How to make an animated YouTube end screen (template + YouTube Studio)

What you need

• A video at least 25 seconds long (YouTube's minimum for end screens).
• Your channel name and avatar or logo, and the two videos or playlist you want to send people to.
• An AnimateMyVideo account to download the file (you sign in with Google), and access to YouTube Studio for your channel.

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Plan the last 20 seconds

   YouTube shows end screen elements during the last 5 to 20 seconds of a video, and you can add up to four of them. Decide what they'll be before you design anything: usually one or two videos (or a playlist) and the subscribe button. Leave that stretch of your edit free of important footage, because the elements will cover part of it.

   See the end screen and outro templates →

2. 2

   Step 2: Open the end screen template and pick a style

   Open the end screen template. Choose one of the four styles, glass, neon, light minimal or pop, and the format of your video. In 16:9 the «Landscape layout» field puts the two video frames side by side or stacks them in a column on the right; in vertical and square they're always stacked.

   Open the end screen template →

3. 3

   Step 3: Write the title, the labels and your channel

   Type the title («Watch this next» by default, or leave it empty), the small label above each video frame («Latest video», «You'll love this») and your channel name. In «Channel avatar», use an emoji or upload your logo, and set the subscribe text and your two colors.

   If you won't use YouTube's video elements, upload the two thumbnails instead: they fill the frames and play as part of the video.

4. 4

   Step 4: Set the length

   The template lasts 8 seconds. To fill the whole end screen window, raise «Duration (seconds)» up to 20; the frames keep their running light and the background keeps moving until the very end, so a long end screen doesn't look frozen.

5. 5

   Step 5: Choose the background and export

   In the first step of the editor, choose how you want it:

   • With a background: an MP4 with the style's own moving background. The simplest choice: it goes after your last shot.
   • On my video: upload your last clip and the end screen comes out on top of it, as one MP4.
   • No background: a transparent .mov to stack over your footage in your editor yourself.
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   Step 6: Put it at the end of your edit

   Export and sign in with Google to download (during the open beta, new accounts get export credits at no cost). Place the file at the very end of your timeline in CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro, and export your video as usual.

7. 7

   Step 7: Add the elements in YouTube Studio

   When you upload, the «Video elements» step lets you add an end screen; for a video that's already up, open it in YouTube Studio and find the end screen option in its editor. Add a video or playlist element for each frame and the subscribe element for the circle, then drag them over the frames and resize them until the edges line up.

   Set each element's timing so it appears when the frames have finished drawing, about a second into the end screen. Play the end of the video in the preview to check nothing covers your face or your text.

What about YouTube's own end screen layouts?

YouTube Studio has ready-made element layouts you can drop onto any video, and they work. What they don't give you is a background: the elements sit over whatever your last shot is. The template supplies that background, matched to your channel, so the clickable boxes look like part of the design.

End screens on Shorts

Shorts don't have end screens. To send viewers on from a Short, YouTube lets you link a related video when you upload it, and inside the Short a «Part 2, follow for the next one» card does the asking. The like-and-subscribe bar, the up-next card and the comment prompt also work in vertical.