As the most popular video streaming site in the world (and second only to Google when it comes to overall usage), YouTube is something many people use daily and take for granted. However, you’ve no doubt come across content that’s ‘unavailable in your country’ or, if you live a certain region, the whole site itself may be off limits.
Here, we’ll be exploring why you can’t watch everything on YouTube even if you can access the site, and we’ll also give you a thorough guide on how to use the best VPN to get around these restrictions. In a couple of minutes, you’ll be able to watch exactly what you want, when you want – no matter where you are in the world.
Who needs to unblock YouTube?
Want to get straight to the point? Tom’s Guide recommends ExpressVPN as the very best VPN if you want to unblock YouTube. It works for changing your location and avoiding local or government restrictions, plus you’ll get class-leading speeds and superb support if anything doesn’t work properly. Good stuff.
Certain videos aren’t available in certain places thanks to distribution restrictions, meaning the content isn’t licensed to be watched everywhere. So, for example, if you’re in the US and want to watch BBC content, you’ll find that it’s blocked. Plus, some livestreams and sporting events are restricted too, so getting access to them could offer great value.
You might also find that when you’re at school, college or work, YouTube is blocked. While that may have been done with productivity in mind, YouTube is an indispensable resource, so blocking it can do more harm than good. If you want to make the most of what the web offers, unblocking YouTube is essential.
Finally, some countries have blocked YouTube as a whole, notably China, which restricts access to the site along with many others with its Great Firewall. Perhaps more surprisingly, Denmark is also in an ongoing feud with YouTube over royalty payments, which has resulted in reports of music being unavailable in the small European country.
Wherever you are, then, there’s tons of content that’s not available, even if the site isn’t limited by the government – so how can you use a VPN to access it?
How to use a VPN to unblock YouTube
Simply put, using a VPN is the easiest way to unblock YouTube. If you want to access region-restricted content, all you need to do is fire up your YouTube VPN, select a server in a country where the content is available, and visit the page again. Pretty much every VPN can do this.
If your country blocks YouTube, it can be a little trickier to access it. For example, not every VPN works as a China VPN, with only the biggest and best giving uncensored access to the web in the country. If you pick one of the best from that list, then you know you’ve got a service that’ll work just about anywhere on Earth.