How to Have YouTube Unblocked – 2 Quick Methods and 2 You Must Avoid

Why Is Access to YouTube Blocked in the First Place?

Some countries (including China, Iran, Syria, and Turkmenistan) block access to the entire YouTube website as a form of government censorship.

They use firewalls that block all access to YouTube servers from within the country’s borders.

Germany, for example, is known to have many blocked YouTube videos inaccessible to the country.

And even if your government doesn’t block YouTube, that doesn’t mean your school or employer won’t. There are a couple of possible reasons they set up access policies forbidding YouTube.

First, so you’re not distracted while you’re supposed to be studying or working.

Second, you don’t consume massive network resources, such as video streaming.

If too many people try to stream content simultaneously, the network can slow down significantly for people who need to use the internet for work, study, or teaching purposes.

Why Is Some YouTube Content Blocked?

Even if you can access YouTube, you still might have encountered this annoying message :

This may not be due to the content creator not wanting users from your country to enjoy their content, but rather due to complicated licensing agreements made with broadcasters in varying nations.

Just as TV stations have the right to broadcast various programs, YouTube has licenses to showcase content in specific countries. This type of regional-specific restriction is called geo-blocking, and it uses your IP address to determine your location.

If a TV network posts a preview for a program it holds the license for only within the U.S., YouTube will restrict the viewing of that content to the U.S. only. If you’re outside the U.S., you can’t view the program preview.

So, if you’re traveling out of the country, you might be barred from geo-blocked YouTube content you’d normally be able to view. Also, it’s not uncommon for your IP address’s registration to be in a country different from yours. This can result in access problems.

Fortunately, there are different methods you can use to unblock YouTube. Read below.

Who Can Block Access to YouTube?

There are three levels by which access to YouTube can be blocked:

• Nationally, thanks to your internet service provider (ISP)
• Locally, by whoever manages your school, company, or home network
• Individually, on the device you use to connect to the internet

Countrywide YouTube Blocking

ISPs will block access to YouTube if instructed by the government to comply with censorship laws or protect copyright.

Local-Network YouTube Blocking

To remain compliant with local policies, local networks operated by schools and businesses will utilize firewalls and routers to block YouTube access.

This is a common reason to prevent crowds of users watching cute cat clips from overwhelming network bandwidth.

Local-Device YouTube Blocking

Parental controls or company policies may block YouTube because the person who controls the device’s access doesn’t want you to visit it. Usually, parents do this to shield their children from content that may be deemed offensive.

YouTube Unblocked with a VPN (recommended)

This solution is by far the most straightforward and reliable. You won’t have to mess with your internet settings without further research. And aside from unlocking YouTube, a VPN offers a bonus: It also functions as a fantastic security product that protects you from people trying to steal your personal information online.

When you use the internet, you send and receive data. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a secure network that encrypts and re-routes that data from your normal ISP to a remote server. But how does it unblock YouTube (and any other service, such as Netflix)? By making it seem like your computer’s physical location is in another country (of your choosing). That way, geo-blocking won’t work.

What’s more, because all the information you transfer is encrypted, your ISP won’t be able to detect or track any websites you visit.

Where anonymity and the unblocking of web content are concerned, a VPN is the safest way to access all content from YouTube. It works worldwide and can help you access content globally without worrying about firewalls, geo-blocking, or censorship.

Once you’ve decided on one of the best VPNs for you, subscribe to a package and download the software. It shouldn’t take longer than several minutes. This article provides simple instructions for how you can do this with ExpressVPN.

After setting up your VPN, please turn it on and select which country you want to connect to. It would be ideal for connecting to a server in your own country; that way, you get the fastest internet speed.

It is not recommended to use a free VPN because YouTube already bans its VPN servers.

And that’s it! You’ve now unblocked YouTube.

You can use a VPN for various different things as well such as unblocking Netflix, fixing the YouTube TV proxy detected error or for unblocking Hulu.

Direct Download

This option will work, but it’s not ideal. It uses lots of device memory for the content, and it takes a long time for content to download. The hassle of the entire process and the potential of downloading viruses make this solution less than ideal.

Finding the right site to help you locate and download the video you want is often a process of trial and error. If there’s a specific video you want to watch offline, that could be a good option. But you must fully download it before you can attempt to view it.

You’ll need to perform a quick search online for a suitable YouTube download site to do a direct download from YouTube. Once you’ve found the most appropriate service, you’ll need to search for the file you want to view.

It’s usually easy to find a video without visiting YouTube, as Google now lists videos in search results (Google owns YouTube). Once you’ve found the video you want, copy the target URL. This link will typically appear directly underneath the video’s title in the search engine results. Copy the URL and paste it into the download site.

While this is the slowest method of all of the options we discuss, it usually works and requires very little technical know-how — that is, as long as you can find the video, you’re after and have the storage space available on your device.

The problem is that you end up with loads of videos stored locally on your laptop or phone rather than being able to access them online.

Free Web Proxy (Use with Caution)

Numerous free web proxy services duplicate a website’s contents when you input its URL.

You can access the duplicated site from any location, making it a handy option when you need to quickly watch a YouTube video or browse a blocked site.

However, these services may pose risks, and here’s why…

Free web proxy sites and proxy servers often push a slew of advertisements, usually annoying popups that you need to keep closing.

These ads may harbor phishing attempts, imitating familiar sites like Gmail or Facebook, aiming to trick you into revealing your login credentials.

Another significant issue with web proxy services, particularly those acting as a YouTube unblocker, is the reliability of the displayed content.

It’s difficult to ensure if what you’re seeing is an accurate reflection of the original YouTube video or site.

YouTube invests heavily in keeping its platform free from illicit, inappropriate, or simply disturbing content, ensuring user safety.

Moreover, YouTube rigorously moderates video comment sections, filtering out threatening, abusive, or extremely offensive material.

So, if you’re using a proxy YouTube service, the only surefire way to guarantee the authenticity and safety of the content is by being on the official YouTube site.

Web proxies essentially function like VPNs but without providing the same stability or security.

They filter your connection request through a server, making it appear as if you’re located elsewhere.

This feature lets you bypass some firewall restrictions based on geographical location when using the YouTube unblocked feature, but not all.

Unfortunately, free web proxy services don’t provide anything crucial for browsing safety and privacy – traffic encryption.

This omission means that network administrators, ISPs, and law enforcement agencies can access your IP and trace your web traffic history.

Although free web proxy services can be handy, some malicious services may track your internet usage or even steal your information.

Also, the services and connections of web proxies often have limitations based on your location. Additionally, the connections they provide are generally unstable.

For a secure, stable, and reliable connection, consider using a VPN instead. Not only does it offer additional encryption, but it also ensures that your data remains protected from the public round the clock.

Tor (not recommended)

There’s a good chance you already know about Tor, probably in connection with the Dark Web.

Tor is a highly secure network of computers that helps increase anonymity when accessing the internet. Many journalists use Tor to get information out of an oppressive country to avoid getting punished by government authorities.

When connected to Tor, your data is encrypted on your device and sent to a minimum of three other computers worldwide. This action adds a new layer of encryption each time before finally connecting to the regular internet. The process makes it almost impossible to track Tor users’ activities online.

The biggest problem with Tor is that it’s too slow. The encryption routing through nodes means that there’s lots of data to process, and only a few Exit Nodes are available. It’s simply not designed to replace an ordinary web browser.

Tor will definitely unblock YouTube, but not only would you have to wait for ages for your videos to buffer, but you’d also be slowing down the network for people who may need to use it for other, perhaps more important matters.

Need to Unblock YouTube?

If so, unblock it with a VPN. This option is the easiest, quickest, and most secure way to unblock YouTube content. However, make sure you use a reputable VPN service.

We highly recommend ExpressVPN. It’s easy to use and also has some excellent advanced features. Moreover, it protects your privacy whenever you’re online and works with every online service we’ve tried.

You can get massive discounts for signing up for a more extended period, and all plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you find it’s just not what you wanted, you can get a refund. It also has advanced features such as a kill switch and split tunneling.

Free VPNs may appear to be an attractive option compared to premium VPNs, but they’re extremely slow and impractical for streaming YouTube videos. Also, remember that there’s no such thing as totally free. These “free” VPN providers make money in other ways: by monitoring the videos, you watch and then selling this data to various corporations and advertisers.

If you’ve subscribed to a VPN to avoid being censored by your government, it’s important to be able to trust your VPN provider. They shouldn’t be sharing your browsing history with your government!

Troubleshooting YouTube connection problems

Can’t install the ExpressVPN app on your computer? You’ll need another way to access YouTube. The next best option is to install either an ExpressVPN Chrome or a Firefox extension onto your web browser.

Visit the Mozilla website to find the Firefox browser extension, or visit the Google Chrome store to find the Chrome browser extension.

If you still find your network blocking YouTube after you’ve installed the ExpressVPN app or the browser extension, try connecting to different servers until you find one that works. It’s not unusual for some VPN IP addresses to be blocked if a previous user has committed some transgression using that IP address.

What If I Want to Access YouTube on My Phone?

Unless you’re happy to burn through your mobile data allowance watching videos, you’ll need to connect your mobile to a Wi-Fi network to access YouTube. If YouTube is blocked, you’ll need a VPN on your mobile device.

What If My Network Is Set Up to Block VPNs?

Some networks might block you from accessing VPNs to stop you from doing the things discussed in this article! Fortunately, you’ve got workarounds to bypass these blocks.

Stealth VPN is the best option to disguise your VPN traffic. It uses the process of VPN obfuscation to mask that your traffic is from a VPN. This way, you can bypass VPN blocks.