On this page
Updated . Example details checked against YouTube oEmbed for 5MuIMqhT8DM (title and channel); upload date June 3, 2019.
The Harvard format
Pattern
Channel or Name (Year) Title of video. Day Month. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
- Author is whoever posted the video, as the channel shows it.
- Year in parentheses, then the title in italics.
- Day and month of posting follow the title.
- Accessed date is required.
A real example
Reference list entry
TED (2019) Sleep is your superpower | Matt Walker | TED. 3 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuIMqhT8DM (Accessed: 3 November 2026).
In-text citation
(TED, 2019)
When details are missing
- No date: (no date) after the name, and leave out the day and month.
- A quotation: give the time in the citation: (TED, 2019, 3:42).
Common mistakes
- YouTube as the author. The channel that posted it is the author.
- No access date. Cite Them Right asks for one on every online video.
Or let Format do it.
Paste the video’s link and Format looks it up and picks Online video; check the title, channel and date against the video page. Format writes the Reference list entry and the in-text citation in Harvard, exactly as shown above, and builds the Reference list page when you export to Word or PDF. Harvard is part of Pro, $4 a month or $29 a year; MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Do I write “YouTube” anywhere?
Cite Them Right’s video pattern identifies the site through the URL. You can name YouTube in your sentence.
Is this the Harvard my university uses?
Format follows Cite Them Right, 13th edition. Some universities publish their own Harvard guide; check yours.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in Harvard
Every source kind is on the Harvard page, and every style is on How to cite.