What is the YSC cookie?
YSC is an HTTP cookie set by the youtube.com domain, used by the YouTube video platform owned by Google. It appears on a website whenever the site includes an embedded YouTube player — for example, a video inserted into an article, a product page, or an "about us" section.
The cookie is created automatically by the YouTube script as soon as the player's iframe loads on the page, in many standard implementations regardless of whether the visitor clicks play.
What data it stores
YSC stores a unique, randomly generated identifier used to distinguish one viewing session from another. It does not contain direct identifiers such as a name or email address, but Google may correlate it with other cookies and technical signals to build a usage profile.
The value is sent to YouTube/Google servers with every request made to the youtube.com domain during that session.
What it is used for
Google's stated primary purpose is statistical: YSC helps register video views and measure user interaction with the player (for example, which videos were displayed during a session). For the site owner, the presence of this cookie is an indirect consequence of embedding a YouTube video rather than a direct configuration choice.
From Google's perspective, this data feeds into content-performance analytics across the YouTube platform.
Does it require consent?
In CookieFix's classification, YSC falls under the statistics (analytics) category. As an audience-measurement cookie set by a third party (Google), it does not qualify as "strictly necessary" under the ePrivacy Directive (transposed in Romania via Law 506/2004) or ANSPDCP guidance, so it requires the visitor's prior consent before being placed.
Site owners should: list the YSC cookie in their cookie policy, categorize it under statistics/marketing in the consent banner, and make sure the embedded YouTube player does not load (and therefore does not set the cookie) before the visitor gives consent.
How to block or delete YSC
A visitor can manually delete or block the YSC cookie through browser settings (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari — cookie management for the youtube.com site), or use third-party script blocking extensions. Since it is a session cookie, it is automatically removed when the browser is closed anyway.
For site owners, blocking should happen at the site level rather than being left to visitors: embedded YouTube videos should only load after consent, for example via a placeholder that replaces the iframe until acceptance. A CMP platform like CookieFix can automate this by blocking the YouTube script/iframe until the visitor consents to the statistics category.
Frequently asked questions
It's a session cookie set by YouTube when a YouTube video is embedded on a webpage, used for statistics related to video viewing.
Yes, since it's classified as a third-party statistics cookie, it requires the visitor's prior consent before being placed.
It's a session cookie, meaning it expires automatically when the browser is closed.
They need to delay loading the embedded YouTube iframe until the visitor accepts statistics cookies, for example by using a CMP that automatically blocks the script.