Instagram videos captivate you in a way other social media platforms, whether scrolling through your feed or exploring a page. Because of this, many people want to share their YouTube videos on Instagram. But it’s not as straightforward as clicking the share button. Here’s how to share a YouTube video on Instagram via your stories or as a post on your profile.
Is It Legal to Post YouTube Videos on Instagram?
You need the owner’s permission to upload any copyrighted material. Instagram’s Terms of Use and Community Guidelines, says you can only post content that doesn’t violate property rights. So you’ll only want to post videos that won’t violate terms or get a copy strike against you.
How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram Stories
Let’s start with the simplest way to share a YouTube video — via Instagram Stories! Instagram’s link feature in their Stories makes it super simple to copy and paste a YouTube link for people to click on.
1. Log into Instagram and YouTube
From there, you’ll navigate to your Instagram Stories and press the plus sign. You can design the story however you want.

2. Choose the link option
Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to go to graphics and choose the “link” option. Instagram will then show you a space to include a link and header text.
You’ll want to navigate to YouTube and copy the video link you want to include.

3. Paste the video link to Instagram
After copying that link, navigate to Instagram, paste the link, and add your header text ( Ours is “View the video here!”). Then click save, and it will populate your story!

From there, you can share your story, and people can click on the link and go straight to YouTube.


Your video will now appear on your feed.

To see exactly how each of these steps work check out the video below which will walk you through the process.
How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram as a Post
If you want to share a YouTube video as a post on your Instagram, you’ll have to follow quite a few more steps than just sharing it as a story. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Open a YouTube Video to Share

Your first step to sharing a YouTube video on Instagram is to download the video. We suggest sticking to short videos like YouTube shorts or videos under 10 minutes. Anything longer will take time to upload to Instagram as a post.
We chose a YouTube Short, which uploads as a post and a reel on Instagram.
Once you’ve found the video you want to share, click the share button on YouTube and copy the link.
2. Download the video using a third-party downloader
We will use yt5s.io because it doesn’t have ads, but you can use whatever you want. Then, follow the steps to download the video.

Copy the link to download box then click start to download, and then wait for your download to show up on the next page.

3. Choose video format
Once your video is ready to download, you can choose the format. We suggest 720p to 1080p if possible.


Now that you’ve downloaded your video, you can move on to step two!
4: Log In to Instagram
Once the video has been downloaded, you can log in to Instagram to post it. Once you’re logged in, you’ll want to click the ‘Create’ button on the left-hand side of your screen.

5: Create a New Post
To create a new post, you’ll need to upload the video you downloaded from YouTube. Once it loads, you’ll be automatically directed to add details about the video.
{Insert YouTube to Instagram Photo 7}

6: Add In Details
You can crop your video, trim it, or do anything else you’d like to do before posting. Now is also the time to add your caption, hashtags, location, or any other pertinent information you want your followers to read and see. After you’ve filled out the details, you’re ready to post your video!
Crop Your Video
If you want, one of the details you can do is crop the video to your liking. This is not mandatory as Instagram will crop it to fit a square, but some people want to show certain parts of their video so they manually crop it.

Choose Your Cover Photo
Next, you can choose your cover photo and trim the video. Again, these steps are not mandatory. If you don’t choose a cover photo, Instagram will choose what they think is best.

Include a Caption
Last but not least, you can include a caption. While this technically isn’t mandatory, we highly recommend doing so and adding some hashtags as well so people can find you!

Step 5: Share
Go ahead and click the blue ‘Share’ option once you’ve completed steps one through 4. Instagram may take a bit to upload the full video, but it will inform you once it’s complete.

Remember to include a credit if using someone else’s video, or a link in your bio if it’s your video. That way, your followers can watch the full thing if they wish.

Conclusion
It takes a bit of work to upload YouTube videos to Instagram. All the same, it’s a great way to share your videos or any interesting content. If you follow the above steps, you’ll be able to upload a YouTube video quickly. You can share videos via a post or as a link in your Stories.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Ascannio/Shutterstock.com.