What is the VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE cookie?
Set when you embed a YouTube video; estimates bandwidth and tracks views to personalise the player and ads.
Marketing Needs consent
| Cookie name | VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE |
|---|---|
| Set by | YouTube |
| Category | Marketing |
| Typical duration | 6 months |
| Domain | .youtube.com |
| Consent required? | Yes — before it is set |
Does VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE need consent?
Yes. VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE is a marketing cookie, and under the EU ePrivacy rules (and the Irish ePrivacy Regulations) a site must get your prior, informed consent before setting it. If you see VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE on a site before you click "Accept" on a cookie banner — or on a site with no banner at all — that is very likely a compliance problem.
Is VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE a tracking cookie?
Builds a profile to target advertising, usually across sites. Always requires prior consent.
In practice that means YouTube can recognise your browser across different websites to build an advertising profile. It is not malware and it cannot read files on your device — but it is exactly the kind of cookie consent law is designed to cover.
How to see and remove VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
- See it: open your browser's developer tools → Application (Chrome/Edge) or Storage (Firefox) → Cookies, and look for
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE. - Remove it: clear cookies for the site, or use your browser's "Clear browsing data" for cookies. It will reappear if you keep using the site and consent is in place.
- Stop it being set: decline non-essential cookies on the site's banner. On a compliant site, clicking "Reject all" prevents VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE from being set at all.
Want to know which cookies your site sets — and whether any fire before consent? Scan it free and get the full list, categorised, with the ones that load too early flagged.
Fixing pre-consent cookies
If a scan shows VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE or other tracking cookies loading before the visitor consents, the fix is a consent management platform (CMP) that blocks non-essential tags until the visitor agrees. Cookies.ie is our GDPR / ePrivacy CMP — EU-hosted, with a real one-click "Reject all" and consent logging. See the fix guide for pre-consent trackers.
Related cookies
Cookie purposes and durations reflect vendor documentation and common consent databases as of 2026-06-25; a specific site may configure VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE differently. This is general information, not legal advice.