Abstract: We review and analyze the data on the thermal conductivity of both ceramic and single crystal samples of high temperature superconductors. A universal pattern can be extracted and interpreted in the following way: phonons are the main heat carriers in these materials, and in the high temperature range the thermal conductivity κ is almost constant due to phonon scattering against disorder; below the superconducting transition temperature κ increases as phonon scattering against carriers condensing into the superconducting state decreases and at still lower temperatures there is a region in which a T2 law is obeyed that most probably is due to resonant phonon scattering against low energy excitations, i.e. tunneling systems similar to those found in disordered materials. The origin of the relevant disorder is discussed.