diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG.md
similarity index 98%
rename from CHANGELOG
rename to CHANGELOG.md
index 5ee37bd0..66d8cbab 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,10 +7,18 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Deprecated
+
+- `--type user` is now deprecated (will be removed in next major)
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - Ignore empty playlists (#340)
 
+### Changed
+
+- Merge behaviors of user/channel types and add support for `forHandle` (#339, fix for #338)
+
 ## [3.1.0] - 2024-09-05
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 46e3beaf..5543d444 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@ To add a new locale (`fr` in this example, use only ISO-639-1):
 ## releasing
 
 * Update your dependencies: `pip install -U setuptools wheel twine`
-* Make sure CHANGELOG is up-to-date
+* Make sure CHANGELOG.md is up-to-date
 * Bump version on `youtube2zim/VERSION`
 * Build packages `python ./setup.py sdist bdist_wheel`
 * Upload to PyPI `twine upload dist/youtube2zim-2.0.0*`.
-* Commit your CHANGELOG + version bump changes
+* Commit your CHANGELOG.md + version bump changes
 * Tag version on git `git tag -a v2.0.0`
 
 ## developing the ZIM UI in Vue.JS
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e8429a67..29eee8df 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir /src/scraper
 
 # Copy code + associated artifacts
 COPY scraper/src /src/scraper/src
-COPY *.md LICENSE CHANGELOG /src/
+COPY *.md LICENSE CHANGELOG.md /src/
 
 # Install + cleanup
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir /src/scraper \
diff --git a/scraper/src/youtube2zim/scraper.py b/scraper/src/youtube2zim/scraper.py
index 45f7d986..843c48e7 100644
--- a/scraper/src/youtube2zim/scraper.py
+++ b/scraper/src/youtube2zim/scraper.py
@@ -123,6 +123,12 @@ def __init__(
     ):
         # data-retrieval info
         self.collection_type = collection_type
+        if self.collection_type == USER:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Collection type 'user' is deprecated. Please use 'channel' type,"
+                " behaviors have been merged. 'user' type is going to be dropped in "
+                " next major release"
+            )
         self.youtube_id = youtube_id
         self.api_key = api_key
         self.dateafter = dateafter
diff --git a/scraper/src/youtube2zim/youtube.py b/scraper/src/youtube2zim/youtube.py
index f5c64093..54a0f6ed 100644
--- a/scraper/src/youtube2zim/youtube.py
+++ b/scraper/src/youtube2zim/youtube.py
@@ -80,32 +80,32 @@ def credentials_ok():
         return False
 
 
-def get_channel_json(channel_id, *, for_username=False):
+def get_channel_json(channel_id):
     """fetch or retieve-save and return the Youtube ChannelResult JSON"""
     fname = f"channel_{channel_id}"
     channel_json = load_json(YOUTUBE.cache_dir, fname)
     if channel_json is None:
-        logger.debug(f"query youtube-api for Channel #{channel_id}")
-        req = requests.get(
-            CHANNELS_API,
-            params={
-                "forUsername" if for_username else "id": channel_id,
-                "part": "brandingSettings,snippet,contentDetails",
-                "key": YOUTUBE.api_key,
-            },
-            timeout=REQUEST_TIMEOUT,
-        )
-        if req.status_code >= HTTPStatus.BAD_REQUEST:
-            logger.error(f"HTTP {req.status_code} Error response: {req.text}")
-        req.raise_for_status()
-        try:
-            channel_json = req.json()["items"][0]
-        except (KeyError, IndexError):
-            if for_username:
-                logger.error(f"Invalid username `{channel_id}`: Not Found")
-            else:
-                logger.error(f"Invalid channelId `{channel_id}`: Not Found")
-            raise
+        for criteria in ["forHandle", "id", "forUsername"]:
+            logger.debug(f"query youtube-api for {channel_id} by {criteria}")
+            req = requests.get(
+                CHANNELS_API,
+                params={
+                    criteria: channel_id,
+                    "part": "brandingSettings,snippet,contentDetails",
+                    "key": YOUTUBE.api_key,
+                },
+                timeout=REQUEST_TIMEOUT,
+            )
+            if req.status_code >= HTTPStatus.BAD_REQUEST:
+                logger.error(f"HTTP {req.status_code} Error response: {req.text}")
+            req.raise_for_status()
+            req_json = req.json()
+            if "items" not in req_json:
+                logger.warning(f"Failed to find {channel_id} by {criteria}")
+                continue
+            channel_json = req_json["items"][0]
+        if channel_json is None:
+            raise Exception(f"Impossible to find {channel_id}, check for typos")
         save_json(YOUTUBE.cache_dir, fname, channel_json)
     return channel_json
 
@@ -324,13 +324,8 @@ def extract_playlists_details_from(collection_type, youtube_id):
     uploads_playlist_id = None
     main_channel_id = None
     if collection_type in (USER, CHANNEL):
-        if collection_type == USER:
-            # youtube_id is a Username, fetch actual channelId through channel
-            channel_json = get_channel_json(youtube_id, for_username=True)
-        else:
-            # youtube_id is a channelId
-            channel_json = get_channel_json(youtube_id)
-
+        # get_channel_json is capable to retrieve user and channel
+        channel_json = get_channel_json(youtube_id)
         main_channel_id = channel_json["id"]
 
         # retrieve list of playlists for that channel