YouTube Migration Tool

As of Friday, October 3, 2025, any existing or new YouTube videos added to Canvas courses may display ads. To prevent ads from displaying, Instructure has released their YouTube Migration tool which will provide a distraction-free and uninterrupted learning experience. YouTube videos are migrated to the Canvas Studio video player interface and placed in a Collection folder within your Canvas Studio Library.

Beginning on Friday, October 3, 2025, YouTube videos that have not been migrated to Canvas Studio will display an overlay message similar to:

A screenshot of an embedded video player within a Canvas course displays the title "Earth Zoom In Realistic Clouds With Alpha Matte". A central message reads, "This video may display YouTube ads," below which is a play button with the text "Continue to YouTube content". A "Watch on YouTube" button is in the bottom left corner, and a "Copy link" button is in the top right. The video's thumbnail shows a still image of Earth from space.

On the Canvas mobile apps, the message will be displayed at the top of the page where the YouTube video is located.

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Closed Captions

Captions from YouTube will carry over to your migrated videos in Canvas Studio. However, these captions cannot be edited. All YouTube content added on or after January 1, 2023, will have captions carried over into Canvas Studio by September 1, 2025. Content added before January 1, 2023, will display captions by October 31, 2025.

With respect to unlisted YouTube videos that are embedded in Canvas courses, captions will not be carried over from YouTube, even if the video later becomes public. In order to access the captions, you will need to re-add it to your Studio library.

What Will My Migrated Video Look Like?

A screenshot of an embedded YouTube video player displays the title "How to Use the CCS Weekly Module Template". The video's thumbnail shows the Canvas interface with a modal window titled "Edit Module Settings" open. A large red play button is in the center of the player, with a "Copy link" button in the top right corner and a "Watch on YouTube" button in the bottom left corner.
Before Migration
A screenshot of a Canvas Studio video player interface displays an embedded YouTube video. The center of the player features a large red play button. The video thumbnail shows a view of the Canvas LMS with an "Edit Module Settings" modal window open, where a yellow circle highlights the module name field. The player's bottom control bar includes a play/pause icon, a volume control, a progress bar indicating the time is "0:00 / 2:11", a settings gear icon, and a full-screen button. A white YouTube logo is visible in the bottom right corner of the thumbnail, and another black YouTube logo is in the bottom right of the player frame.
After Migration

Using the YouTube Migration Tool

The YouTube Migration tool can be found on your Canvas course navigation menu on the left side of your screen.

  1. Click on the YouTube Migration course navigation link in your course.
A screenshot of the Canvas interface displays the dark purple Global Navigation menu on the left, featuring icons for "Studio" and "Help." To the right, the course navigation menu lists links for "Quizzes," "BigBlueButton," "Course Analytics," "YouTube Migration," and "Settings." A yellow circular callout with the number "1" is positioned next to the "YouTube Migration" link, highlighting its location.
  1. On the YouTube Content Migration screen, click either the Scan Course button on the top right corner of the screen or the Scan Course link on the bottom of the screen.
A screenshot of the "YouTube Content Migration" tool in Canvas displays the title and a description explaining that it helps identify YouTube videos in the course that may display ads. Below the text is a simple illustration of a desert scene with cacti, rocks, a sun, and a tumbleweed. The message "You haven't scanned your course yet" is centered at the bottom. Two "Scan Course" buttons are present, one in the top right corner and another at the bottom center, both highlighted with a yellow circular callout containing the number '2'.

When the scan has been completed, Canvas will display a list of content pages in your course where it has found YouTube media. A total count of YouTube content displays at the top of the screen.

  1. The following columns are shown:
    1. Canvas Resource: A link to the resource in your course. Click on the link to view the content.
    2. Content Type: The type of content (Page, Discussion, Assignment, Quiz, etc.).
    3. YouTube Content: Displays the number of YouTube videos identified on the given page.
    4. Action: Click the Review button to review the YouTube videos for the given resource.
A screenshot of the YouTube Content Migration results page in the Canvas LMS displays a prominent heading at the top that reads "14 YouTube content detected". Below this heading is a table with four columns, which are marked with yellow letters A, B, C, and D. The column headers are "Canvas Resource" (A), "Content Type" (B), "YouTube Content" (C), and "Action" (D). The table contains six rows of data, listing various "Canvas Resource" pages such as "How to Use the Weekly Module Template", "Week 4: Warm-Up Exercise", "UDOIT Advantage", "05 Video", "Teaching with Technology", and "Muppets - What Floor?". For each of these resources, the "Content Type" is specified as a "Page". The "YouTube Content" column indicates the number of videos found on each page, with values of 2, 4, 2, 4, 1, and 1, respectively. The final "Action" column provides a "Review" button for each row.
  1. After clicking on the Review button (above), click on the Convert button to convert a YouTube video Canvas Studio. When all videos for a given resource page have been converted, click on the Close button at the bottom of the window to return to the YouTube Content Migration screen.
A screenshot from the Canvas LMS displays a list of YouTube videos available for conversion. The first video in the list is titled "What is color? - Colm Kelleher". Directly below this video player is a dark purple button labeled "Convert," which is highlighted by a yellow circular callout containing the number '4'. Below the convert button, a second YouTube video is partially visible with the title "The Color Of The Dress According To Scie...".
  1. An ✔️All Converted label will display indicating all YouTube videos for a given Canvas Resource have been migrated successfully. The YouTube content detected number at the top of the screen will update according.
A screenshot of the YouTube content migration results in Canvas shows a table with the heading "9 YouTube content detected". The table lists six "Canvas Resources" with their "Content Type" (all Pages), the count of "YouTube Content" found, and an "Action" button. Two resources, "05 Video" and "Teaching with Technology", are marked with a green "All Converted" badge and a checkmark, showing '0' under "YouTube Content" and no action button. The other four resources—"How to Use the Weekly Module Template...", "Week 4: Warm-Up Exercise", "UDOIT Advantage", and "Muppets - What Floor?"—show counts of 2, 4, 2, and 1 YouTube videos respectively, and each has a "Review" button in the "Action" column. Yellow circular callouts with the number '5' highlight the "All Converted" badges for the "05 Video" and "Teaching with Technology" rows.

Finding Migrated Videos in Canvas Studio

Your migrated YouTube videos are located in Canvas Studio, but not exactly where you might expect to see them.

  1. In Canvas, click on the Studio icon on the far left-hand global navigation menu.
    • If this is your first time accessing Canvas Studio, you may be prompted to authenticate your CCS e-mail address.
  2. On the My Library screen of Studio, click on the Course Collections folder on the left side of the screen.
A screenshot of a navigation menu within Canvas Studio shows three list items with corresponding icons: "Shared Library", "Course Collections", and "Archive". A yellow circular callout containing the number '2' is positioned next to the "Course Collections" label, highlighting it. To the right of the "Course Collections" entry is an eye icon representing visibility settings.

The Course Collections folder will open.

  1. Find and click on the name of your course where you had just migrated YouTube videos.

Your migrated videos will display on the screen. Click on the name of a video to:

  • Edit details of the YouTube video.
  • Upload captions via a *.vtt or *.srt file, or create from scratch.

Disabling the YouTube Migration Tool

The YouTube Migration tool is not visible to students in your left-hand Canvas course navigation menu (even though it does not have the crossed-out eye icon next to it). However, if you do not have YouTube videos in your course, you may not want to see the YouTube Migration link visible in your course. To disable the link in your Canvas course:

  1. Click on the Settings link on the left-hand course navigation menu.
  2. Click on the Feature Options tab at the top of the screen.
  3. Look for the YouTube to Studio content migration row. Click the ✅ green checkmark, and select Disabled. This will change the icon to a red ❌. Changes are immediate. There is no Save button.
    • You may need to refresh your menu so that the YouTube Migration course navigation menu link disappears. You can do this by, for example, clicking on your course Home link, or by pressing F5 on your keyboard.

Additional Resources

Migrate Embedded YouTube Videos

How do I migrate embedded YouTube videos in Canvas to Studio content for distraction-free viewing?