When to use it
Product packaging with a how-to video, exhibition labels with a documentary clip, gig posters with a live session, instruction manuals with an assembly video, school newsletters with a recorded concert. A video code turns a static object into a demonstration, and the start time parameter lets you skip the intro.
The example code on this page points at getqrstudio.app, because we do not encode third party accounts here. Yours will follow the pattern above.
How it behaves on phones
iPhone: the Camera app shows a banner naming youtu.be or youtube.com. Tapping it opens the YouTube app at the video if installed, through the universal link, and playback starts. Otherwise Safari opens the mobile site and the person taps play.
Android: most Android scanners open the link and Android routes it to the YouTube app, which is installed on almost every Android phone. Playback starts at the time you set.
Common mistake
Encoding the full address from the browser bar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID&list=PLxxxx&index=3&ab_channel=Name. That is 90 or more characters for a link the youtu.be form covers in 28. Use the Share button and strip anything after the video ID except ?t=.
Gotchas
youtu.be versus youtube.com. https://youtu.be/VIDEOID is 28 characters and fits version 2 at level M, 25 modules wide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID is 43 and needs version 3. Both open the same video. The short domain is owned by YouTube, so it carries none of the risk of a third party shortener.
Start time. ?t=42 starts 42 seconds in. ?t=1m30s also works in most contexts, but plain seconds is the safe form. On youtube.com use &t= because ?v= is already there.
Videos disappear. A video can be deleted, made private or removed for a copyright claim. If the code will be in print for years, link to the channel, or use a dynamic code you can repoint at a replacement.
Shorts. Shorts links look like https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEOID. They open in the Shorts player in the app. The youtu.be form of the same ID opens it as a normal video.
Tracking. Share links add ?si= followed by 16 characters. It is a share tracking parameter and does nothing for the viewer. Remove it.
Try it in QR Studio
QR Studio has a YouTube type. Paste any YouTube link and it extracts the video ID, builds the short form, and adds the start time you choose.
Print advice
Level M, Q if the code carries a play button logo. Packaging and manuals are scanned up close at 2.5 to 3 cm. A poster read from 2 m needs 20 cm. Put the video title and length beside the code, for example “Watch the 3 minute setup video”, so people know the commitment before they scan.
Try it yourself
Paste the long and short forms of a video link and see which code version each needs.