How to Cite a YouTube Video in MLA 9 — Free Generator & Examples

To cite a YouTube video in MLA 9: Channel Name. "Video Title." YouTube, uploaded by Channel Name, Day Month Year, URL. Example: CrashCourse. "The History of Rome in 20 Minutes." YouTube, uploaded by CrashCourse, 12 Jan. 2023, youtube.com/watch?v=ABC123.

The citation generator produces this format when you pick the YouTube source type. Below is the detailed walkthrough with edge cases (creator vs channel, Shorts, time stamps for in-text citations).

The MLA 9 YouTube citation format

MLA 9 uses the container system. For YouTube videos:

Uploader/Channel. "Video Title." YouTube, uploaded by [Channel], Day Month Year, URL.

Element by element:

• Uploader/Channel: The entity that uploaded. For most videos, this is the channel name (CrashCourse, Veritasium, TED).
• "Video Title": In quotation marks, title case.
• YouTube: The container (the platform), italicized.
• uploaded by: Literally these words, lowercase. Include even if redundant with Uploader field.
• Date: Day Month Year format (e.g., 12 Jan. 2023) with abbreviated month.
• URL: Without "https://" is acceptable in MLA 9; include it for clarity.

In the generator, the YouTube source type asks for channel, title, date, and URL. It outputs the full MLA 9 citation automatically.

When the creator and channel are different

Some videos have a creator different from the channel that uploaded them. MLA 9 handles this with a contributor note:

Example: Grant, Adam. "How to Have Better Arguments." YouTube, uploaded by TED, 10 Feb. 2024, youtube.com/watch?v=XYZ789.

Here "Grant, Adam" is the speaker/creator, and "TED" is the uploader. MLA 9 puts the creator in the author position and lists the uploader as contributor.

When to use this format:

• A TED Talk where the speaker is the focus.
• A podcast clip uploaded by a podcast network, featuring a specific interviewee.
• An academic lecture where the professor is the creator and the university channel is the uploader.

When the channel and creator are effectively the same (channel = creator's personal brand), just use the channel name in both fields. The generator's default output works for 80%+ of YouTube video citations.

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Citing YouTube Shorts and live streams

YouTube Shorts: Cite identically to regular videos. The URL format differs (youtube.com/shorts/...) but MLA 9 formatting is the same. Short videos don't need a different citation style.

Live streams (archived): Use the stream's start date as the upload date. If the video is a segment of a longer stream, include a time-range note in your in-text citation if possible.

Premiered videos: Use the actual premiere date (the date it went live), not any earlier date shown in video metadata.

Ongoing live streams: Generally can't be cited in academic writing because they're not retrievable. Wait for the archive to save and cite that.

Members-only or unlisted videos: MLA 9 requires retrievable sources for formal citations. If your professor specifically requires citation of a private lecture, note the access restriction.

In-text citations with time stamps

MLA 9 in-text: (Author time-stamp) format. For a quote at a specific moment:

• (CrashCourse 00:03:45) — 3 minutes 45 seconds
• (CrashCourse 01:12:30) — 1 hour 12 minutes 30 seconds
• (CrashCourse) — for paraphrasing, no time stamp needed

MLA 9 uses hours:minutes:seconds (hh:mm:ss) format for time stamps in audiovisual citations. Different from APA 7, which uses minutes:seconds or hours:minutes:seconds without zero-padding.

The generator doesn't output in-text versions — they're easy to derive once you have the Works Cited entry. Take the uploader/author name from the citation, add the time stamp, wrap in parentheses.

Has anything changed from MLA 8?

For YouTube citations specifically, MLA 8 and MLA 9 produce essentially identical output. MLA 9 kept the container system and just clarified a few edge cases:

• Access date for YouTube videos is generally not required (the video has a stable URL).
• URL formatting — both "youtube.com/..." and "https://youtube.com/..." are acceptable.
• Handling of videos with multiple contributors (speaker, director, uploader) is more explicit in MLA 9.

If your assignment specifies MLA 8 or just "MLA," the output from this generator works without changes. If your professor has specific preferences (e.g., always include access date, always include https://), adjust the output by hand — small edits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I italicize YouTube in the citation?

Yes — YouTube is the container (the platform) and is italicized. The channel name and video title are NOT italicized. Video title goes in quotation marks.

What if the video creator is different from the channel uploader?

List the creator as the author and the channel as the uploader: Grant, Adam. "Title." YouTube, uploaded by TED, date, URL. If they're the same (channel = creator), just use the channel in both fields.

How specific should the date be?

MLA 9 recommends day, month, year when available. Year alone is acceptable if you can only find the upload year. Use abbreviated month names (Jan., Feb., Mar., etc.) except May, June, July which aren't abbreviated.

Do I include the full URL or just the video ID?

Include the full URL (youtube.com/watch?v=... or youtu.be/...). Don't abbreviate. Don't include tracking parameters (&t=, &feature=). Just the clean URL.