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Formatly supports APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, Chicago Manual of Style, Harvard, and Turabian. We continuously evaluate new styles based on user requests.

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How to Cite a YouTube Video in APA, MLA, and Chicago: Rules, Templates, and Automation

You just spent 20 minutes watching a perfect video for your paper. Now you’re staring at a blank citation field, wondering: How do I cite a YouTube video in APA, MLA, and Chicago? You’re not alone. It’s one of the most confusing citation tasks because YouTube entries have creators, channels, dates, and URLs—and every style handles them differently. Let’s fix that right now.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Before we dive into the rules, gather these six details from the YouTube video page:

Uploader’s name or channel name (e.g., “CrashCourse” or “John Smith”)
Date of upload (year, month, day)
Video title (exact, including punctuation)
Platform (always “YouTube”)
URL (full link, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123)
Video length or timestamp (optional but helpful for in-text citations)

Pro tip: Copy the URL immediately. YouTube’s interface changes constantly, and you don’t want to lose the link.

How to Cite a YouTube Video in APA 7th Edition

APA 7th edition treats YouTube videos as audiovisual works. The key difference? APA uses the uploader’s real name (if available) and places the channel name in brackets.

APA Reference List Template

Template: Last Name, F. M. [Channel Name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL

Example with real name: Green, H. [vlogbrothers]. (2023, March 15). The science of paper airplanes [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789

Example with channel only: CrashCourse. (2022, November 1). How to study effectively [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123

APA In-Text Citation

Use the author’s last name (or channel name) and the year: (Green, 2023) or (CrashCourse, 2022). If you quote directly, include a timestamp: (Green, 2023, 2:35).

APA Automation Tip

If you’re tired of manually formatting brackets and italics, tools like Effortless Academic Paper Formatting can auto-apply APA 7th edition rules to YouTube citations in seconds. No more second-guessing the period placement.

How to Cite a YouTube Video in MLA 9th Edition

MLA 9th edition focuses on the creator of the video (usually the uploader) and the container (YouTube). Unlike APA, MLA uses quotation marks for the video title.

MLA Works Cited Template

Template: Last Name, First Name (or Channel Name). “Title of Video.” YouTube, uploaded by Channel Name, Day Month Year, URL.

Example with real name: Green, Hank. “The Science of Paper Airplanes.” YouTube, uploaded by vlogbrothers, 15 Mar. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789.

Example with channel only: CrashCourse. “How to Study Effectively.” YouTube, uploaded by CrashCourse, 1 Nov. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123.

MLA In-Text Citation

Use the author’s last name (or channel name) and a timestamp if available: (Green 02:35–03:10) or (CrashCourse). Note: MLA does not require a comma between the author and timestamp.

MLA Common Mistake

Many students forget to include “uploaded by” before the channel name. Without it, the citation looks incomplete. For a full breakdown of MLA formatting, check out our MLA 9th Edition Formatting Guide.

How to Cite a YouTube Video in Chicago 17th Edition

Chicago 17th edition offers two systems: notes-bibliography (humanities) and author-date (sciences). For YouTube videos, the notes-bibliography system is most common.

Chicago Bibliography Template (Notes-Bibliography)

Template: Last Name, First Name (or Channel Name). “Title of Video.” YouTube video, length. Month Day, Year. URL.

Example: Green, Hank. “The Science of Paper Airplanes.” YouTube video, 10:23. March 15, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789.

Chicago Footnote Template

Template: First Name Last Name (or Channel Name), “Title of Video,” YouTube video, length, Month Day, Year, URL.

Example: Hank Green, “The Science of Paper Airplanes,” YouTube video, 10:23, March 15, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789.

Chicago Author-Date Template

Template: Last Name, First Name (or Channel Name). Year. “Title of Video.” YouTube video, length. Month Day, Year. URL.

Example: Green, Hank. 2023. “The Science of Paper Airplanes.” YouTube video, 10:23. March 15, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz789.

Side-by-Side Comparison Table

Element	APA 7th	MLA 9th	Chicago 17th
Author format	Last, F. [Channel]	Last, First (or Channel)	Last, First (or Channel)
Video title	Italicized	“Quotation marks”	“Quotation marks”
Platform	[Video]. YouTube	YouTube	YouTube video
Date format	(Year, Month Day)	Day Month Year	Month Day, Year
URL	Plain URL	Plain URL	Plain URL

Pro Tips for Citing YouTube Videos

1. Use the uploader’s real name when possible. APA and MLA prefer real names. If the channel is a pseudonym, use that. For converting between styles, always check the name first.

2. Include the full URL. Shortened URLs (like youtu.be) are acceptable, but full watch URLs are more stable.

3. Don’t forget the retrieval date for Chicago. Chicago recommends including an access date for online sources that may change: “Accessed April 12, 2025.”

4. Handle live streams and deleted videos. If a video is deleted, use an archived version (e.g., Wayback Machine) and note it in the citation.

How Automation Saves You Hours

Manually formatting YouTube citations across three styles is tedious and error-prone. That’s where rule-based automation shines. Unlike generic citation generators that often misformat brackets or italics, Formatly applies the exact rules for APA, MLA, and Chicago—including edge cases like channel-only authors or missing dates.

Imagine pasting a YouTube URL and instantly getting a perfectly formatted citation in any style. No more cross-referencing style guides. No more late-night formatting panic.

Your Turn: Cite That Video in Seconds

You now have the templates, examples, and pro tips to cite any YouTube video in APA, MLA, or Chicago. But why stop at YouTube? If you’re working on a full paper, check out our guides for formatting reference lists and in-text citations.

Ready to eliminate citation headaches for good? Try Formatly today and watch your formatting time drop from hours to minutes. Your citations will be flawless—every single time.