YouTube Embedded Players and Player Parameters

Overview

This document explains how to embed a YouTube player in your application and also defines the parameters that are available in the YouTube embedded player.

By appending parameters to the IFrame URL, you can customize the playback experience in your application. For example, you can automatically play videos using the autoplay parameter or cause a video to play repeatedly using the loop parameter. You can also use the enablejsapi parameter to enable the player to be controlled via the IFrame Player API.

This page currently defines all parameters supported in any YouTube embedded player. Each parameter definition identifies the players that support the corresponding parameter.

Note: Embedded players must have a viewport that is at least 200px by 200px. If the player displays controls, it must be large enough to fully display the controls without shrinking the viewport below the minimum size. We recommend 16:9 players be at least 480 pixels wide and 270 pixels tall.

Embed a YouTube player

You can use any of the following methods to embed a YouTube player in your application and specify player parameters. Note that the instructions below demonstrate how to embed a player that loads a single video. The following section explains how to configure your player to load other types of content, such as playlists and search results.

Embed a player using an <iframe> tag

Define an <iframe> tag in your application in which the src URL specifies the content that the player will load as well as any other player parameters you want to set. The <iframe> tag's height and width parameters specify the dimensions of the player.

If you create the <iframe> element yourself (rather than using the IFrame Player API to create it), you can append player parameters directly to the end of the URL. The URL has the following format:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID

The <iframe> tag below would load a 640x360px player that would play the YouTube video M7lc1UVf-VE. Since the URL sets the autoplay parameter to 1, the video would play automatically once the player has loaded.

<iframe id="ytplayer" type="text/html" width="640" height="360"
  src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M7lc1UVf-VE?autoplay=1&origin=http://example.com"
  frameborder="0"></iframe>

Embed a player using the IFrame Player API

Follow the IFrame Player API instructions to insert a video player in your web page or application after the Player API's JavaScript code has loaded. The second parameter in the constructor for the video player is an object that specifies player options. Within that object, the playerVars property identifies player parameters.

The HTML and JavaScript code below shows a simple example that inserts a YouTube player into the page element that has an id value of ytplayer. The onYouTubePlayerAPIReady() function specified here is called automatically when the IFrame Player API code has loaded. This code does not define any player parameters and also does not define other event handlers.

<div id="ytplayer"></div>

<script>
  // Load the IFrame Player API code asynchronously.
  var tag = document.createElement('script');
  tag.src = "https://www.youtube.com/player_api";
  var firstScriptTag = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
  firstScriptTag.parentNode.insertBefore(tag, firstScriptTag);

  // Replace the 'ytplayer' element with an <iframe> and
  // YouTube player after the API code downloads.
  var player;
  function onYouTubePlayerAPIReady() {
    player = new YT.Player('ytplayer', {
      height: '360',
      width: '640',
      videoId: 'M7lc1UVf-VE'
    });
  }
</script>

Select content to play

You can configure your embedded player to load a video, a playlist, a user's uploaded videos, or search results for a particular query.

The following list explains these options:

  • Loading a video

    For an IFrame embed, the YouTube video ID for the video that you want to load is specified in the IFrame's src URL.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID

    If you are using the YouTube Data API (v3), you can programmatically construct these URLs by retrieving video IDs from search results, playlist item resources, video resources, or other resources. After obtaining a video ID, replace the VIDEO_ID text in the URLs above with that value to create the player URL.

  • Loading a playlist

    Set the listType player parameter to playlist. In addition, set the list player parameter to the YouTube playlist ID that you want to load.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PLAYLIST_ID

    Note that you need to prepend the playlist ID with the letters PL as shown in the following example:

    https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PLC77007E23FF423C6

    If you are using the YouTube Data API (v3), you can programmatically construct these URLs by retrieving playlist IDs from search results, channel resources, or activity resources. After obtaining a playlist ID, replace the PLAYLIST_ID text in the URL above with that value.

  • Loading a user's uploaded videos

    Set the listType player parameter to user_uploads. In addition, set the list player parameter to the YouTube username whose uploaded videos you want to load.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=user_uploads&list=USERNAME

  • Loading search results for a specified query

    Set the listType player parameter to search. In addition, set the list player parameter to the query term for which you want the player to load search results.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=search&list=QUERY

Supported parameters

All of the following parameters are optional.

Parameters

autoplay

 This parameter specifies whether the initial video will automatically start to play when the player loads. Supported values are 0 or 1. The default value is 0.

cc_lang_pref

 This parameter specifies the default language that the player will use to display captions. Set the parameter's value to an ISO 639-1 two-letter language code.

If you use this parameter and also set the cc_load_policy parameter to 1, then the player will show captions in the specified language when the player loads. If you do not also set the cc_load_policy parameter, then captions will not display by default, but will display in the specified language if the user opts to turn captions on.

cc_load_policy

 Setting the parameter's value to 1 causes closed captions to be shown by default, even if the user has turned captions off. The default behavior is based on user preference.

color

 This parameter specifies the color that will be used in the player's video progress bar to highlight the amount of the video that the viewer has already seen. Valid parameter values are red and white, and, by default, the player uses the color red in the video progress bar. See the YouTube API blog for more information about color options.

Note: Setting the color parameter to white will disable the modestbranding option.

controls

 This parameter indicates whether the video player controls are displayed:

  • controls=0 – Player controls do not display in the player.
  • controls=1 (default) – Player controls display in the player.

disablekb

 Setting the parameter's value to 1 causes the player to not respond to keyboard controls. The default value is 0, which means that keyboard controls are enabled. Currently supported keyboard controls are:

  • Spacebar or [k]: Play / Pause
  • Arrow Left: Jump back 5 seconds in the current video
  • Arrow Right: Jump ahead 5 seconds in the current video
  • Arrow Up: Volume up
  • Arrow Down: Volume Down
  • [f]: Toggle full-screen display
  • [j]: Jump back 10 seconds in the current video
  • [l]: Jump ahead 10 seconds in the current video
  • [m]: Mute or unmute the video
  • [0-9]: Jump to a point in the video. 0 jumps to the beginning of the video, 1 jumps to the point 10% into the video, 2 jumps to the point 20% into the video, and so forth.

enablejsapi

 Setting the parameter's value to 1 enables the player to be controlled via IFrame or JavaScript Player API calls. The default value is 0, which means that the player cannot be controlled using those APIs.

For more information on the IFrame API and how to use it, see the IFrame API documentation. (The JavaScript Player API has already been deprecated.)

end

 This parameter specifies the time, measured in seconds from the start of the video, when the player should stop playing the video. The parameter value is a positive integer.

Note that the time is measured from the beginning of the video and not from either the value of the start player parameter or the startSeconds parameter, which is used in YouTube Player API functions for loading or queueing a video.

fs

 Setting this parameter to 0 prevents the fullscreen button from displaying in the player. The default value is 1, which causes the fullscreen button to display.

hl

 Sets the player's interface language. The parameter value is an ISO 639-1 two-letter language code or a fully specified locale. For example, fr and fr-ca are both valid values. Other language input codes, such as IETF language tags (BCP 47) might also be handled properly.

The interface language is used for tooltips in the player and also affects the default caption track. Note that YouTube might select a different caption track language for a particular user based on the user's individual language preferences and the availability of caption tracks.

iv_load_policy

 Setting the parameter's value to 1 causes video annotations to be shown by default, whereas setting to 3 causes video annotations to not be shown by default. The default value is 1.

list

 The list parameter, in conjunction with the listType parameter, identifies the content that will load in the player.

  • If the listType parameter value is search, then the list parameter value specifies the search query.
  • If the listType parameter value is user_uploads, then the list parameter value identifies the YouTube channel whose uploaded videos will be loaded.
  • If the listType parameter value is playlist, then the list parameter value specifies a YouTube playlist ID. In the parameter value, you need to prepend the playlist ID with the letters PL as shown in the example below.
    https://www.youtube.com/embed?
        listType=playlist
        &list=PLC77007E23FF423C6
Note: If you specify values for the list and listType parameters, the IFrame embed URL does not need to specify a video ID.

listType

 The listType parameter, in conjunction with the list parameter, identifies the content that will load in the player. Valid parameter values are playlist, search, and user_uploads.

If you specify values for the list and listType parameters, the IFrame embed URL does not need to specify a video ID.

loop

 In the case of a single video player, a setting of 1 causes the player to play the initial video again and again. In the case of a playlist player (or custom player), the player plays the entire playlist and then starts again at the first video.

Supported values are 0 and 1, and the default value is 0.

Note: This parameter has limited support in the AS3 player and in IFrame embeds, which could load either the AS3 or HTML5 player. Currently, the loop parameter only works in the AS3 player when used in conjunction with the playlist parameter. To loop a single video, set the loop parameter value to 1 and set the playlist parameter value to the same video ID already specified in the Player API URL:
https://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?
    version=3
    &loop=1
    &playlist=VIDEO_ID

modestbranding

 This parameter lets you use a YouTube player that does not show a YouTube logo. Set the parameter value to 1 to prevent the YouTube logo from displaying in the control bar. Note that a small YouTube text label will still display in the upper-right corner of a paused video when the user's mouse pointer hovers over the player.

origin

 This parameter provides an extra security measure for the IFrame API and is only supported for IFrame embeds. If you are using the IFrame API, which means you are setting the enablejsapi parameter value to 1, you should always specify your domain as the origin parameter value.

playlist

 This parameter specifies a comma-separated list of video IDs to play. If you specify a value, the first video that plays will be the VIDEO_ID specified in the URL path, and the videos specified in the playlist parameter will play thereafter.

playsinline

 This parameter controls whether videos play inline or fullscreen in an HTML5 player on iOS. Valid values are:

  • 0: This value causes fullscreen playback. This is currently the default value, though the default is subject to change.
  • 1: This value causes inline playback for UIWebViews created with the allowsInlineMediaPlayback property set to TRUE.

rel

 Note: This parameter is changing on or after September 25, 2018.

Prior to the change, this parameter indicates whether the player should show related videos when playback of the initial video ends.
  • If the parameter's value is set to 1, which is the default value, then the player does show related videos.
  • If the parameter's value is set to 0, then the player does not show related videos.
After the change, you will not be able to disable related videos. Instead, if the rel parameter is set to 0, related videos will come from the same channel as the video that was just played.

showinfo

 Note: This parameter is deprecated and will be ignored after September 25, 2018.

Supported values are 0 and 1.

Setting the parameter's value to 0 causes the player to not display information like the video title and uploader before the video starts playing.

If the player is loading a playlist, and you explicitly set the parameter value to 1, then, upon loading, the player will also display thumbnail images for the videos in the playlist.

start

 This parameter causes the player to begin playing the video at the given number of seconds from the start of the video. The parameter value is a positive integer. Note that similar to the seekTo function, the player will look for the closest keyframe to the time you specify. This means that sometimes the play head may seek to just before the requested time, usually no more than around two seconds.

widget_referrer

 This parameter identifies the URL where the player is embedded. This value is used in YouTube Analytics reporting when the YouTube player is embedded in a widget, and that widget is then embedded in a web page or application. In that scenario, the origin parameter identifies the widget provider's domain, but YouTube Analytics should not identify the widget provider as the actual traffic source. Instead, YouTube Analytics uses the widget_referrer parameter value to identify the domain associated with the traffic source.

Revision history

August 23, 2018

Note: This is a deprecation announcement for the showinfo parameter. In addition, the behavior for the rel parameter is changing. Titles, channel information, and related videos are an important part of YouTube’s core user experience, and these changes help to make the YouTube viewing experience consistent across different platforms.

  • The behavior for the rel parameter is changing on or after September 25, 2018. The effect of the change is that you will not be able to disable related videos. However, you will have the option of specifying that the related videos shown in the player should be from the same channel as the video that was just played.

    To be more specific:
    • Prior to the change, if the parameter's value is set to 0, then the player does not show related videos.
    • After the change, if the rel parameter is set to 0, the player will show related videos that are from the same channel as the video that was just played.
  • The showinfo parameter, which indicates whether the player should display information like the video title and uploader before the video starts playing, is also being deprecated. Following the change, the channel avatar and video title will always display before playback begins, when playback is paused, and when playback ends. The avatar being displayed is new behavior that will be consistent across all embedded players.

These changes will become effective on or after September 25, 2018. After that time, the showinfo parameter will be ignored. The behavior following the changes is consistent with the current default behavior for embedded players with the exception of the channel avatar changes mentioned above.

August 16, 2018

The cc_lang_pref parameter can be used to specify the default language that the player will use to display captions. This parameter can be used in conjunction with the cc_load_policy parameter to automatically show captions in the specified language during playback.

September 15, 2017

The controls parameter's definition has been updated to remove references to the deprecated Flash (AS3) player. The value 2 has been deprecated as it was originally designed to provide a performance improvement for embeds that loaded a Flash player.

June 12, 2017

The new widget_referrer parameter helps to enable more accurate YouTube Analytics reporting when the YouTube player is embedded in a widget, and that widget is then embedded in a web page or application.

November 1, 2016

This document has been updated to remove references to the deprecated Flash (AS3) player as well as to parameters only supported by that player. The YouTube Flash player was deprecated in January 2015.

October 20, 2016

This update contains the following changes:

  • The disablekb parameter definition has been corrected to note that the default value is 0, which means that keyboard controls are enabled. A value of 1 indicates that keyboard controls should be disabled.

    The list of keyboard controls that the player supports has also been updated to include the following:

    • [f]: Toggle full-screen display
    • [j]: Jump back 10 seconds in the current video
    • [k]: Play / Pause
    • [l]: Jump ahead 10 seconds in the current video
    • [m]: Mute or unmute the video
    • [0-9]: Jump to a point in the video. 0 jumps to the beginning of the video, 1 jumps to the time 10% into the video, 2 jumps to the point 20% into the video, and so forth.

    In addition, the effect of pressing the [arrow left] or [arrow right] keys has changed. These keys now jump 5 seconds back (arrow left) or ahead (arrow right) in the current video.

August 11, 2016

This update contains the following changes:

  • The newly published YouTube API Services Terms of Service ("the Updated Terms"), discussed in detail on the YouTube Engineering and Developers Blog, provides a rich set of updates to the current Terms of Service. In addition to the Updated Terms, which will go into effect as of February 10, 2017, this update includes several supporting documents to help explain the policies that developers must follow.

    The full set of new documents is described in the revision history for the Updated Terms. In addition, future changes to the Updated Terms or to those supporting documents will also be explained in that revision history. You can subscribe to an RSS feed listing changes in that revision history from a link in that document.

December 18, 2015

European Union (EU) laws require that certain disclosures must be given to and consents obtained from end users in the EU. Therefore, for end users in the European Union, you must comply with the EU User Consent Policy. We have added a notice of this requirement in our YouTube API Terms of Service.

August 19, 2015

  • The autohide parameter has been deprecated for the HTML5 player. In HTML5 players, the video progress bar and player controls display or hide automatically. That behavior corresponds to an autohide setting of 1.

  • The theme parameter has been deprecated for the HTML5 player. HTML5 players now always use the dark theme.

March 9, 2015

  • The document has been updated to reflect the fact that YouTube <object> embeds, the YouTube Flash Player API and the YouTube JavaScript Player API have all been deprecated as of January 27, 2015. A deprecation warning appears in several sections of this document to help point readers to the IFrame Player API as an alternative.

  • The definition of the autohide parameter has been updated to clarify the meaning of the parameter's values. The default behavior (autohide=2) is that if the player has a 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio, the player's video progress bar and player controls display or hide automatically. Otherwise, those controls are visible throughout the video.

  • The definition of the hl parameter has been updated to note that the parameter value could be an ISO 639-1 two-letter language code or a fully specified locale. For example, fr and fr-ca are both valid parameter values.

  • The definition of the enablejsapi parameter has been reworded to clarify that the parameter enables a player to be controlled via API calls. The API could be either the IFrame Player API or the JavaScript Player API.

October 14, 2014

July 18, 2014

  • The new hl parameter can be used to set the player's interface language. The interface language is used for tooltips in the player and also affects the default caption track. The selected caption track may also depend on the availability of caption tracks and user's individual language preferences.

    The parameter's value is an ISO 639-1 two-letter language code, though other language input codes, such as IETF language tags (BCP 47) may also be handled properly.

  • The definition of the playsinline parameter, which only affects HTML5 players on iOS, has been modified slightly. The definition now notes that setting the parameter value to 1 causes inline playback only for UIWebViews created with the allowsInlineMediaPlayback property set to TRUE.

January 28, 2014

  • The playsinline parameter controls whether videos play inline or fullscreen in an HTML5 player on iOS. Setting the value to 1 causes inline playback.

  • The Selecting content to play section has been updated to explain how to find YouTube video IDs and playlist IDs using the YouTube Data API (v3) rather than the older API version.

  • The controls parameter's definition has been updated to reflect the fact that the parameter value only affects the time that the Flash player actually loads in IFrame embeds. In addition, for IFrame embeds, the parameter value also determines when the controls display in the player. If you set the parameter's value to 2, then the controls display and the Flash player loads after the user initiates the video playback.

May 10, 2013

This update contains the following changes:

July 20, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

  • The definition of the controls parameter has been updated to reflect support for a parameter value of 2 and to explain that, for AS3 players, the parameter value determines the time when the Flash player actually loads. If the controls parameter is set to 0 or 1, the Flash player loads immediately. If the parameter value is 2, the Flash player does not load until the video playback is initiated.

June 5, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

  • The HTML5 player now supports the color, modestbranding, and rel parameters, and the definitions for these parameters have been updated accordingly.

  • The definition of the showinfo parameter has been updated to explain how that if the player is loading a playlist, and you explicitly set the parameter value to 1, then, upon loading, the player will also display thumbnail images for the videos in the playlist. Note that this functionality is only supported for the AS3 player since that is the only player that can load a playlist.

May 4, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

  • The showinfo parameter's definition has been updated to reflect the fact that the HTML5 player supports this parameter.

May 3, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

  • The new end parameter specifies the time, measured in seconds from the start of the video, when the player should stop playing a video. Note that the time when playback is stopped is measured from the beginning of the video and not from the value of either the start player parameter or the startSeconds parameter, which is used in YouTube Player API functions for loading or queueing a video.

March 29, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

  • The new Embedding a YouTube player section explains different ways to embed a YouTube player in your application. This section covers manual IFrame embeds, IFrame embeds that use the IFrame Player API, and AS3 and AS2 object embeds. This section incorporates information from the old Example usage section, which has been removed.

  • The new Selecting content to play section explains how to configure the player to load a video, a playlist, search results for a specified query, or uploaded videos for a specified user.

  • The new list and listType parameters let you specify the content that the player should load. You can specify a playlist, a search query, or a particular user's uploaded videos.

  • The definitions of the fs and rel parameters have been updated to more clearly explain the default parameter values for the AS3 player.

  • The border, color1, egm, hd, and showsearch parameters, which are all only supported for the deprecated AS2 Player API, have been moved to a new section named deprecated parameters only used in the AS2 Player API.

  • The document no longer provides a way to filter the parameter list to only display parameters supported in either the AS3, AS2, or HTML5 player. Instead, each parameter definition has been updated to identify the players that support that parameter.

August 11, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

  • The new theme and color parameters let you customize the appearance of the embedded player's player controls. See the YouTube API blog for more information.

June 8, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

  • The new modestbranding parameter lets you use a YouTube player that does not show a YouTube logo. As of this release, the parameter was only supported for the AS3 embedded player and for IFrame embeds that loaded the AS3 player. As of June 5, 2012, the HTML5 player also supported this parameter.

February 14, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

  • The documentation has been updated to note that the AS2 Player API has been deprecated. The deprecation of the AS2 Player API was actually announced on October 14, 2009.

February 3, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

  • The documentation has been updated to identify parameters supported in the HTML5 (IFrame) embedded player.

  • The document now displays all of the parameters supported in any of YouTube's embedded players (HTML5, AS3, AS2).

  • The following parameters are supported in the AS2 player but have been deprecated for the newer AS3 and HTML5 players: border, color1, color2, egm, hd, and showsearch.

    In addition, the loop parameter has limited support in the AS3 player and in IFrame embeds, which could load either an AS3 or HTML player. Currently, the loop parameter only works in the AS3 player when used in conjunction with the playlist parameter. To loop a single video, set the loop parameter to 1 and set the playlist parameter value to the same video ID already specified in the Player API URL:

    https://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3&loop=1&playlist=VIDEO_ID

    Similarly, the controls and playlist parameters are supported in the AS3 and HTML5 players but are not and will not be supported in the AS2 player.

    As noted above, IFrame embeds can load either an AS3 or HTML5 player. Though some parameters are not supported in both players, an IFrame embed that loads the AS3 player will support all parameters that work with that player and ignore all other parameters. Similarly, an IFrame embed that loads the HTML5 player will support all parameters that work with that player while ignoring all other parameters.

  • The parameter list has been updated to include the autohide parameter, which indicates whether the player's video controls will automatically hide after a video begins playing.

  • The parameter list has been updated to include the controls parameter, which indicates whether the player's video controls will display at all. (Player controls do display by default.)

  • The parameter list has been updated to include the playlist parameter, which specifies a comma-separated list of video IDs to play.

  • The definition of the fs has been updated to note that the fullscreen option will not work if you load the YouTube player into another SWF.

  • The example at the end of the document has been updated to use the embedded AS3 player instead of the embedded AS2 player. The parameters used in the example have also been updated to only include parameters that the AS3 player supports.

    In addition, the instructions for constructing the URLs that contain player parameters have been updated to reflect the URL formats used by the AS3 and AS2 embedded and chromeless players as well as by the HTML5 player.