---
title: "YouTube Expands API Set – Including Upload, Player APIs"
date: 2008-03-12
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2008"
    url: "/tag/2008.md"
---

# YouTube Expands API Set – Including Upload, Player APIs

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20090203064353im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/youtube_logo_july07.png)YouTube’s announcement tonight wasn’t [higher quality videos](https://web.archive.org/web/20090203064353/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_higher_quality.php) (yet), but a set of new APIs and expanded features. YouTube now describes itself as “an open, general purpose, video services platform, available for use by just about any third-party website, desktop application, or consumer device.” There’s a video embedded below with YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and others talking about the new features – including right at the end a nice little Steve Ballmer impersonation by Chen! The new APIs [announced on the YouTube blog](https://web.archive.org/web/20090203064353/http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=yFlR6EEySg8) were:

- Upload videos and video responses to YouTube
- Add/Edit user and video metadata (titles, descriptions, ratings, comments, favorites, contacts, etc)
- Fetch localized standard feeds (most viewed, top rated, etc.) for 18 international locales
- Perform custom queries optimized for 18 international locales
- Customize player UI and control video playback (pause, play, stop, etc.) through software

 Update: See also the blog post [on the official Google blog today](https://web.archive.org/web/20090203064353/http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/250183741/youtube-finds-its-way-into-spore.html) about YouTube’s integration into forthcoming mega-game Spore, a great example of what will be made possible by these APIs.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/youtube_expands_api_set.php))*