Make an APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago citation for any YouTube video, free. Paste the link, check the channel, title and upload date, then copy the reference.
As shown under the video.
Copy it exactly as YouTube shows it. APA wants sentence case, so lower-case the title yourself if the uploader used Title Case.
2023-05-14, or a date with the month spelled out such as 14 May 2023.
The creator leads the MLA and Chicago entries. Pick the uploader if someone else made the video.
New to this? Read how to cite a YouTube video for when to use each style.
Add the video link, channel name, video title and upload date to build the citations.
Paste a YouTube link, then check the channel name, video title and upload date. We build the reference in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago notes and bibliography, with the APA in-text form, and a Copy button on each. Pasting into Word or Google Docs keeps the italics.
The fill button reads the title, channel and upload date from YouTube's public video data. It is free, needs no account and costs no credits. If it is unavailable, or the video is private, type the three details in and the citations work the same.
The formats follow the style bodies, not a guess. APA follows the APA Style page on YouTube video references (apastyle.apa.org): the account that uploaded the video is the author, and the title is italic and followed by [Video]. MLA follows the MLA Style Center's guidance on citing YouTube videos (style.mla.org/citing-youtube-videos): the creator leads when it is clear, otherwise the entry starts with the title and says uploaded by. Chicago follows The Chicago Manual of Style, sections 14.167 to 14.169, as set out in its Notes and Bibliography sample citations (chicagomanualofstyle.org): the posted date, then by and the channel, then YouTube and the link.
The citations are built in your browser. Only the fill button makes a request, and it sends just the video link. A youtu.be link, a Shorts link or a link with a timestamp or tracking code is tidied to the plain watch address first. For when to use each style, read the guide at /blog/how-to-cite-a-youtube-video.
Use the name of the account that uploaded the video as the author, then the upload date as (year, month day), the video title in italics, [Video], YouTube and the link. In text, use the channel name and the year, such as (Channel Name, 2023). If the account did not make the video and your reader needs to know, say so in your text.
Start with the creator if it is clear, then the video title in quotation marks, YouTube in italics, the date as day, abbreviated month and year, and the link without https://. If the creator is not clear, drop the author, start with the title and add uploaded by and the account name before the date. The second case is the Just the uploader choice here.
In a footnote, give the creator (or the title if there is no named creator), the title in quotation marks, the posted date, by and the channel, then YouTube and the link. The bibliography entry uses the same parts with full stops between them. Chicago also allows the running time, which this tool does not add.
APA says to use the account name. MLA and Chicago prefer the person or organisation that made the video when that is clear. This tool uses the channel name as the author, so if you need a person's name in MLA or Chicago, change it in the entry after you copy it.
From the date shown under the video. The fill button uses the UTC date in YouTube's data, which can differ by a day from the date on the page for a late-evening upload in the Americas, so check it before you hand the work in.
No to both. It is free and runs in your browser.