How long should a YouTube intro be?

Three to eight seconds, and nearer three if it plays before the video's hook. A longer intro is a cost viewers pay before they have decided to stay.

Can I make an intro from my own logo?

Yes. Autopilot builds three intros around your logo, used whole and never redrawn, with colours taken from it; or open a logo reveal from the library and swap its mark for yours.

Where should the intro go in my video?

After a short opening that shows what the video is about. The hook earns the viewer's attention, and the intro then brands the video without spending it.

Making it and previewing it are free. Exporting the finished file is $5 once for that project — any format, any size, as many times as you export it.

YouTube Intro Maker — Made From Your Logo

Most intros are cut by their own channel within a year, because they cost watch time and say nothing. The ones that last are short, arrive after the hook rather than before it, and look like the channel rather than like the template they came from.

Length is the first decision and the one most often got wrong. Viewers decide in the opening seconds whether to stay, and YouTube's own analytics counts how many are still watching at thirty seconds. A branded intro that plays before anything happens spends that window on nothing; three to five seconds after a short cold open spends almost none of it and still makes the channel recognisable.

There are two ways to make one here. Autopilot starts from your logo: import your channel or upload the mark, say how it should feel, and it makes three intro films from a library of motion blocks — the background, how the words move, how the mark lands — each ending on your logo exactly as it was drawn. Every film opens in the editor as an ordinary project, so any block can be swapped.

The other way is to start from a finished one. There are 21 logo reveals in the library and 20 3D title and logo animations made of real geometry with light and material; opening one puts every layer and keyframe in front of you, and the mark in it is replaced by yours.

Whichever way you start, an intro has to hold up the hundredth time a subscriber sees it. That usually means one idea rather than five, motion that eases rather than slides at a constant speed, your own colours, and a sound short enough to be recognised from the next room. CtaYou Pro 5, which directs intros from everything on your channel, is being calibrated now and will be announced in the news when it opens.

What you can change

The mark: Your logo as you upload it, used whole and never redrawn. Colours can be taken from it or set by hand.
Length: Any duration; three to eight seconds is the range that costs the least watch time. Autopilot makes five, ten or fifteen.
Colour and material: Solid, gradient, glass or metal as properties rather than pictures, so the whole intro recolours at once.
Sound: A whoosh, a riser and an impact placed on the frames they belong to, or silence.
Formats: 16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for Shorts, up to 4K, and a transparent version in ProRes 4444 or WebM for laying over footage.

Or start from one that already moves

All 21 logo templates

Before you start

How long should a YouTube intro be?: Three to eight seconds, and nearer three if it plays before the video's hook. A longer intro is a cost viewers pay before they have decided to stay.
Can I make an intro from my own logo?: Yes. Autopilot builds three intros around your logo, used whole and never redrawn, with colours taken from it; or open a logo reveal from the library and swap its mark for yours.
Where should the intro go in my video?: After a short opening that shows what the video is about. The hook earns the viewer's attention, and the intro then brands the video without spending it.
What does it cost?: Making it and previewing it are free. Exporting the finished file is $5 once for that project — any format, any size, as many times as you export it.

Other things to make

Browse the whole library · Which export format your editor reads