YouTube, Google Inc’s popular video sharing site, is giving away tools that let Web developers tap the underlying database functions of YouTube, in effect allowing users to build their own YouTubes.

The Silicon Valley-based video-sharing site said on Wednesday that it is providing wholesale access to YouTube’s extensive video library, global audience, and the underlying video hosting and streaming network that powers YouTube.

The move goes significantly beyond the current access to YouTube videos in which any Web user can copy and embed selected videos onto their own Web pages.

YouTube said its latest customization offerings allow anyone building a Web site or Internet-connected software program to upload videos straight to YouTube. They can fetch video feeds, comments, responses or playlists from YouTube.