There are currently three YouTube APIs available to the public:
Each of these offer different functionality and are treated as separate, individual APIs.
Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, the various YouTube APIs are provided and maintained by Google. In order to access any Google-provided API, following steps are necessary:
When On the credentials screen, an API key has to be generated. The type of key that is needed depends on the individual application.
There are five types of API keys:
Key type | Description | Use case / language |
---|---|---|
None | Has no restrictions and is normally used for testing and development | open to all environments |
Server key | Used for server-side applications. The key is considered a secret and may not be exposed to the public. | PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, C, etc. |
Browser key | Used for client-side applications. Since the client is going to issue requests to the API, the key cannot be a secret. | JavaScript |
Android key | For use within an Android app. | Android app |
iOS key | For use within an iOS app. | iOS app |
Once an API key is obtained and configured, you can then use it to make calls to the API.
For general API call's, all you need is the API Key.
But if you need to access a user's account to gain more information, upload or generally modify a user's account data, you will need a "Client ID" and a "Client secret".
These are used for authentication with the OAuth2 framework.