# How to clean a YouTube share link

- Canonical: https://linkclean.app/guides/clean-youtube-link/
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Author: Ken Tominaga (https://ken0nek.com)
- Get the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/linkclean/id6758604043

> YouTube's share button adds ?si=<token> to track who shared the link. Strip si= but keep t= (the timestamp) — LinkClean does this automatically, host-scoped to youtube.com / youtu.be so it doesn't touch t= or si= on other sites.

YouTube's share dialog gives you a link that looks like https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=AbCdEf12345 (or a longer youtube.com URL with the same si=). That si parameter is a “share identifier” YouTube uses to credit the share and link the click back to whoever pressed Share.

If the video has a start-at-N-seconds timestamp, you'll also see &t=42 (or just ?t=42 on its own). Critically, t= is functional — strip it and the video starts from the beginning, which is usually not what you wanted.

## Steps

1. **Use the share sheet, not the YouTube share button** — From the YouTube app, copy the link normally (or use the system share-sheet → LinkClean's Clean URL action). LinkClean strips si= and leaves t= intact. The cleaned link starts at the same timestamp, with no share token attached.
2. **Or paste into the LinkClean app** — Paste the YouTube URL. You'll see si= called out as “stripped” and t= preserved. Copy the result back.
3. **Verify the timestamp survived** — Open the cleaned link in a private tab. If you had a timestamp, the video should jump there. If it didn't, you can tell at a glance — and if it's wrong, the original is one undo away.
4. **Why this is harder than it sounds** — A naive cleaner that strips every parameter would also strip t= and break the timestamp. LinkClean's catalog scopes the YouTube cleaning rules to youtube.com / youtu.be hosts, so a parameter called si= on a different site (where it might be functional) is left alone, and t= is preserved everywhere.

If you've used a URL shortener to share a YouTube video and the shortener added its own parameters, paste the short link into LinkClean. It'll expand and clean in one step (E1 redirect unwrapping — short-link domains like t.co and bit.ly are followed locally, then the destination URL gets the same treatment).

## Related

- [What is fbclid, and what does it leak?](https://linkclean.app/trackers/fbclid/)
- [What's hidden in a share link?](https://linkclean.app/learn/whats-hidden-in-a-share-link/)
- [How to remove UTM parameters from a link](https://linkclean.app/guides/remove-utm-parameters/)
- [How to clean an X (Twitter) share link](https://linkclean.app/guides/clean-x-twitter-link/)


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LinkClean removes tracking parameters from links on-device — free to clean, one-time Pro. https://linkclean.app/ · Cite freely with attribution.