YouTube releases eraser tool to remove copyrighted music from videos

YouTube has launched an improved eraser tool that lets creators remove copyrighted music from their videos while keeping other audio intact. The revamped tool, which was released this week, was first reported by TechCrunch.

The Erase Song feature lets creators silence copyrighted music in their content, the company announced in a video. The tool had previously been in place as a beta feature, but it wasn’t always accurate.

The updated Erase Song feature uses an “AI-powered algorithm” to help it more precisely identify and remove copyrighted songs without affecting other audio in a particular clip. That’s the goal, at least.

But even the new and improved version might not always produce perfect results. So in cases where the tool fails to get rid of the copyrighted content, creators can mute all sound in sections of the video that have been flagged for containing copyrighted material.

YouTube’s support page says the Erase Song tool “might not work if the song is hard to remove,” so muting the audio instead can help to remove a content ID claim against a video.