Which YouTube embed parameters still work?
The generator uses the parameters YouTube documents for its embedded player:
Older parameters such as modestbranding and showinfo are deprecated and do nothing, so the generator leaves them out. The Start muted option adds mute=1, which isn't on YouTube's documented list. It's widely used, but treat it as best effort.
- start and end: whole seconds, and end counts from the beginning of the video, not from the start time
- autoplay=1: plays on load, though browsers usually block it unless the video is muted
- loop=1: repeats the video, and a single video only loops when playlist is set to its own ID
- controls=0: hides the player controls
- cc_load_policy=1: shows captions by default
What is privacy-enhanced mode?
Privacy-enhanced mode loads the player from youtube-nocookie.com instead of youtube.com. YouTube says views in this mode aren't used to personalize the viewer's YouTube experience, and any ads shown are non-personalized.
It doesn't change your other obligations. If your site is aimed at children, YouTube still requires you to designate it as child-directed.
Why won't my embedded YouTube video play?
The common causes, from YouTube's help center and developer policies:
- The owner turned off embedding by unchecking Allow embedding in YouTube Studio
- The video is age-restricted, and those can't be watched on most third-party sites
- Error 153 means the page sent no referrer; the generated code uses strict-origin-when-cross-origin, the policy YouTube recommends
- The player is smaller than YouTube's 200 x 200 pixel minimum; for 16:9 it recommends at least 480 x 270