What is an asset?

An asset contains intellectual property, such as a sound recording or a television episode, that a content owner has provided YouTube for rights management on our platform.

Assets are not YouTube videos; they are objects containing information about that piece of intellectual property, including various metadata, ownership information, claims, policies, and the content reference files that allow the asset to match and claim content found within user uploaded videos.

There are several different types of assets, including:

• Web — Represents YouTube original video or other types of video content not covered by the other asset types.
• Sound Recording — Represents an audio recording. A sound recording has metadata like ISRC, artist, and album. It usually embeds a composition asset, and may in turn be embedded in a music video asset.
• Composition — Represents a musical composition. A composition has metadata like ISWC and writers. It is the only asset type that can have multiple owners per territory.
• Music Video — Represents the official music video for a sound recording. A music video has metadata like Video ISRC, song, and artists. A music video asset embeds a sound recording asset.
• Art Track — Represents the video of a sound recording that doesn't have a premium music video.
• Movie — Represents a feature film. A movie has metadata like ISAN/EIDR and directors.
• Television episode — Represents an episode from a television show. An episode has metadata like season and episode number.

Selecting the correct type for your assets is important. Contact your account manager if you're not sure which asset type to use.