strikethrough.text

YouTube, copy and paste

Strikethrough on YouTube -hyphens- in comments

In comments, wrap words in hyphens: -like this-. Titles and descriptions don’t format, so paste Unicode there.

18 characters, 3 words
Ctrl + Enter copies the first result

Posting to

Struck through, this is 36 characters: fits YouTube title (100) · fits YouTube description (5,000)

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.

  • YouTube comments-Best tutorial ever-
  • strikethroughB̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶u̶t̶o̶r̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶
  • short strikeB̵e̵s̵t̵ ̵t̵u̵t̵o̵r̵i̵a̵l̵ ̵e̵v̵e̵r̵
  • wavy strikeB̴e̴s̴t̴ ̴t̴u̴t̴o̴r̴i̴a̴l̴ ̴e̴v̴e̴r̴
  • slashB̷e̷s̷t̷ ̷t̷u̷t̷o̷r̷i̷a̷l̷ ̷e̷v̷e̷r̷
  • long slashB̸e̸s̸t̸ ̸t̸u̸t̸o̸r̸i̸a̸l̸ ̸e̸v̸e̸r̸
  • double slashB̸̷e̸̷s̸̷t̸̷ ̸̷t̸̷u̸̷t̸̷o̸̷r̸̷i̸̷a̸̷l̸̷ ̸̷e̸̷v̸̷e̸̷r̸̷
  • strike + underlineB̶̲e̶̲s̶̲t̶̲ ̶̲t̶̲u̶̲t̶̲o̶̲r̶̲i̶̲a̶̲l̶̲ ̶̲e̶̲v̶̲e̶̲r̶̲
  • strike + overlineB̶̅e̶̅s̶̅t̶̅ ̶̅t̶̅u̶̅t̶̅o̶̅r̶̅i̶̅a̶̅l̶̅ ̶̅e̶̅v̶̅e̶̅r̶̅
  • underlineB̲e̲s̲t̲ ̲t̲u̲t̲o̲r̲i̲a̲l̲ ̲e̲v̲e̲r̲
  • double underlineB̳e̳s̳t̳ ̳t̳u̳t̳o̳r̳i̳a̳l̳ ̳e̳v̳e̳r̳
  • overlineB̅e̅s̅t̅ ̅t̅u̅t̅o̅r̅i̅a̅l̅ ̅e̅v̅e̅r̅
  • dottedB̤e̤s̤t̤ ̤t̤ṳt̤o̤r̤i̤a̤l̤ ̤e̤v̤e̤r̤
  • waveB̰ḛs̰t̰ ̰t̰ṵt̰o̰r̰ḭa̰l̰ ̰ḛv̰ḛr̰
  • x belowB͓e͓s͓t͓ ͓t͓u͓t͓o͓r͓i͓a͓l͓ ͓e͓v͓e͓r͓
  • redacted██████████████████

Updated · strikethroughtext.online

Comments: the hyphen trick

YouTube comments support three bits of formatting, and strikethrough is one of them. Wrap the text in hyphens:

-first- second!

That posts as “first second!” Bold is *text* and italic is _text_, and you can combine them: *-bold and struck-*.

The hyphens need to touch the words and sit at a word boundary. A hyphen in the middle of a word, like self-aware, stays a hyphen. If a comment won’t format, check for a space just inside the hyphens.

Titles and descriptions

Video titles and descriptions are plain text, so the hyphen trick does nothing there. Unicode strikethrough does display, because it’s made of characters rather than formatting. Copy it from the tool above.

Should you, though? Two costs to weigh:

Length. Titles are capped at 100 characters, and strikethrough doubles the length of each struck word. Strike one word at most.

Search. YouTube matches titles and descriptions against what people type. A struck-through word isn’t the same string as the plain word, so it won’t help you rank for it. Never strike the keyword your video is about. Strike the joke word, not the topic.

A pattern that works: “My Perfect Third Attempt at Sourdough”. Sourdough stays plain and searchable, and the struck word adds the personality.

Community posts and live chat

Unicode strikethrough displays anywhere text does: community posts, live chat, channel names (subject to YouTube’s channel name rules) and playlist titles. Test in a draft or an unlisted playlist first if the placement matters.

Removing it later

If you need the plain text back, for example to fix an old title, paste it into the remove formatting tool. It strips the line marks and leaves everything else.

Questions people ask

How do you strikethrough text in a YouTube comment?

Put a hyphen right before and right after the words: -like this-. When you post the comment, YouTube shows the text with a line through it. Bold uses *asterisks* and italic uses _underscores_.

Why is my YouTube strikethrough not working?

The hyphens have to touch the text, with a space or line start before the first one. -like this- works, but - like this - and word-like-this do not. Hyphens inside words are treated as normal hyphens.

Can I use strikethrough in a YouTube video title?

Titles do not support formatting, but Unicode strikethrough displays. Be careful: titles are limited to 100 characters, each struck letter counts as two, and struck words do not match search terms, which can hurt discovery.

Keep going