What Is "YouTube Video Finder" And How To Use It

There are several videos that disappear from YouTube - either due to accidental deletion, copyright claims or even intentional removal. With YouTube Video Finder, you're able to track down private or deleted YouTube videos.

Here’s everything you need to know about how this tool works, and its uses!

What Is YouTube Video Finder?

This is a web-based tool created to help users find archived versions of deleted or private YouTube videos. It's particularly useful for those who already have a link to the missing video, as it searches across various archive resources for any data on the video.

How Does It Work?

The tool operates by accessing multiple archive services to retrieve any stored versions of the particular video's metadata (e.g. title, description etc.) or even the video itself. It performs these searches across multiple popular archiving sites (which you may have seen as you've searched for this!), including:

• Wayback Machine: Internet Archive’s service for capturing web content.
• GhostArchive: A platform that saves copies of videos for reference and preservation.
• altCensored and Odysee: Other stores of videos for stored content that might otherwise be removed from mainstream platforms.

How To Effectively Use It

1. Start by copying the link of the deleted/private video.
2. Navigate to the YouTube Video Finder website and paste the copied link into the search box.
3. Then, click on the search button, and the tool will begin searching its list of videos.
4. Once the search is complete, the website displays any available data from the archives. If the website finds any relevant data, you’ll see the archive links to view it, along with other details that might help you locate reuploads or alternatives on different platforms.

Why Is It Useful?

The main reason it's useful is because it virtually lets you find any video that is no longer present on YouTube. To go more in-depth, it provides a way to access videos that might have historical or educational value. Or alternatively, it helps many users who have lost access to their own videos if they’re set to private or accidentally deleted.

What Are The Downsides?

While this tool seems incredible for recovering videos, it does have three major limitations:

1. You must have the exact link to the video, as the tool cannot search by keywords or video content.
2. Not every video will have been stored by the archives, especially if it was quickly removed.
3. Archived content is subject to the policies of the hosting archives, so videos may not be retrievable if privacy restrictions prevent storage in public archives​.