How to Bulk Upload YouTube Shorts

Uploading YouTube Shorts one at a time is tedious. Here's how to batch upload multiple Shorts and save hours of repetitive work.

6 min read

If you're creating multiple YouTube Shorts per day or batching a week's content in one session, uploading videos one at a time wastes hours. Bulk uploading lets you queue up multiple videos at once and work through the metadata more efficiently. Here's how to do it right—and avoid the common pitfalls.

Bulk Upload in YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio supports uploading multiple videos simultaneously. It's not as streamlined as dedicated tools, but it's built in and free.

  1. Go to studio.youtube.com and sign in
  2. Click Create in the top right, then Upload videos
  3. Instead of selecting one file, hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) and select multiple video files—up to 15 at once
  4. YouTube will start processing all of them simultaneously
  5. Use the tabs at the top to switch between videos and add metadata
  6. Set each video to Private initially, then change to Public or Scheduled when ready
Name your files descriptively before uploading. YouTube uses the filename as the default title, which saves time if your filenames are already good. For example: "Morning Routine Tips - Quick Hack.mp4" becomes "Morning Routine Tips - Quick Hack" as the default title.

Preparing for Bulk Upload

The upload itself is quick—it's the metadata that takes time. Preparation before you upload makes the whole process faster.

File organization

Create a dedicated folder for each upload batch. Name files in the order you want to schedule them, using a numbering system: "01 - Topic A.mp4", "02 - Topic B.mp4". This keeps everything organized when you're working through the queue.

Pre-write your metadata

Before opening YouTube Studio, write all your titles and descriptions in a spreadsheet or text file. Copy-pasting from prepared text is much faster than composing in the upload interface. Include your standard hashtags and any links you regularly include.

  • -Titles: Keep under 60 characters so they don't get truncated in the Shorts shelf
  • -Descriptions: Include #Shorts plus 2-3 relevant hashtags
  • -Timestamps: Note when you want each video to go live

Thumbnail preparation

If you use custom thumbnails, create them all before starting your upload session. Name them to match your video files so you can quickly pair them. Vertical thumbnails (1080x1920) work best for Shorts.

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YouTube Studio Limitations

YouTube's native bulk upload has friction points that add up for high-volume creators:

  • -No default templates: You can't set default descriptions or tags across all uploads—each video needs individual metadata
  • -Manual scheduling: Scheduling requires clicking through each video separately to set the publish time
  • -No cross-platform: Only works for YouTube—if you're also posting to TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, you'll repeat this process on each platform
  • -Session limits: YouTube Studio can get slow with more than 10-15 videos processing simultaneously
  • -No drafts persistence: If you close the tab before publishing, you may lose your work

For creators uploading 5+ Shorts per week, these limitations represent hours of lost time. Third-party tools that integrate with YouTube's API can eliminate most of this friction.

Scheduling Bulk Uploads

Uploading in bulk doesn't mean publishing in bulk. In fact, publishing multiple Shorts at the same time can hurt your reach—YouTube's algorithm may not push all of them if they're competing with each other.

Spacing your Shorts

Space your Shorts at least 2-4 hours apart. Many creators find that 1-3 Shorts per day performs better than dumping 7 videos on one day. YouTube wants consistent activity, not spikes.

Best times to publish

YouTube Shorts don't have the same peak-time sensitivity as TikTok, but evenings and weekends generally perform better. Check your YouTube Analytics (Audience tab) to see when your specific audience is most active.

Scheduling in YouTube Studio

When setting visibility for each video, select "Schedule" instead of "Public" or "Private." Set the date and time, then move to the next video. YouTube lets you schedule months in advance—useful for vacation coverage or pre-planned content calendars.

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High-Volume Creator Workflow

Here's the workflow that professional Shorts creators use to batch a week or more of content in one session:

  1. Batch create: Film and edit multiple Shorts in one session—most find 5-10 videos is ideal per batch
  2. Export consistently: Use the same export settings (1080x1920, MP4, H.264) and naming convention for all files
  3. Prepare metadata: Write all titles/descriptions in a spreadsheet before touching YouTube Studio
  4. Upload all at once: Select all videos and let them process while you add metadata
  5. Set to Private: Keep everything private until metadata is complete and reviewed
  6. Schedule strategically: Spread videos across the week at optimal times
  7. Review before live: Check scheduled posts the day before they go live for any needed tweaks
This workflow scales well. Once you have the system down, you can batch 2-3 weeks of content in a single focused session, then shift to just monitoring performance.

Cross-Platform Bulk Uploading

Most creators posting YouTube Shorts are also posting the same content to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels. Bulk uploading to just YouTube still leaves you manually uploading to three other platforms.

Cross-posting tools let you upload once and distribute to all platforms from a single interface—with customized captions for each. What would take an hour of manual uploading can be done in minutes.

For more on multi-platform distribution, see our guides on cross-posting videos and scheduling YouTube Shorts.