The channel is called XxGamerDude99. The upload date says "3 years ago." There is no real name anywhere. Congrats, you have found the most annoying citation situation possible. Let us get through it together.
The APA 7th edition YouTube format
APA 7th edition treats YouTube videos like any other online video. The format is:
Author, A. A. [Channel Name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL
The square brackets around [Channel Name] only appear when you know the real name of the person AND their channel has a different name. If the channel name IS the author name (like for big organizations), you skip the brackets entirely.
Here are four real examples across different types of YouTube channels:
TED TALK (SPEAKER KNOWN, CHANNEL IS TED)
Sinek, S. [TED]. (2010, September 28). How great leaders inspire action [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4
KHAN ACADEMY (ORG AS AUTHOR, NO BRACKETS)
Khan Academy. (2011, March 14). Introduction to the atom [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSQlwoDh4w
NEWS CHANNEL (BBC NEWS, REAL NAME IS CHANNEL)
BBC News. (2023, September 20). Climate change: Scientists warn of tipping points [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
PERSONAL CREATOR (CHANNEL NAME ONLY, REAL NAME UNKNOWN)
CrashCourse. (2017, August 14). Introduction to psychology: Crash Course Psychology #1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M
Figuring out who the author is
This is the part that trips people up. YouTube has three types of channels and you handle each one slightly differently in APA:
Real person, real name visible
Use their real name as the author (Last, F. I.) and put the channel name in square brackets after it. Example: Kurzgesagt videos are made by a studio, so you would write Kurzgesagt [Kurzgesagt] if no individual name is listed, or just Kurzgesagt if that IS the channel name.
Brand or organization
Just use the organization name as the author. No brackets needed. Khan Academy, NASA, BBC News, TED all fall into this category. In the in-text citation you would write (Khan Academy, 2011).
Username with no real name
Use the username as the author, no brackets. Yes, this means your citation might say something like (XxGamerDude99, 2019). That is fine. You cite what is there.
APA in-text citations for YouTube videos
Standard in-text citations work the same as any other source: Author, Year. But what if you are quoting a specific moment in the video and want to point your reader to the exact spot? Use a timestamp instead of a page number.
Standard reference (paraphrase): Leaders who communicate their "why" before their "what" are more persuasive (Sinek, 2010).
Direct quote with timestamp: Sinek (2010) argued that "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" (3:05).
Parenthetical with timestamp: "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" (Sinek, 2010, 3:05).
The timestamp format is just minutes:seconds. If a video is over an hour, use hours:minutes:seconds. APA does not require the word "timestamp" before it.
MLA 9th edition YouTube format
MLA 9th treats YouTube videos as online videos within a container (YouTube is the container). The format is:
Last, First, or Channel Name. "Title of the Video." YouTube, Day Mon. Year, URL.
A few things to note about MLA specifically:
- The video title goes in quotation marks, not italics. YouTube (the platform) is in italics.
- The date format is day month year: 28 Sept. 2010 (months longer than 4 letters get abbreviated).
- MLA does not use the [Video] descriptor that APA uses.
- If the uploader is a person with a real name, use Last, First. If it is a channel name, just use that name.
MLA 9TH: TED TALK
Sinek, Simon. "How Great Leaders Inspire Action." YouTube, uploaded by TED, 28 Sept. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4.
MLA 9TH: KHAN ACADEMY
Khan Academy. "Introduction to the Atom." YouTube, 14 Mar. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSQlwoDh4w.
MLA in-text citation for YouTube
MLA in-text citations use the author and a timestamp rather than a page number. The timestamp format in MLA uses hours, minutes, and seconds separated by colons, but if the video is under an hour you just use minutes:seconds.
Paraphrase: Great leaders start with why rather than what (Sinek 3:05).
Direct quote: Sinek insists that "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" (3:05).
Chicago format for YouTube videos
Chicago uses footnotes (Notes-Bibliography style). The full footnote format for a YouTube video is:
First Last, "Title of Video," YouTube video, length, Month Day, Year, URL.
CHICAGO FOOTNOTE
Simon Sinek, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," YouTube video, 18:01, September 28, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4.
CHICAGO BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY
Sinek, Simon. "How Great Leaders Inspire Action." YouTube video, 18:01. September 28, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4.
Note that Chicago is the only style that commonly includes the video runtime (18:01 in the example above). APA and MLA do not require it.
What if there is no upload date?
Almost all public YouTube videos display an upload date, so this situation is rare. But if you genuinely cannot find one (maybe on an unlisted or embedded video):
APA 7th
Use (n.d.) where the year would go. Add a retrieval date if relevant.
MLA 9th
Omit the date element. Your citation just won't have a date, which is allowed.
Chicago
Write 'n.d.' in place of the date in the footnote and bibliography entry.
Quick format cheat sheet
| Element | APA 7th | MLA 9th | Chicago |
|---|
| Video title format | Italics, sentence case | Quotation marks, title case | Quotation marks, title case |
| Platform label | YouTube in plain text | YouTube in italics (container) | YouTube video (descriptor) |
| [Video] tag | Yes, in square brackets | No | No |
| Runtime | Not required | Not required | Included |
| Timestamp in-text | Author, year, mm:ss | Author mm:ss | Footnote with mm:ss |
Pro tip: save yourself ten minutes
You can use FreeCitation to generate YouTube citations in APA, MLA, or Chicago by pasting the video URL. It reads the channel name, upload date, and title automatically. Much faster than doing it by hand, especially for the MLA date format which is always just slightly different enough to be annoying.
Frequently asked questions
What if the TED Talk is on TED.com instead of YouTube?
If you are citing the TED Talk from TED's own website, treat TED as the author and TED.com as the website. The format changes slightly: TED. (Year, Month Day). Title of talk [Video]. TED Talks. URL. You do not include the [Channel Name] bracket since TED is both the publisher and the speaker's host.
Can I use a YouTube video as a source at all?
Academically, it depends on the source. A video from NASA, a peer-reviewed institution, a major news organization, or a recognized expert? Totally fine. A random gaming video or a conspiracy theory channel? Your professor might have something to say about that. The citation format is the same either way but the credibility of the source is on you to evaluate.
What if the YouTube channel has a slightly different name than the organization?
Use the name as it appears on YouTube. If the channel is called 'TED-Ed' but the organization is called 'TED Education', you would use TED-Ed as the author in your citation since that is how readers can find it. Consistency with how it appears on the platform is what matters.
Need to cite other types of sources? Check out our guides on citing websites in APA, citing ChatGPT and AI tools, and understanding DOIs and ISBNs.