Chicago Citation Generator for YouTube Videos

The generator below is preset to Chicago (Chicago 18th edition) for a YouTube or online video.

Check your reference against your institution's guidelines — lecturers sometimes vary the style.

Paste a URL, DOI, ISBN or title, or fill in the form yourself — the citation updates as you type, and you can copy it formatted, with italics and hanging indent intact, or as plain text. Under the tool you will find the Chicago rules for this source type, worked examples, and the mistakes students make most often.

The rules: Chicago format for youtube videos

Template: Author, First Name. “Title of Video in Headline Style.” Channel Name, Month Day, Year. Video, duration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxx

Credit the creator or channel responsible for the video. If the uploader’s real name is known, that name leads the entry; the channel name still appears after the title.
The video title goes in quotation marks, in headline-style capitalisation.
Give the full upload date, then the medium and running time (Video, 14:32), then the full URL including https://.
In text, an author–date citation is (Lindqvist 2024); for a specific moment add the timestamp after the year: (Lindqvist 2024, 4:15).

Examples

Lindqvist, Sara. “How to Read a Research Paper in 20 Minutes.” Data in Focus, May 8, 2024. Video, 14:32. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1B2c3D4e5F

StudyLab. “APA Style Basics: Reference List Essentials.” November 2, 2023. Video, 9:47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6G7h8J9k0L

Common mistakes

Using the date you watched the video as if it were the publication date.
Omitting the running time — Chicago identifies online video by its format and length.
Shortening the URL or dropping https://.
Crediting a guest in the video instead of the creator or channel that published it.

Need this in APA or MLA instead? APA version of this page · MLA version of this page

From the RozContent Study Blog: read the matching study guide on the blog.