🔹 YouTube URL Cleaner

Use YouTube's Share button and the link you get back is not just the video. It carries a si= parameter — a share identifier that connects the person who clicks to the person who shared. Links copied from the address bar carry their own baggage: playlist context, autoplay position, and the channel you happened to be browsing.

Paste any YouTube URL below to get the short youtu.be form, with your timestamp preserved.

What gets attached to a YouTube link

Parameter	What it does	Removed?
`v`	The video ID. The one parameter that actually identifies the video.	Kept (moved into the youtu.be path)
`t`	Start timestamp in seconds. If you set a start time before copying, this is what carries it.	Kept
`si`	Share identifier, added by the Share button. Links the click back to the share event that produced it.	Yes
`pp`	An encoded parameter carrying playback and surface context.	Yes
`feature`	Records where the click came from — `share`, `youtu.be`, an embed, and so on.	Yes
`ab_channel`	The channel name appended when copying from certain views.	Yes
`list, index`	Playlist context. Anyone opening the link inherits the playlist you were in rather than just the video.	Yes

Before and after

Before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=42&si=hK3nR9pQ2mF7&list=PLxyz123&index=4&ab_channel=SomeChannel

After

https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=42

The si= parameter

si appeared on YouTube share links in 2023 and it is the reason a shared link is longer than it used to be. It is tied to the share action, not to the video, which means a link you post publicly with si intact associates every subsequent click with your original share.

Removing it changes nothing about playback. The video opens identically, at the same timestamp, for everyone.

Redirect links in video descriptions

Links in a video description are not direct either. YouTube wraps them in youtube.com/redirect?q=… so the click can be counted before you are forwarded. The real destination sits URL-encoded in the q parameter. Paste one of those into the box above and you will get the actual destination back.

Keeping your timestamp

A common frustration with manual cleaning is losing the start time. If you cut a YouTube URL at the ?, the t parameter goes with it and the video restarts from zero. This tool treats t as content rather than tracking and carries it across to the short form.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is the si parameter in a YouTube link?

si is a share identifier that YouTube attaches to links generated by the Share button. It associates clicks with the share that produced them. It is not required for the video to play.

Is youtu.be the same as youtube.com?

Yes. youtu.be is YouTube's own official short domain. youtu.be/VIDEOID opens the same video as youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID.

Does cleaning a YouTube link remove the timestamp?

No. The t parameter is preserved, so a link that starts at 1:22 still starts at 1:22 after cleaning.

What about youtube.com/redirect links?

Those are the wrapped links used in video descriptions. Paste one in and the tool extracts the real destination from the q parameter.