How to cite a video in Harvard
A video hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or a similar platform. Author-date style widely used in UK universities. Many local variants exist.
Quick answer
To cite a video in Harvard, include the author(s), year, title, and container or publisher details. A concrete example is below.
Example
Academic Writing Hub (2023) How to format a reference list, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example.
This example is rendered with the official CSL definition for Harvard. For the exact style required by your journal, paste your references into DEEPNOTIS and pick that style from the dropdown — the app covers 2,800+ variants.
What you need
For a video, Harvard expects these fields at minimum:
- Uploader / creator
- Year (and date for some styles)
- Video title
- Platform (YouTube, Vimeo…)
- URL
Common mistakes
- Mixing bibliography formatting with in-text citation rules. Reference-list entries and in-text cites follow different patterns — use the style's official guide for both.
- Forgetting the DOI. When a DOI exists, most styles now require it (usually as a full https://doi.org/… URL).
- Inconsistent capitalization. APA uses sentence case for titles; MLA and Chicago use title case. Mixing them is the single most common style error.
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Last updated: 5 May 2026