[javascript] How do I get the YouTube video ID from a URL?

I want to get the v=id from YouTube’s URL with JavaScript (no jQuery, pure JavaScript).

Example YouTube URL formats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8nQa1cJyX8&a=GxdCwVVULXctT2lYDEPllDR0LRTutYfW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8nQa1cJyX8

Or any other YouTube format that contains a video ID in the URL.

Result from these formats

u8nQa1cJyX8

This question is related to javascript regex url youtube

The answer is


As webstrap mentioned in a comment:

It worked if the video start with "v" and it's from youtu.be

The regex contains a little bug \??v?=? this should just be at the watch part, otherwise you would filter a 'v' if the id starts with a 'v'. so this should do the trick

/^.*((youtu.be\/)|(v\/)|(\/u\/\w\/)|(embed\/)|(watch\??v?=?))([^#\&\?]*).*/


Here's a radically different solution.

You could request the JSON oEmbed document from 'https://www.youtube.com/oembed?format=json&url=' . rawurlencode($url) and then thumbnail_url has a fixed format, match it with a PCRE pattern like https://i.ytimg.com/vi/([^/]+), the first group is the YouTube ID.


Java Code: (Works for all the URLs:

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index
  2. http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/a/u/1/QdK8U-VIH_o
  3. http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/0zM3nApSvMg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg#t=0m10s
  5. http://www.youtube.com/embed/0zM3nApSvMg?rel=0"
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg
  7. http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg
  8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg/
  9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8UVNT4wvIGY

)

    String url = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index";

    String regExp = "/.*(?:youtu.be\\/|v\\/|u/\\w/|embed\\/|watch\\?.*&?v=)";
    Pattern compiledPattern = Pattern.compile(regExp);
    Matcher matcher = compiledPattern.matcher(url);
    if(matcher.find()){
        int start = matcher.end();
        System.out.println("ID : " + url.substring(start, start+11));

    }

For DailyMotion:

String url = "http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4xvnz_the-funny-crash-compilation_fun";

    String regExp = "/video/([^_]+)/?";
    Pattern compiledPattern = Pattern.compile(regExp);
    Matcher matcher = compiledPattern.matcher(url);
    if(matcher.find()){
        String match = matcher.group();
        System.out.println("ID : " + match.substring(match.lastIndexOf("/")+1));

    }

Simplifying Jacob Relkin answer, all you need to do is this:

const extractVideoIdFromYoutubeLink = youtubeLink => {
    return youtubeLink.split( 'v=' )[1].split( '&' )[0];
};

I created a function that tests a users input for Youtube, Soundcloud or Vimeo embed ID's, to be able to create a more continous design with embedded media. This function detects and returns an object withtwo properties: "type" and "id". Type can be either "youtube", "vimeo" or "soundcloud" and the "id" property is the unique media id.

On the site I use a textarea dump, where the user can paste in any type of link or embed code, including the iFrame-embedding of both vimeo and youtube.

function testUrlForMedia(pastedData) {
var success = false;
var media   = {};
if (pastedData.match('http://(www.)?youtube|youtu\.be')) {
    if (pastedData.match('embed')) { youtube_id = pastedData.split(/embed\//)[1].split('"')[0]; }
    else { youtube_id = pastedData.split(/v\/|v=|youtu\.be\//)[1].split(/[?&]/)[0]; }
    media.type  = "youtube";
    media.id    = youtube_id;
    success = true;
}
else if (pastedData.match('http://(player.)?vimeo\.com')) {
    vimeo_id = pastedData.split(/video\/|http:\/\/vimeo\.com\//)[1].split(/[?&]/)[0];
    media.type  = "vimeo";
    media.id    = vimeo_id;
    success = true;
}
else if (pastedData.match('http://player\.soundcloud\.com')) {
    soundcloud_url = unescape(pastedData.split(/value="/)[1].split(/["]/)[0]);
    soundcloud_id = soundcloud_url.split(/tracks\//)[1].split(/[&"]/)[0];
    media.type  = "soundcloud";
    media.id    = soundcloud_id;
    success = true;
}
if (success) { return media; }
else { alert("No valid media id detected"); }
return false;
}

This definitely requires regex:

Copy into Ruby IRB:

var url = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLqASIXrVbY"
var VID_REGEX = /(?:youtube(?:-nocookie)?\.com\/(?:[^\/\n\s]+\/\S+\/|(?:v|e(?:mbed)?)\/|\S*?[?&]v=)|youtu\.be\/)([a-zA-Z0-9_-]{11})/
url.match(VID_REGEX)[1]

See for all test cases: https://gist.github.com/blairanderson/b264a15a8faaac9c6318


try npm package youtube-id

tested on different urls:

const tested = [
  'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={YOUTUBE_ID}&nohtml5=False',
  'https://youtu.be/{YOUTUBE_ID}',
  'www.youtube.com/embed/{YOUTUBE_ID}'
  // ....
]

Here's a ruby version of this:

def youtube_id(url)
   # Handles various YouTube URLs (youtube.com, youtube-nocookie.com, youtu.be), as well as embed links and urls with various parameters
   regex = /(?:youtube(?:-nocookie)?\.com\/(?:[^\/\n\s]+\/\S+\/|(?:v|vi|e(?:mbed)?)\/|\S*?[?&]v=|\S*?[?&]vi=)|youtu\.be\/)([a-zA-Z0-9_-]{11})/
   match = regex.match(url)
   if match && !match[1].nil?
      match[1]
   else
      nil
   end
end

To test the method:

example_urls = [
   'www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/dQw4-9W_XcQ?rel=0',
   'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=channel',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&playnext_from=TL&videos=osPknwzXEas&feature=sub',
   'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://www.youtube.com/user/SilkRoadTheatre#p/a/u/2/dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://youtu.be/dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtu.be',
   'http://youtu.be/dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/dQw4-9W_XcQ?rel=0',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&playnext_from=TL&videos=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=sub',
   'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4-9W_XcQ?rel=0',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ',
   'http://youtube.com/v/dQw4-9W_XcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtube.com/vi/dQw4-9W_XcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtube.com/?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtube.com/?vi=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtube.com/watch?vi=dQw4-9W_XcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
   'http://youtu.be/dQw4-9W_XcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player'
]

# Test each one
example_urls.each do |url|
   raise 'Test failed!' unless youtube_id(url) == 'dQw4-9W_XcQ'
end

To see this code and run the tests in an online repl you can also go here: https://repl.it/@TomChapin/youtubeid


Here's a shortest and the easiest regex for that

url = url+'&'    
regex = "v=(.*?)&|youtu.be\/(.*?)&"

I made an enhancement to Regex provided by "jeffreypriebe" because he needed a kind of YouTube URL is the URL of the videos when they are looking through a channel.

Well no but this is the function that I have armed.

<script type="text/javascript">
function youtube_parser(url){
    var regExp = /^.*((youtu.be\/)|(v\/)|(\/u\/\w\/)|(embed\/)|(watch\?))\??v?=?([^#&?]*).*/;
    var match = url.match(regExp);
    return (match&&match[7].length==11)? match[7] : false;
}
</script>

These are the types of URLs supported

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index
http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/a/u/1/QdK8U-VIH_o
http://www.youtube.com/v/0zM3nApSvMg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg#t=0m10s
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0zM3nApSvMg?rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg
http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg

Can be found in [http://web.archive.org/web/20160926134334/] http://lasnv.net/foro/839/Javascript_parsear_URL_de_YouTube


One more:

var id = url.match(/(^|=|\/)([0-9A-Za-z_-]{11})(\/|&|$|\?|#)/)[2]

It works with any URL showed in this thread.

It won't work when YouTube addS some other parameter with 11 base64 characters. Till then it is the easy way.


Slightly stricter version:

^https?://(?:www\.)?youtu(?:\.be|be\.com)/(?:\S+/)?(?:[^\s/]*(?:\?|&)vi?=)?([^#?&]+)

Tested on:

http://www.youtube.com/user/dreamtheater#p/u/1/oTJRivZTMLs
https://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs?list=PLToa5JuFMsXTNkrLJbRlB--76IAOjRM9b
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=youtu.be
https://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs
http://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=oTJRivZTMLs
http://www.youtube.com/embed/oTJRivZTMLs?rel=0
http://youtube.com/v/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/v/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/vi/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/?feature=channel&v=oTJRivZTMLs
http://youtube.com/?vi=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/watch?vi=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel

function parser(url){
    var regExp = /^.*((youtu.be\/)|(v\/)|(\/u\/\w\/)|(embed\/)|(watch\/)|(\?v=|\&v=))([^#\&\?]*).*/;
    var match = url.match(regExp);
    if (match && match[8].length==11){
            alert('OK');
    }else{
            alert('BAD');
    }
}

For testing:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vDoO_bNw7fc - attention first symbol «v» in «vDoO_bNw7fc»

http://www.youtube.com/user/dreamtheater#p/u/1/oTJRivZTMLs
https://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs?list=PLToa5JuFMsXTNkrLJbRlB--76IAOjRM9b
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=youtu.be
https://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs
http://youtu.be/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=oTJRivZTMLs
http://www.youtube.com/embed/oTJRivZTMLs?rel=0
http://youtube.com/v/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/v/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/vi/oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/?feature=channel&v=oTJRivZTMLs
http://youtube.com/?vi=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel
http://youtube.com/watch?vi=oTJRivZTMLs&feature=channel

function youtube_parser(url){
    var match = url.match(/^.*((youtu.be\/)|(v\/)|(\/u\/\w\/)|(embed\/)|(watch\?))\??v?=?([^#\&\?]*).*/);
    return (match&&match[7].length==11)?match[7]:false;
}

Shortest and Efficient


i wrote a function for that below:

function getYoutubeUrlId (url) {
    const urlObject = new URL(url);
    let urlOrigin = urlObject.origin;
    let urlPath = urlObject.pathname;

    if (urlOrigin.search('youtu.be') > -1) {
        return urlPath.substr(1);
    }

    if (urlPath.search('embed') > -1) {
        // Örnegin "/embed/wCCSEol8oSc" ise "wCCSEol8oSc" return eder.
        return urlPath.substr(7);
    }

   
    return urlObject.searchParams.get('v');
},

https://gist.github.com/semihkeskindev/8a4339c27203c5fabaf2824308c7868f


Since YouTube video ids is set to be 11 characters, we can simply just substring after we split the url with v=. Then we are not dependent on the ampersand at the end.

var sampleUrl = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcjoGn6FLwI&asdasd";

var video_id = sampleUrl.split("v=")[1].substring(0, 11)

Nice and simple :)


This can get video id from any type of youtube links

var url= 'http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg';
var urlsplit= url.split(/^.*(youtu.be\/|v\/|embed\/|watch\?|youtube.com\/user\/[^#]*#([^\/]*?\/)*)\??v?=?([^#\&\?]*).*/);
console.log(urlsplit[3]);


tl;dr.

Matches all URL examples on this question and then some.

let re = /^(https?:\/\/)?((www\.)?(youtube(-nocookie)?|youtube.googleapis)\.com.*(v\/|v=|vi=|vi\/|e\/|embed\/|user\/.*\/u\/\d+\/)|youtu\.be\/)([_0-9a-z-]+)/i;
let id = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o".match(re)[7];

ID will always be in match group 7.

Live examples of all the URLs I grabbed from the answers to this question: https://regexr.com/3u0d4

Full explanation:

As many answers/comments have brought up, there are many formats for youtube video URLs. Even multiple TLDs where they can appear to be "hosted".

You can look at the full list of variations I checked against by following the regexr link above.

Lets break down the RegExp.

^ Lock the string to the start of the string. (https?:\/\/)? Optional protocols http:// or https:// The ? makes the preceding item optional so the s and then the entire group (anything enclosed in a set of parenthesis) are optional.

Ok, this next part is the meat of it. Basically we have two options, the various versions of www.youtube.com/...[id] and the link shortened youtu.be/[id] version.

(                                                  // Start a group which will match everything after the protocol and up to just before the video id.
  (www\.)?                                         // Optional www.
  (youtube(-nocookie)?|youtube.googleapis)         // There are three domains where youtube videos can be accessed. This matches them.
  \.com                                            // The .com at the end of the domain. 
  .*                                               // Match anything 
  (v\/|v=|vi=|vi\/|e\/|embed\/|user\/.*\/u\/\d+\/) // These are all the things that can come right before the video id. The | character means OR so the first one in the "list" matches.
  |                                                // There is one more domain where you can get to youtube, it's the link shortening url which is just followed by the video id. This OR separates all the stuff in this group and the link shortening url.
  youtu\.be\/                                      // The link shortening domain
)                                                  // End of group

Finally we have the group to select the video ID. At least one character that is a number, letter, underscore, or dash.

([_0-9a-z-]+)

You can find out much more detail about each part of the regex by heading over the regexr link and seeing how each part of the expression matches with the text in the url.


I liked Surya's answer.. Just a case where it won't work...

String regExp = "/.*(?:youtu.be\\/|v\\/|u/\\w/|embed\\/|watch\\?.*&?v=)";

doesn't work for

youtu.be/i4fjHzCXg6c  and  www.youtu.be/i4fjHzCXg6c

updated version:

String regExp = "/?.*(?:youtu.be\\/|v\\/|u/\\w/|embed\\/|watch\\?.*&?v=)";

works for all.


Try this one -

function getYouTubeIdFromURL($url) 
{
  $pattern = '/(?:youtube.com/(?:[^/]+/.+/|(?:v|e(?:mbed)?)/|.*[?&]v=)|youtu.be/)([^"&?/ ]{11})/i';
  preg_match($pattern, $url, $matches);

  return isset($matches[1]) ? $matches[1] : false;
}

We know these characters "?v=" can never appear more than ones but 'v' can appear somehow in the Id Itself so we use "?v=" as delimiter. See it Working Here

//Get YouTube video Id From Its Url

     $('button').bind('click',function(){
var 
url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8nQa1cJyX8',
videoId = url.split('?v='),//Split data to two
YouTubeVideoId=videoId[1];
alert(YouTubeVideoId);return false;

});

<button>Click ToGet VideoId</button>

Chris Nolet cleaner example of Lasnv answer is very good, but I recently found out that if you trying to find your youtube link in text and put some random text after the youtube url, regexp matches way more than needed. Improved Chris Nolet answer:

_x000D_
_x000D_
/^.*(?:youtu.be\/|v\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/|watch\?v=)([^#\&\?]{11,11}).*/
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


The best solution (from 2019-2021) I found is that:

function YouTubeGetID(url){
   url = url.split(/(vi\/|v=|\/v\/|youtu\.be\/|\/embed\/)/);
   return (url[2] !== undefined) ? url[2].split(/[^0-9a-z_\-]/i)[0] : url[0];
}

I found it here.

/*
* Tested URLs:
var url = 'http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/4e_kz79tjb8?version=3';
url = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=g-vrec&v=Y1xs_xPb46M';
url = 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ab25nviakcw#';
url = 'http://youtu.be/Ab25nviakcw';
url = 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab25nviakcw';
url = '<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ab25nviakcw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>';
url = '<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/Ab25nviakcw?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/Ab25nviakcw?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>';
url = 'http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/Ab25nviakcw/default.jpg';
url = 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGL22PTIOAM&feature=g-all-xit';
url = 'BGL22PTIOAM';
*/

This regex matches embed, share and link URLs.

const youTubeIdFromLink = (url) => url.match(/(?:https?:\/\/)?(?:www\.)?youtu(?:be)?\.(?:com|be)(?:\/watch\/?\?v=|\/embed\/|\/)([^\s&]+)/)[1];

console.log(youTubeIdFromLink('https://youtu.be/YOUTUBE_ID')); //YOUTUBE_ID
console.log(youTubeIdFromLink('https://www.youtube.com/embed/YOUTUBE_ID')); //YOUTUBE_ID
console.log(youTubeIdFromLink('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUTUBE_ID')); //YOUTUBE_ID

var video_url = document.getElementById('youtubediv').value;
        if(video_url!=""){
        ytid(video_url);
        document.getElementById("youtube").setAttribute("src","http://www.youtube.com/embed/"+ytid(video_url));
        }
        function ytid(video_url){
            var video_id = video_url.split('v=')[1];
            var ampersandPosition = video_id.indexOf('&');
            if(ampersandPosition != -1) {
                video_id = video_id.substring(0, ampersandPosition);
            }
            return video_id;
        }

i hope it can help


I simplified Lasnv's answer a bit.

It also fixes the bug that WebDeb describes.

Here it is:

var regExp = /^.*(youtu\.be\/|v\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/|watch\?v=|\&v=)([^#\&\?]*).*/;
var match = url.match(regExp);
if (match && match[2].length == 11) {
  return match[2];
} else {
  //error
}

Here is a regexer link to play with: http://regexr.com/3dnqv


Simple regex if you have the full URL, keep it simple.

results = url.match("v=([a-zA-Z0-9]+)&?")
videoId = results[1] // watch you need.

videoId = videoUrl.split('v=')[1].substring(0,11);

Here comes the Powerful Python

import pytube

yt = pytube.YouTube("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwM2ApskJy4")

video_id = yt.video_id

print("video id from utl..",video_id)

A slightly changed version from the one mantish posted:

var regExp = /^.*(youtu.be\/|v\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/|watch\?v=|\&v=)([^#\&\?]{11,11}).*/;
var match = url.match(regExp);
if (match) if (match.length >= 2) return match[2];
// error

This assumes the code is always 11 characters. I'm using this in ActionScript, not sure if {11,11} is supported in Javascript. Also added support for &v=.... (just in case)


Late to the game here, but I've mashed up two excellent responses from mantish and j-w. First, the modified regex:

const youtube_regex = /^.*(youtu\.be\/|vi?\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/|\?vi?=|\&vi?=)([^#\&\?]*).*/

Here's the test code (I've added mantish's original test cases to j-w's nastier ones):

 var urls = [
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index',
      'http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/a/u/1/QdK8U-VIH_o',
      'http://www.youtube.com/v/0zM3nApSvMg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg#t=0m10s',
      'http://www.youtube.com/embed/0zM3nApSvMg?rel=0',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg',
      'http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg',
      '//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/up_lNV-yoK4?rel=0',
      'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZDdG9FTKY&feature=channel',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-K7nCVnBI&playnext_from=TL&videos=osPknwzXEas&feature=sub',
      'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=NRHVzbJVx8I',
      'http://www.youtube.com/user/SilkRoadTheatre#p/a/u/2/6dwqZw0j_jY',
      'http://youtu.be/6dwqZw0j_jY',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwqZw0j_jY&feature=youtu.be',
      'http://youtu.be/afa-5HQHiAs',
      'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo?rel=0',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZDdG9FTKY&feature=channel',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-K7nCVnBI&playnext_from=TL&videos=osPknwzXEas&feature=sub',
      'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=NRHVzbJVx8I',
      'http://www.youtube.com/embed/nas1rJpm7wY?rel=0',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peFZbP64dsU',
      'http://youtube.com/v/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtube.com/?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtube.com/?vi=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtube.com/watch?vi=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
      'http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player'
  ];

  var failures = 0;
  urls.forEach(url => {
    const parsed = url.match(youtube_regex);
    if (parsed && parsed[2]) {
      console.log(parsed[2]);
    } else {
      failures++;
      console.error(url, parsed);
    }
  });
  if (failures) {
    console.error(failures, 'failed');
  }

Experimental version to handle the m.youtube urls mentioned in comments:

const youtube_regex = /^.*((m\.)?youtu\.be\/|vi?\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/|\?vi?=|\&vi?=)([^#\&\?]*).*/

It requires parsed[2] to be changed to parsed[3] in two places in the tests (which it then passes with m.youtube urls added to the tests). Let me know if you see problems.


None of these worked on the kitchen sink as of 1/1/2015, notably URLs without protocal http/s and with youtube-nocookie domain. So here's a modified version that works on all these various Youtube versions:

// Just the regex. Output is in [1].
/^.*(?:(?:youtu\.be\/|v\/|vi\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/)|(?:(?:watch)?\?v(?:i)?=|\&v(?:i)?=))([^#\&\?]*).*/

// For testing.
var urls = [
    '//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/up_lNV-yoK4?rel=0',
    'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZDdG9FTKY&feature=channel',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-K7nCVnBI&playnext_from=TL&videos=osPknwzXEas&feature=sub',
    'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=NRHVzbJVx8I',
    'http://www.youtube.com/user/SilkRoadTheatre#p/a/u/2/6dwqZw0j_jY',
    'http://youtu.be/6dwqZw0j_jY',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwqZw0j_jY&feature=youtu.be',
    'http://youtu.be/afa-5HQHiAs',
    'http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo?rel=0',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZDdG9FTKY&feature=channel',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-K7nCVnBI&playnext_from=TL&videos=osPknwzXEas&feature=sub',
    'http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=NRHVzbJVx8I',
    'http://www.youtube.com/embed/nas1rJpm7wY?rel=0',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peFZbP64dsU',
    'http://youtube.com/v/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtube.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtube.com/?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtube.com/?vi=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtube.com/watch?vi=dQw4w9WgXcQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player',
    'http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=youtube_gdata_player'
];

var i, r, rx = /^.*(?:(?:youtu\.be\/|v\/|vi\/|u\/\w\/|embed\/)|(?:(?:watch)?\?v(?:i)?=|\&v(?:i)?=))([^#\&\?]*).*/;

for (i = 0; i < urls.length; ++i) {
    r = urls[i].match(rx);
    console.log(r[1]);
}

In C#, it looks like this:

public static string GetYouTubeId(string url) {
    var regex = @"(?:youtube\.com\/(?:[^\/]+\/.+\/|(?:v|e(?:mbed)?|watch)\/|.*[?&amp;]v=)|youtu\.be\/)([^""&amp;?\/ ]{11})";

    var match = Regex.Match(url, regex);

    if (match.Success)
    {
        return match.Groups[1].Value;
    }

    return url;
  }

Feel free to modify.


I made some slight changes to mantish's regex to include all test cases from J W's and matx's answers; since it didn't work on all of them initially. Further changes might be required, but as far as I can tell this at least covers the majority of links:

/(?:[?&]vi?=|\/embed\/|\/\d\d?\/|\/vi?\/|https?:\/\/(?:www\.)?youtu\.be\/)([^&\n?#]+)/

var url = ''; // get it from somewhere

var youtubeRegExp = /(?:[?&]vi?=|\/embed\/|\/\d\d?\/|\/vi?\/|https?:\/\/(?:www\.)?youtu\.be\/)([^&\n?#]+)/;
var match = url.match( youtubeRegExp );

if( match && match[ 1 ].length == 11 ) {
    url = match[ 1 ];
} else {
    // error
}

For further testing:

http://regexr.com/3fp84


I made a small function to extract the video id out of a Youtube url which can be seen below.

_x000D_
_x000D_
var videoId = function(url) {_x000D_
   var match = url.match(/v=([0-9a-z_-]{1,20})/i);_x000D_
   return (match ? match['1'] : false);_x000D_
};_x000D_
_x000D_
console.log(videoId('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'));_x000D_
console.log(videoId('https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17s&v=dQw4w9WgXcQ'));_x000D_
console.log(videoId('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=17s'));
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

This function will extract the video id even if there are multiple parameters in the url.


If someone needs the perfect function in Kotlin to save their time. Just hoping this helps

fun extractYTId(ytUrl: String?): String? {
    var vId: String? = null
    val pattern = Pattern.compile(
        "^https?://.*(?:youtu.be/|v/|u/\\w/|embed/|watch?v=)([^#&?]*).*$",
        Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE
    )
    val matcher = pattern.matcher(ytUrl)
    if (matcher.matches()) {
        vId = matcher.group(1)
    }
    return vId
}

Well, the way to do it with simple parsing would be: get everything starting after the first = sign to the first & sign.

I think they had a similiar answer here:

Parsing a Vimeo ID using JavaScript?


You can use the following code to get the YouTube video ID from a URL:

url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg"
VID_REGEX = /(?:youtube(?:-nocookie)?\.com\/(?:[^\/\n\s]+\/\S+\/|(?:v|e(?:mbed)?)\/|\S*?[?&]v=)|youtu\.be\/)([a-zA-Z0-9_-]{11})/
alert(url.match(VID_REGEX)[1]);

Given that YouTube has a variety of URL styles, I think Regex is a better solution. Here is my Regex:

^.*(youtu.be\/|v\/|embed\/|watch\?|youtube.com\/user\/[^#]*#([^\/]*?\/)*)\??v?=?([^#\&\?]*).*

Group 3 has your YouTube ID

Sample YouTube URLs (currently, including "legacy embed URL style") - the above Regex works on all of them:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0zM3nApSvMg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0zM3nApSvMg?rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg
http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg#t=0m10s
http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/a/u/1/QdK8U-VIH_o

Hat tip to Lasnv


/^.*(youtu.be\/|v\/|e\/|u\/\w+\/|embed\/|v=)([^#\&\?]*).*/

Tested on:

  • http://www.youtube.com/v/0zM3nApSvMg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0
  • http://www.youtube.com/embed/0zM3nApSvMg?rel=0
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg&feature=feedrec_grec_index
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg
  • http://youtu.be/0zM3nApSvMg
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM3nApSvMg#t=0m10s
  • http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/a/u/1/KdwsulMb8EQ
  • http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/v/dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/e/dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/?feature=player_embedded&v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • http://www.youtube.com/user/IngridMichaelsonVEVO#p/u/11/KdwsulMb8EQ
  • http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/6L3ZvIMwZFM?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

Inspired by this other answer.


I have summed up all the suggestions and here is the universal and short answer to this question:

if(url.match('http://(www.)?youtube|youtu\.be')){
    youtube_id=url.split(/v\/|v=|youtu\.be\//)[1].split(/[?&]/)[0];
}

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