Skip to main content

How to change your profile picture on YouTube

When it comes to being a successful YouTuber, branding is very important — the first thing that a potential subscriber should see when considering whether to watch your video is a unique, stylish image to capture their attention and get them hooked. In many ways, having a profile picture or channel icon that stands out from the crowd and gets people interested is almost as important as the content being produced. It’s said that you never get a second chance at a first impression, and when it comes to an industry that operates on appearances, your profile picture needs to be on point.

Your channel’s content may be top of the line, but people only get to see it if your profile picture was sufficiently compelling to get that all-important click. Popular YouTube channels often feature headshots of the principal star or stars, but you often see logos and icons as well. Note that all images for profile pictures must be no larger than 800 x 800 pixels, must be formatted as GIF, JPG, PNG, or BMP, and cannot be animated. Read on to learn more about how to change your profile picture on YouTube on your PC or mobile device.

Recommended Videos

How to change your profile picture on YouTube: PC

Step 1: Log in to YouTube Studio, then select Customization > Branding.

Image of YouTube Profile Picture Upload Image Button
Daniel Martin / Digital Trends

Step 2: Select Upload and choose an image from your PC.

Step 3: After adjusting the size of your image, select Done, and then click Publish.  Note that it may take several minutes for your profile picture to update across YouTube.

Image of YouTube Profile Picture Publish Image Button
Daniel Martin / Digital Trends

How to change your profile picture on YouTube: iOS and Android

Step 1: Tap your profile picture > Your Channel.

Image of YouTube App Account Menu
Daniel Martin / Digital Trends

Step 2: Tap Edit Channel, then select your profile picture. Note that you can either take a photo or select a photo from your device to upload.

Image of YouTube App Edit Channel Button
Daniel Martin / Digital Trends

Step 3: Click Save to confirm your new profile picture.

That’s it! Feel free to play around and come up with the coolest image for your YouTube profile picture. Check out some of our other YouTube articles to learn how to do more with the streaming service, like renaming your channel and deleting your account.

Daniel Martin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Daniel Martin is a technology expert, freelance writer, and researcher with more than a decade of experience. After earning a…
YouTube is rolling out handles. Here’s what you need to know
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube recently announced that it would be rolling out handles for YouTube channels. Whether you've just heard about them or you already got an email from YouTube saying it's time to choose one, you're probably wondering what they are and how they're different from YouTube channel names.

In this guide, we'll go over what a YouTube handle is and answer a few questions about them so you can better understand what they are and be better prepared to choose one when it's rolled out to you.

Read more
YouTube brings pinch to zoom and video navigation changes to everyone
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube is updating its user interface with a slew of changes, and chief among them are the pinch-to-zoom feature and "precise" video navigation.

On Monday, YouTube announced quite a few updates to its viewing experience on mobile and web. Notably, the video-sharing platform said that it was finally "launching pinch to zoom and precise seeking to all users starting today."

Read more
10 longest videos on YouTube
YouTube logo on top-left corner of home screen

YouTube is a platform where you can watch millions of videos from around the world. Whether these videos are podcasts, reviews, or even reactions, YouTube has something for everyone. However, some content creators take it a step further and make their videos extra long. If you're looking for videos that last for over several hours, then you're in luck, because we've assembled ten of the longest videos currently on YouTube. Note that these may not be the absolute longest videos on YouTube, but we tried to limit the scope to entrees that have entertainment value. Somehow we suspect a clock countdown for 70 hours one second at a time wouldn't be very enjoyable.
10. The longest 5 seconds on YouTube.

If you ever wanted to see a five-second-long excerpt stretched out into a 19-hour thrill ride, check out this video from The Slow Mo Guys. As their chosen name suggests, these two men like to film in slow motion some crazy activities such as jumping on a water balloon, getting hit in the face with a soccer ball, and shooting a newton's cradle. "The longest 5 seconds on YouTube," which was released in 2016, stretches out a clip from their "Glass Explosion at 343,000 fps!" where they heat up a glass measuring cup and make its handle explode with only a squirt of water. Even though the build-up to this explosion is quite long, it's worth watching for the shattering effect alone.
9. I Counted To 100,000!

Read more