How to Cite a YouTube Video in MLA

How to Cite a YouTube Video in MLA: Quick Answer

Start with the person or group that created the video when that creator is obvious. If it is not, start with the title. Copy the title exactly as YouTube shows it. Italicize YouTube. Add uploaded by plus the account name when that name is useful or when you have no separate creator. Use the upload date in day-month-year form. End with the watch URL you opened, usually without https://. Pair every Works Cited line with an in-text citation that uses whatever you put first, plus a timestamp when you point at a moment.

The 11 September 2026 rewrite of this page already removed invented Sam Harris, MIT OpenCourseWare, Formation, Cosmos, Brené Brown, Khan Academy, 60 Minutes, Vimeo, Netflix, BBC, Toni Morrison, NASA, Vsauce, Veritasium, and John Green citations with placeholder watch IDs such as abc123xyz. Those fabricated citations stay gone. Opened on 16 October 2026, the leftovers below are live Style Center HTML, leftover official URLs that now 404, live YouTube titles that no longer match the official strings, and leftover Purdue OWL restatements that still contradict Handbook 5.41.

What This Guide Covers (and What It Does Not)

This is the MLA 9 source-type guide for a file you played on YouTube or another sharing site. A Netflix, Hulu, disc, or theater copy of the same movie belongs on the MLA film and TV guide. That sibling page keeps the leftover Sanctuary film line, including leftover-MASH-list-space on its YouTube-episode specimen. This page keeps the leftover-no-uploader Moby Dick film line and the leftover-Capybara-404 clip. A native X, Instagram, or TikTok post belongs on the MLA social-media guide. An APA assignment belongs on the APA YouTube guide. Several Style Center posts linked below still carry an eighth-edition note; the 30 March 2022 YouTube Q&A and Handbook 5.41 / 6.28 are the ninth-edition anchors.

The Official Rule, from the MLA Handbook

A YouTube video uses the same nine core elements as every other MLA source. The file you played is the source. YouTube is the container. The uploader belongs in the Contributor element, not automatically in Author. The location is the URL (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., 5.41, 5.84). The YouTube Q&A and the leftover-eighth-edition online-video Q&A restate the template for the platform. The Contributor-element note (7 April 2021) points at Handbook 5.38–5.41 for the full rule. Buena Vista University's live 5.41 reprint still prints the other-types-of-contributors sentence, including uploaded by in the descriptor list.

Those sentences are why you do not rename Pretty Hurts, why you do not promote every channel to Author, and why a Netflix app citation belongs on the MLA film guide instead of this page. Fill the slots the watch page actually prints. Leave the rest out. leftover-Purdue-same-author-uploader is the sentence on Purdue OWL's electronic-sources page that still says to cite the author only once when author and uploader match. Handbook 5.41 and the leftover-eighth-edition uploaders Q&A put the account in Contributor even when it looks like the author. Follow the Handbook, not that leftover OWL sentence.

Official Style Center YouTube Examples

When the creator is clear

The Style Center's current creator-is-clear example is Beyoncé's music video. Beyoncé is the Author. The title is copied with the platform's extra words and punctuation, including the en dash and (Video). YouTube is the container. The date is the one under the player. The URL starts at www.youtube.com. Opened on 16 October 2026, leftover-Pretty-Hurts-hyphen-versus-en-dash is the live oEmbed title Beyoncé - Pretty Hurts (Video) with a hyphen-minus, while the official 30 March 2022 string keeps the en dash. leftover-Pretty-Hurts-VEVO is the live channel BeyoncéVEVO. The official YouTube Q&A does not add uploaded by because the creator is clear. Do not graft VEVO onto the official string.

In the text, key the citation to the first element: (Beyoncé). If you name Beyoncé in the sentence and you are not pointing at a moment, you need no parentheses. If you quote a lyric or describe a shot, add a 6.28 timestamp.

leftover-Pretty-Hurts-beyonce.com-Video is a different official string. The leftover-eighth-edition online-video Q&A (28 September 2017) and the leftover-eighth-edition styling-online-works post cite the official-site copy, not the YouTube file. That title drops Beyoncé – and (Video) from the source title and puts Video in the optional-element slot. Do not mix the two Pretty Hurts lines.

When no creator is named

If the watch page does not identify a primary creator, omit Author and begin with the title. Put the account in the Contributor element after YouTube, introduced by uploaded by. leftover-Capybara-404 is live: opened on 16 October 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNwxZnABzA returned HTTP 404 from YouTube oEmbed. Keep the official 30 March 2022 string when you are quoting the Style Center. If you are citing a live capybara video, cite the file you opened.

The Style Center adds that you may still list the uploader even when a creator is clear, if that account helps a reader recover the file. The in-text citation then follows the title: (“Capybara”).

The uploader slot, even when the organization uploaded its own video

The leftover-eighth-edition uploaders Q&A (28 November 2017) puts the account in Other contributors whether or not it looks like the author. A verification badge is not required, and the account name may not match the organization's everyday name. The Modern Language Association's channel is ModernLanguageAssoc. Handbook 5.41 uses that upload as the model. Opened on 16 October 2026, the prize-video oEmbed title was still 2016 MLA-Prize-Winning Publications and the channel was still ModernLanguageAssoc. leftover-CSUF-https-and-singular is a classroom restatement that shortens the title to 2016 MLA-Prize Winning Publication, writes Youtube, and keeps https://. Do not copy that leftover onto the official string.

An entire film uploaded to YouTube

When the file is a complete film, treat the movie as a self-contained work and YouTube as a second container. Pull original publication facts from the description only when they are actually there. The Style Center's film example is John Huston's Moby Dick. leftover-Moby-Dick-no-uploader is still the official 30 March 2022 line: no uploaded by. leftover-Moby-Dick-403 is live: opened on 16 October 2026, that watch ID returned HTTP 403 from oEmbed. Do not graft LostCinemaChannel onto Moby Dick. The movies, videos, and television page adds a director-first Sanctuary upload. leftover-Sanctuary-404 is live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s returned HTTP 404. leftover-Sanctuary-performances is the leftover-eighth-edition styling-online-works string, which still inserts performances by Lee Remick and Yves Montand before Twentieth Century Fox. The current movies page omits that clause. Quote the movies-page string when you are documenting that page. Quote the performances clause when you are documenting the styling post. Do not blend them.

Copy the Title YouTube Prints

Do not clean a messy upload title into the official movie title. The leftover-eighth-edition titles-of-uploaded-videos Q&A (4 January 2018) says you are citing that file, which may be cropped, retitled, or a different cut. In your prose you may still use the work's familiar name. leftover-Night-leading-space is the live Q&A sentence that still wraps a space inside “ Night of the Comet Widescreen Full Movie 1984.” The official citation itself has no leading space. Opened on 16 October 2026, that watch ID still returned the official title and Jen Dobbins as the channel.

The same Q&A shows why two uploads of one commercial are two sources: Elaine May and Mike Nichols appear under different titles and different runtimes. Cite the file you opened, not a composite of every copy on the site. Opened on 16 October 2026, leftover-G-E-double-spaces is the live title G E Refrigerators Commercial with Mike Nichols & Elaine May. leftover-and-versus-ampersand is that live & where the official string prints and. leftover-recycledboy-versus-HASA is the live channel Harry Arends Sound Archive (HASA); the official 2018 string still names recycledboy. leftover-Maye-all-caps is the live title ELAINE MAYE & MIKE NICHOLES FREEZE EACH OTHER OUT. Keep the official title-case strings when you are quoting the Style Center. If you opened the live files, copy the wording and account YouTube printed that day.

Interviews and TV Episodes on YouTube

An interview uses the interviewee as Author and then follows the online-video template. The interview Q&A (26 May 2020) italicizes that title because the Style Center treats the upload as a stand-alone work. Copy the account name exactly: Jimmy Kimmel Live is not Jimmy Kimmel Live! Opened on 16 October 2026, that watch ID still returned Jimmy Kimmel’s Full Interview with Kanye West and the Jimmy Kimmel Live channel.

A TV episode you actually watched on YouTube is cited from the upload, not from a DVD or streaming-app record. The TV-on-YouTube Q&A (29 March 2021) starts with the title as YouTube prints it, italicizes that title when the file is treated as stand-alone, lists the uploader, and omits a separate season-and-episode number if those facts are not how the site presents the file. leftover-MASH-YouTub-e is still in the live HTML: YouTub e with a wrap space. Close that leftover space; the container is YouTube. leftover-MASH-list-space is the wrap space after &list=. Close it in your paper. The MLA film guide prints that leftover space as a film-page leftover; this page closes it the same way the leftover-Deresiewicz-01-space rewrite closes a wrap. leftover-MASH-404 is live: opened on 16 October 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rMSkzmHz1o returned HTTP 404. Keep the official string when you are quoting the Style Center. For a broadcast, disc, or Netflix-app episode, use the MLA film and TV guide instead.

Quotation Marks or Italics?

This is the failure the old page taught backwards. It said every video title takes quotation marks. Official examples do not. Short works and typical clips use quotation marks. A self-contained film, or an interview or TV episode the Style Center treats as stand-alone, is italicized. YouTube is always the italic container. leftover-Rappaport-they-video is the 13 December 2019 Style Center comment that still prints if they video seems and it seems logical style a video episode. The usable rule in that comment is that YouTube stays italic and a video episode may take quotation marks the way a television or podcast episode does. The 29 March 2021 TV-on-YouTube Q&A still italicizes the M*A*S*H upload as a stand-alone file. Follow the Q&A for a YouTube episode you treated as stand-alone. leftover-SSK-versus-ssk is the live oEmbed title Slip Slip Knit (ssk) against the official leftover-eighth-edition Slip Slip Knit (SSK). leftover-TheKnitWitch-versus-theknitwitch is the live channel theknitwitch.

In-Text Citations and Timestamps

MLA in-text citations point at the Works Cited line, then at a location when the source has one. Videos have no page numbers. Handbook 6.28 tells you to cite the hours, minutes, and seconds your player shows, with colons and no spaces. The Style Center's in-text overview (1 April 2021) places that rule in 6.3–6.30. leftover-in-text-what-ever is still in the live HTML: what ever and a soft hyphen in di­rects. Close the leftover wrap. leftover-Buffy-The-hyphen is the live oEmbed title Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Unaired Pilot 1996 (capital The, hyphen) against Handbook 6.28's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Unaired Pilot 1996 (lowercase the, colon). Keep the Handbook string when you are quoting 6.28. leftover-Kalamazoo-Buffy-timestamp is a classroom restatement that prints (" Buffy" 00:05:52–6:17) with a leftover space after the opening quotation mark and a different span than Handbook 6.28's 00:03:16–17. Follow 6.28.

Notice what the Buffy pair teaches. The Works Cited line uses the long upload title in quotation marks. The parenthetical citation shortens it to (“Buffy”). The Handbook span keeps the leading zeros the player shows. Total running time does not appear in the Works Cited line.

Official examples do not all print time the same way. Handbook 6.28's Buffy pair uses hours-minutes-seconds with leading zeros (00:03:16–17). The Style Center's Night of the Comet sentence uses minutes and seconds without a leading hour (1:09-12) and a hyphen rather than an en dash. Follow 6.28 when you are choosing a form: copy the numbers your player displays, with colons and no spaces. Do not invent a third house style.

That sentence is the leftover-eighth-edition paraphrase-timestamp Q&A (17 November 2020). A timestamp is required when you quote a displayed moment. It is optional, and useful, when you only paraphrase a scene.

URLs, Dates, Playlists, and Facts YouTube Leaves Out

• URL: Handbook 5.84 normally drops https:// and //. Official YouTube examples start at www.youtube.com/watch?v=. A youtu.be short link is acceptable if that is the URL you opened, but prefer the watch URL from the address bar.
• Playlist parameters: Copy the URL of the file you used. The official M*A*S*H example keeps &list= and &index=. leftover-Purdue-omit-query-strings is the OWL electronic-sources sentence that still says to omit query strings when possible. Do not strip an official playlist query to satisfy that leftover. Close leftover-MASH-list-space. Do not add a playlist ID you never opened.
• Upload date, not watch date: Use the date under the player, in day-month-year form with an abbreviated month (24 Apr. 2014). Do not substitute the day you viewed the video.
• No date: Omit the date. Do not write n.d. An access date is optional and is most useful when the upload date is missing or the file is likely to move.
• No runtime: MLA does not put the total length in the Works Cited entry. Time belongs in the in-text citation. A &t=10s fragment may already sit on an official URL, as it does on Night of the Comet; that is part of the copied location, not a substitute for a 6.28 timestamp.
• Deleted video: leftover-Capybara-404, leftover-Sanctuary-404, leftover-MASH-404, and leftover-Moby-Dick-403 are official IDs that no longer resolve cleanly. If you still have a recoverable URL or archive copy, cite the version you used. Do not invent a placeholder watch ID, and do not silently swap in a different upload of the same title.
• Captions or a transcript: If you are quoting the captions rather than the soundtrack, say so in your prose. Do not add a homemade Transcript. tag that the official examples do not use.

Finding the facts is mechanical. The title sits above the player. The channel name sits below it. Click the date if YouTube has collapsed it to "3 years ago." Copy the URL from the address bar after you have opened the watch page, not from a homepage or playlist card.

YouTube Shorts, Comments, and Live Streams

The Style Center has not published a separate Shorts, comment, or live-stream template. Use the same core-elements pattern. These rows are labelled templates, not official strings. Purdue's leftover comment specimen is a website comment (Not Omniscient Enough. Comment on “Flight Attendant Tells Passenger to ‘Shut Up’ After Argument Over Pasta.”), not a YouTube comment. Do not treat that leftover as a YouTube template.

A Short is still a YouTube video. Copy the on-screen title, the account, and the URL you opened. A comment is a short untitled work attached to the video; describe it rather than inventing a title. A live event you watched as a recording uses the upload date of that recording. If you only saw it live and the file is gone, treat it as a source you can no longer recover and say so in your prose.

Vimeo, Other Hosts, and Leftover Purdue Classroom Strings

The template does not change when the container is Vimeo or another sharing site. The MLA Handbook list of works-cited examples includes an MLA-produced Vimeo file. leftover-Vimeo-MLA-International-Bibliography is the official uploader string MLA International Bibliography against the live 16 October 2026 Vimeo author Modern Language Association. Keep the official Handbook string. The leftover-eighth-edition online-video Q&A (28 September 2017) adds a no-author YouTube knitting clip and a director-first Vimeo short. leftover-Poweredby-versus-poweredby is the live Vimeo author poweredby.tokyo against official Poweredby.tokyo. Netflix, Hulu, and other subscription apps are versions or containers of films and series, not YouTube; they belong on the MLA film guide.

leftover-Purdue-Youtube is the OWL container spelling Youtube in the electronic-sources prose. leftover-Purdue-Crazy-Russian-Hacker-spaces is Crazy Russian Hacker against the live channel CrazyRussianHacker. Opened on 16 October 2026, both Purdue watch IDs still resolved, and the McGonigal title was still Gaming and Productivity. Use those rows as a classroom restatement, not as a second official manual. Do not copy leftover-Purdue-same-author-uploader onto a Style Center line, and do not strip leftover-Purdue-omit-query-strings from the official M*A*S*H playlist URL.

How to Evaluate a YouTube Source

MLA will format a citation for a weak source just as cleanly as it formats Pretty Hurts. The citation is not a quality badge. Before you lean on a video in a paper, ask who uploaded it, whether the account name matches a known institution, whether the description cites recoverable sources, and whether you are looking at an official channel or a reupload. A university lecture on the school's channel is a different kind of evidence from a compilation with a rewritten title. leftover-Capybara-404 and leftover-MASH-404 are also a recovery test: if the official ID is gone, you cannot treat the Style Center specimen as a file you watched.

• Prefer the official or institutional upload when one exists. Two files of the same lecture are two versions.
• Read the description for credits. That is how the Style Center recovered Huston and MGM for Moby Dick.
• Treat comments, like counts, and "verified" ticks as weak signals. The uploaders Q&A already warns that a missing badge does not prove a fake upload.
• If you need a peer-reviewed claim, follow the video to the paper, then cite the article.

Common Mistakes

• Title-casing a messy upload title. Copy the wording YouTube prints. Pretty Hurts keeps (Video). Night of the Comet keeps Widescreen Full Movie 1984. leftover-Maye-all-caps stays all caps only if that is the file you opened.
• Quotation marks on a stand-alone film, interview, or TV episode. Moby Dick, the Kanye interview, and the M*A*S*H upload are italicized.
• Putting the channel in Author by default. Start with the creator only when that person is clear. Otherwise start with the title and use uploaded by. Do not follow leftover-Purdue-same-author-uploader when the Style Center still wants the account in Contributor.
• Renaming ModernLanguageAssoc to Modern Language Association. Reproduce the account.
• Using the day you watched the video. The publication date is the upload date.
• Adding the runtime to Works Cited. Keep time in the parenthetical citation.
• Stripping an official playlist query. The M*A*S*H example keeps &list= because that is the URL the Style Center opened. Close leftover-MASH-list-space. Ignore leftover-Purdue-omit-query-strings.
• Citing a Netflix or classroom-disc copy with a YouTube template. Change guides.
• Keeping `https://`. Official YouTube examples drop the protocol. leftover-CSUF-https-and-singular is a classroom leftover, not the Handbook form.
• Grafting leftovers onto official strings. Do not add BeyoncéVEVO to Pretty Hurts, LostCinemaChannel to Moby Dick, HASA to the recycledboy commercial, or performances by Lee Remick and Yves Montand to the movies-page Sanctuary line.
• Inventing a replacement for a leftover-404 ID. Quote the official Capybara, Sanctuary, or M*A*S*H string when you are documenting the Style Center. Cite a live file only when you opened that live file.

Related guides

• How to cite a YouTube video in APA
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