YouTube URL Schemes · Hua-Ming Huang
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written by Hua-Ming Huang
July 17, 2025 1 minute read
youtube-url-schemes

Today I learned how to customize YouTube URL schemes to make video sharing more effective:

  1. Watch Links
    • Format
      • Regular version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<video_id>
      • Short version: https://youtu.be/<video_id>
    • Query parameters
      • t → Starts the video at a specific timestamp, great for directly jumping to the key moments
        • For example:
          • &t=60 starts the video 1 minute in
          • &t=1m30s starts the video 1 minute and 30 seconds in
        • Works for both watch link types:
      • The following parameters are unnecessary and can be safely stripped from URLs:
        • list → Shows which playlist the video is from
          • Example: &list=PLVELbpBnqC0qFKrWNBZupOEV6MX4xt_fM
        • ab_channel → Shows which channel the video is from
          • Example: &ab_channel=InspiringSquad
      • https://www.youtube.com/embed/<video_id>
  2. Playlist Links
    • Format: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=<playlist_id>
  3. Channel Links
    • Format: https://www.youtube.com/channel/@<channel_handle>

Footnotes

  1. https://developers.google.com/youtube/player_parameters

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