IMPORTANT NEWS: Starting September 22nd, 2025, YouTube may display ads in videos that have been embedded in your course using the embed tool (1) or the YouTube LTI app (2).

YouTube app on dropdown menu and embed tool in RCE

A Partial Solution

Canvas has created a way to embed PUBLIC YouTube videos in your course without ads: They have integrated the YouTube Player for Education into Canvas Studio, so you can bring YouTube videos into Studio and then embed them in your course to avoid displaying ads.

⚠️For UNLISTED YouTube videos, beware: The migration tool does NOT bring along captions, rendering previously accessible videos inaccessible. Please read this page carefully before acting—we don’t want your captions to be lost.

There are a lot of unknowns, but for now these are our recommendations for migrating videos to maintain accessibility.

Videos That Can Be Migrated

Public YouTube Videos with Captions

Good news! The YouTube Player for Education works seamlessly with public YouTube videos, whether you or someone else has created them. Any PUBLIC YouTube video that you migrate to your Studio Library will benefit from:

Ad-free viewing experience: Learners will not be distracted with ads or video recommendations.
Captions will automatically carry over from YouTube into Canvas Studio.

Videos That Can Be Migrated with Extra Steps

Unlisted Videos You Created

The YouTube Player for Education does NOT import captions along with unlisted YouTube videos. For unlisted YouTube videos you have created, you have two choices:

Leave the video embedded as it has been, using the YouTube player.
If you prefer the new player, follow this workaround: Make your video public, migrate it into Studio, and then, if you wish, make it Unlisted again after the migration is complete. See video in FAQs below for a walkthrough of this process.

Videos You Should Not Migrate

Unlisted Videos Created by Someone Else

Because the captions won’t come along, if you use an unlisted video created by someone else, do NOT migrate it into Canvas Studio. Keep it embedded using the YouTube player. That way, the captions will be retained, and the video will remain accessible.

YouTube Videos in PlayPosit

PlayPosit for the win! If you have a YouTube video in PlayPosit, do not migrate. PlayPosit is already using the YouTube Player for Education and will not display ads. It will, however, display captions for public and unlisted videos.🎉

How to Use the YouTube Migration Tool

The migration tool needs to be activated at the course level. The process is simple, and you can re-embed your videos in only a few steps.

The 3-minute video walkthrough below demonstrates how to switch on the tool, scan the videos in your course, and migrate the ones you select to Canvas Studio. And this video has been migrated using this tool, so you can see what the player is like.

You can also read the step-by-step guide: How do I migrate embedded YouTube videos in Canvas to Studio content for distraction-free viewing?

Frequently Asked Questions

My video is embedded using the SmartPlayer from SWC’s Captioning Service. What should I do?

No need to do anything. We don’t know if videos will display ads within the SmartPlayer. Once we find out, we will update you.

Are there YouTube videos I should not migrate into Studio?

Not all YouTube videos should be migrated. See the above “Videos You Should Not Migrate” section for details.

How can I tell if a YouTube video is Unlisted?

Select the name of your embedded video to go to the video in YouTube:

Linked title of YouTube video

Next, look under the video. Do you see “Unlisted” under the video’s title? If so, this is an Unlisted video. If not, it is Public.

"Unlisted" displays under the video on its YouTube page

What if I discover one of my videos needs captions?

Southwestern College offers FREE captioning for instructional videos. You can learn about it here: SWC Instructional Video Captioning Process

Help and Support

if you experience any issues or have questions, please contact the Online Learning Center at onlinelearning@swccd.edu or (619) 482-6595, Monday-Friday, 8am-4:30pm.