Knowing how to find Steam IDs is worth a minute of any trader's time, because the SteamID is the one part of a Steam account that never changes. Names, avatars and profile addresses can all be swapped, but the 17-digit number underneath can't. Here's where to see your own, how to read anyone else's, and what the other formats and the friend code are.
What is a Steam ID?
Steam Support describes the SteamID as a unique identifier for a specific Steam account. It can be written in a few ways, but the one you'll meet most is the 64-bit ID, or SteamID64: a 17-digit number such as 76561197960287930, the example Valve's developer wiki uses. The wiki adds that the same ID is used to refer to the account's Steam Community profile page.
It's permanent. Steam Support says neither the SteamID nor the account name you sign in with can be changed, even by Steam Support staff. Your player name, the one other people see, can be changed at any time in your profile settings.
It's also public. Any profile without a custom address shows the number in its URL, so treat it as an identifier, not a secret.
How to find your own Steam ID
Steam Support's own method takes four steps:
- Open your Steam Community profile.
- Click Edit Profile.
- If you've never set a custom URL, your SteamID64 is shown in the address under the Custom URL box, in the form 76561198 followed by nine digits.
- If you have set one, delete the text in the Custom URL box and the address below it switches to your SteamID64. There's no need to save the change.
The Steam app also lists it on your account page. Click your account name at the top right, choose Account details, and the Steam ID appears under your account name at the top of the page.
Not every SteamID64 starts 76561198, though. The leading digits depend on the account number, as the format section below explains, and very old accounts start 76561197.
How to find someone else's Steam ID
Open their profile in a web browser and look at the address:
steamcommunity.com/profiles/followed by 17 digits: those digits are their SteamID64.steamcommunity.com/id/followed by a name: a custom URL the owner chose in Edit Profile and can change.
For a custom URL, add ?xml=1 to the end of the profile address. Steam returns the profile as XML, and the steamID64 line holds the number. Valve's developer wiki documents this, and it still worked when tested on 27 October 2026. The reverse works too: steamcommunity.com/profiles/ followed by a SteamID64 opens the profile even when it has a custom URL, and forwards you to the custom address.
None of this needs a sign-in or a third-party lookup site. There's no reason to sign in through Steam or paste a Steam Web API key just to read an ID; our article on the Steam API key scam explains what a key lets someone do.
Why traders check the SteamID
Impersonation is the reason. A copy of your friend, a well-known trader or a site's bot can take the same name and picture within seconds, but it gets a SteamID of its own. Compare the 17-digit number of the account messaging you with the one you saved from your friends list or an earlier trade. A trade URL points to an account as well, through its partner number, as our trade URL guide explains. For account age, Steam level and bans, see our guide to checking a Steam profile before a trade.
SteamID64 and the other Steam ID formats
One account can be written four ways. Using the example from Valve's developer wiki:
| Format | Example | Where you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| SteamID64 | 76561197960287930 | Profile addresses, Steam Support's instructions |
| Steam3 ID | [U:1:22202] | Printed by many games' status command |
| Steam2 ID | STEAM_1:0:11101 | Valve's older text format |
| Account ID | 22202 | The account number the others are built on |
The account ID is the core. The Steam3 ID writes it directly after U:1:, where U means an individual account and 1 the public Steam universe. The Steam2 ID splits it: the middle digit is the account ID's last binary bit (0 or 1) and the last number is the account ID halved and rounded down. Its first digit is the universe, which Valve's wiki says GoldSrc and older Source games such as Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source write as 0, while newer games including CS:GO write 1.
The SteamID64 is the account ID plus 76561197960265728. For the example, 76561197960265728 plus 22202 gives 76561197960287930; it starts 76561197 because its account number is so low. Account numbers rise over time, so a lower one means an older account; Valve's wiki says the number can be used to approximately tell when an account was created. A profile address accepts the Steam3 form as well: steamcommunity.com/profiles/[U:1:22202] opens the same profile.
Steam friend code vs Steam ID
The friend code is a separate, shorter number for adding people. In the Steam app, open Friends & Chat and click Add a Friend: your Friend Code is shown with a Copy button, and below it is a box where you can enter someone else's code and send an invite.
Steam Support lists other ways to add people: search the community, create and share an invite link, or open someone's profile and add them from there. Limited accounts, which have spent less than $5 in the Steam store, can receive friend invites but can't send them.
Valve doesn't publish how the friend code relates to the SteamID, so treat it as a way to add people rather than to identify them. When you need to be certain which account you're dealing with, as in a trade, go by the SteamID64.
Sources
- SteamID, Steam Account Names, Merging Accounts and Deleting Accounts — Steam Support
- Steam Friends List — Steam Support
- Limited User Accounts — Steam Support
- SteamID — Valve Developer Community
- What's in a SteamID? — McKay Development
- How to find your Steam ID — Digital Trends
- Find Steam/Epic Games account information — Santa Monica Studio support
- How to Find Steam Friend Codes — How-To Geek
