and its @handle won't work here: put either of those in the URL and you get nothing back.

Finding the channel ID

Some channel addresses already contain it:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Most channels are shown at an @handle address instead, which doesn't. For those, open the channel page, open the full description (the "more" link after it), scroll to the bottom and choose Share channel → Copy channel ID. On a computer you can also view the channel page's source and search for channel_id=: the page links its own feed.

What comes back

You get an Atom feed, the same format as the playlist feed. Each entry has the video ID, its title, a link, the publish date and a thumbnail, which is enough for any feed reader to show it properly. Paste the URL into your reader as a new subscription and it takes care of the rest.

The feed's limits

• About 15 entries, and no way to page further

  The feed carries only the most recent uploads, with no pagination parameter. For a channel that posts several times a day, a reader that checks rarely can miss videos between checks.

• It's a pull format

  Nothing is pushed to you. Something has to fetch the URL on a schedule and notice what changed, so your reader has to actually be running.

• It isn't documented

  YouTube doesn't list this endpoint anywhere official. It has worked for years and is widely relied on, but nobody has guaranteed it will keep working.

When a hosted alert is easier

If you already run a feed reader, you can stop here: the feed is free and doesn't depend on anyone. It's less convenient when you want an email or a phone notification instead of somewhere to go and look, or when you'd rather not keep anything running. That's where Listabell comes in. It watches the channel's uploads around the clock and sends each new video by email or Telegram. The channel upload alerts guide compares it with the other options.

See also: the YouTube playlist RSS feed, for following one series instead of the whole channel.