Since 2005, YouTube has been the website for all your favorite music videos, TV and movie clips, vlogger videos, and more. Many users on the site regularly take advantage of YouTube's playlist feature, which allows you to save videos in curated collections to rewatch later. The playlists can either be kept private, or shared publicly with everyone. And as easy as it is to create YouTube playlists, it's just as easy to delete them. If you decide you no longer want a particular playlist, removing it from the site and your account is simple and straightforward. But be aware: once you delete a playlist, there's no getting it back. If you've deleted a playlist and regret the decision, you'll have to make a new playlist and add all your videos back manually. Here's what you need to know to delete a playlist on either your computer, or the mobile app for your smartphone. 1. Go to YouTube and log into your account. 2. In the upper left-hand corner of your screen, click the three horizontally stacked lines to reveal a drop-down menu. Click "Library." 3. On the Library page, scroll down until you see the section with the "Playlists" header. 4. Click the "View full playlist" link below the photo of the first video in your playlist. 5. Click the three horizontal dots located in the upper-left of the page. 6. Select "Delete playlist" from the menu. 8. A pop-up will launch asking you to confirm your wish to delete the playlist. Click "Delete" to delete the playlist. 1. On your phone's home screen, locate the YouTube app icon and open it.
2. Ensure you're logged into your YouTube account. Then, tap the "Library" icon on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen.
3. Under "Playlists," select the playlist you wish to delete.
Find the playlist you want to delete in your Library. William Antonelli/Business Insider
4. In that playlist's editing screen, tap the delete icon, which is a small trashcan.
Tap the trashcan icon to delete your playlist. William Antonelli/Business Insider
5. A pop-up will launch, asking you to confirm that you want to delete the playlist. Tap "OK" to delete the playlist.
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- Desktop: Library > VIEW FULL PLAYLIST > menu > Delete playlist.
- Android: Library > tap playlist > menu > Delete playlist > DELETE.
- iOS: Library > tap playlist > trash icon > DELETE.
This article details how to delete a playlist on YouTube. You can permanently delete one you've created and remove from your library a playlist you've added from another user. The instructions work for all desktop browsers and the mobile app for Android, iOS, and iPadOS.
Open the playlist's settings to find the Delete playlist option. It's how you remove the playlists you've created.
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Open Library by selecting it from the left panel. If you don't have the page open, you can follow this link to go directly to your YouTube Library.
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Scroll down to the Playlists section, and select VIEW FULL PLAYLIST below the one you want to delete.
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Locate the summary section on the left, under the playlist's title, open the three-dot menu and choose Delete playlist.
Don't see this option? You probably selected the playlist title or thumbnail in the previous step. Repeat step 2, and be sure to choose the correct link.
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Select DELETE to confirm.
The YouTube app works much like the desktop website, but the menu options are in different places.
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Tap Library from the bottom menu bar.
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Scroll to Playlists, and tap the one you're going to delete.
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On Android, select the three-dot menu at the top right, and choose Delete playlist.
On iOS or iPadOS, tap the trash can icon.
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Confirm the prompt by tapping DELETE.
There's a playlist-like collection called Watch later in every YouTube account that appears to be a playlist, but it's built-in, so you can't delete it. You can add videos to it, but you can't delete the entire collection. If you want to remove watch later videos, the best thing you can do is to delete the videos you've already watched. Look for Remove watched videos from the menu in that playlist [step 3 above].
Other playlists you might struggle to remove are ones that you've added to your library from another user. If Delete playlist is missing when you complete the above steps, select the playlist button on the left instead of the menu button at step 3, then select Remove from Library.
Deleting a whole YouTube playlist is permanent. You can always rebuild it later, but you don't want to make that mistake if you have a lot of videos saved.
Here are two options to avoid immediately erasing all those videos:
If you'd rather all the playlist's videos be in a different playlist, YouTube provides such an option. It's called Add all to, and when you select it, all the videos from one playlist will be copied to a different playlist.
For example, maybe you've been unwittingly editing two different playlists at various times because they have a similar name, but now you want to merge them. Everything from the first playlist will go into the second one, and then you can delete the first to avoid confusion in the future.
Repeat steps 1-3 of the desktop directions above to merge playlists. In step 3, instead of removing the playlist, choose Add all to, and select where to copy the videos.
An alternative solution to slimming down your playlists is to remove individual videos out of them. There are a couple of ways to do this:
- Repeat the first two steps above, and when you see the list of videos, use the three-dot menu next to the video to find the Remove from option.
- Visit the video's regular streaming page, select SAVE, and remove the check from the box next to the playlist name. Or, from the app, tap-and-hold Save/Saved and remove the check. Android users have one more step: tap Done.
FAQ
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How do I add videos to my YouTube playlists?
Under the video, select Save. All of your playlists will appear as options in the pop-up menu. You also have the option to create a new YouTube playlist.
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How do I reverse a YouTube playlist?
Install the Reverse YouTube Playlist extension for Google Chrome to add a reverse button to your playlists. You can also select the three dots beside each video from your library to manually change their order.
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How do I share a YouTube playlist?
Start the playlist, then copy the URL in the address bar and paste the link wherever you want. To allow someone else to add videos from your Library, select the three dots under the playlist and choose Collaborate.
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How do I download a YouTube playlist?
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