YouTube video ID finder
Every YouTube video carries one permanent 11-character ID, wrapped in half a dozen different URL shapes. Paste any of them and get the clean ID instantly — with ready-made embed and thumbnail addresses built from it.
Extract an ID
Where the ID lives in each URL shape
All of these point at the same video; the tool recognises every row and ignores extra parameters like timestamps and playlist references.
| Format | Example shape | The ID sits… |
|---|---|---|
| Standard watch link | youtube.com/watch?v=ID&t=42s | in the v parameter |
| Short share link | youtu.be/ID?si=… | straight after the domain |
| Shorts link | youtube.com/shorts/ID | after /shorts/ |
| Embed link | youtube.com/embed/ID | after /embed/ |
| Live link | youtube.com/live/ID | after /live/ |
| Bare ID | ID on its own | accepted as-is if it is 11 valid characters |
What people actually do with a video ID
Clean embeds: the reliable embed address is youtube.com/embed/ID — pasting messy share links with tracking parameters into embed code is the usual reason embeds break. Extract the ID, build the embed, done.
Thumbnail addresses: every stored thumbnail lives at img.youtube.com/vi/ID/<size>.jpg — the tool hands you the HD version, and the thumbnail downloader shows all sizes visually.
Spreadsheets and APIs: the YouTube Data API, analytics tools and content trackers all key on the ID, not the URL. Anyone maintaining a content calendar or research sheet ends up wanting the clean ID column — paste links here one by one, or note the pattern above and strip them in your sheet directly.
De-duplicating link collections: the same video collected from different sources arrives as watch, youtu.be and Shorts links that look distinct but share one ID — extracting IDs is how you spot the duplicates.
Two properties worth knowing: IDs are permanent (they never change after upload, even if title and thumbnail do) and case-sensitive (abc123DEF-_ and ABC123def-_ are different videos — be careful with tools that force lowercase).
Questions people ask, answered properly
The tool says no ID found — but it’s a YouTube link?
Do playlist links work?
Is the ID the same across Shorts, embed and watch links?
Can an ID tell me anything about the video — upload date, channel?
Is pasting links here private?
What are channel IDs and playlist IDs then?
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