Can I keep the timestamp in the link?

Yes. If your link includes a start time (the t parameter), it is preserved, so the video opens at the exact moment you chose.

Which tracking parameters are removed?

Everything except the video ID, playlist, and timestamp is stripped — so referral and campaign tags are not baked into your code.

Does the QR code expire?

No. The YouTube URL is encoded directly into the code, so it works as long as the video or channel exists on YouTube.

Can I download the QR code as PNG and SVG?

Yes. The code renders on a canvas you can save as a PNG, and there is also a vector SVG download that stays crisp at any print size, from a slide thumbnail to a poster.

Will a bare 11-character video ID work?

Yes. If you paste an 11-character ID like dQw4w9WgXcQ, the tool expands it to a full https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=… link before encoding it.

What error correction level does the code use?

It uses level M (medium), which can recover from roughly 15% damage. That balances scan reliability with a code that stays compact enough for short YouTube URLs.

Why is the QR code red?

The foreground is drawn in YouTube red on a white background for instant brand recognition. The colours do not affect scanning as long as there is strong contrast.

YouTube Link QR Code Generator

Turn a YouTube link into a QR code

Paste a YouTube video, playlist, or channel link — or just the 11-character video ID — and get a QR code that opens it instantly. Put it on a slide, a flyer, business card, or product packaging so people can jump straight to your content with a phone camera.

How it works

The tool first normalises whatever you paste. A bare 11-character ID is expanded to a full watch?v= URL. A full link is parsed and rebuilt keeping only three parameters — v (video), list (playlist) and t (start time) — so referral and campaign tracking tags are stripped out. The cleaned URL is then encoded into a QR code on a canvas using medium (level M) error correction, drawn in YouTube red on white. You can save it as a PNG raster or a scalable SVG vector.

Because the destination URL is baked directly into the pattern, the code never expires and needs no shortener or redirect service.

Example

Paste https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=42&utm_source=newsletter. The tool keeps the video ID and the 42-second start time but drops the utm_source tag, encoding https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=42. Scanning the result opens the video at 0:42.

Pasted input	Encoded result
11-char video ID	`youtube.com/watch?v=…`
Link with `?t=90`	timestamp preserved
Link with `utm_` tags	tracking tags removed

The code is generated entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.