Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Web
  4. Evergreens

How to change your profile picture on YouTube

Add as a preferred source on Google

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…
I let Radial menu take over my Mac, and I’m never going back
One mouse jiggle, endless shortcuts. My Mac has never felt this fast.
Radial app running on Mac

I have been testing Radial for the past week, and it's quickly become one of those apps I didn’t know how I could live without. It's a radial menu for macOS that puts your shortcuts, scripts, and automations right where your cursor is, so you never have to go hunting through menus to find what you need.

The app just received its 5.0 update, adding AI actions powered by Claude, window layouts, variables, a redesigned settings interface, a new Atmosphere background effect, and a squircle menu shape. I got to try most of these, and here's what I found.

Read more
Android desktop mode made me miss my laptop in record time
I tried writing and publishing from Google’s phone-to-monitor setup, and the future of mobile computing immediately started sweating.
Computer, Electronics, Laptop

Android 17 desktop mode has a very simple pitch. Plug your phone into a monitor, add a keyboard and mouse, and watch the slab in your pocket pretend to be a computer. I wanted to give that pitch a fair shot, so I tried using it for an actual workday instead of a cute demo.

The goal was boring on purpose: write an article, edit it, build the page in WordPress, upload whatever needed uploading, and publish the thing without running back to my laptop like a coward.

Read more
As AI turbocharges digital abuse, UK agencies urge parents to limit who sees kids’ photos online
The National Crime Agency and Internet Watch Foundation are asking parents to tighten privacy settings as AI-generated abuse material rises.
Social Media

Parents who post pictures of their kids online are being told to rethink the habit. The UK's National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation have issued new guidance urging families to lock down their social media accounts, warning that publicly shared photos are increasingly being pulled and altered by AI tools to create child sexual abuse material.

The two organizations say most parents have no idea this is happening. Criminals no longer need to contact a child directly to generate such material. They can scrape an ordinary photo and run it through widely available nudify apps.

Read more