my uploads look darker and more washed out on youtube than in the editor

also check you're not shooting in a log or flat profile and forgetting the LUT on some clips. that looks fine-ish in the editor with a preview LUT on and washed out everywhere else.

Almost always a colour management mismatch rather than YouTube wrecking it. Two usual causes: 1. gamma. if you edit on a Mac, the editor preview and the browser can show the same Rec.709 file differently, so it looks right in one and off in the other. Check your editor's colour management / viewer settings and export as Rec.709. 2. levels. if the export is flagged full range but the footage is really limited range (or the other way round) you get crushed blacks or that grey washed-out look. Leave it on video/limited unless you know you need full. quick test: export a 10 second clip, open it in VLC and in Chrome side by side. if it's already off there, it's your export, not YouTube.