Canvas Studio Will Soon Offer a Secure, Distraction Free YouTube Experience for Educators and Students

AkosFarago · ‎08-08-2025

What’s changing?

At Instructure, we believe educational technology should amplify teaching, not add complexity. That is why we are excited to announce a new integration between Canvas Studio and YouTube’s Player for Education. This offers educators a unique, distraction free, education focused video experience built for privacy, security, and accessibility.

Why?

Video has become an essential part of modern learning. In 2023 alone, over 8 million YouTube videos were embedded in Canvas courses, and usage continues to grow. Yet many educators and institutions face a challenge: how to use YouTube effectively without exposing students to advertisements, tracking, or unrelated content.

With this new integration, Canvas Studio addresses those concerns directly.

YouTube videos in Canvas Studio will stream:

without distractions, recommendations, or links back to YouTube.
with viewers remaining anonymous to YouTube through a “signed-out” viewing state.
with captioning from YouTube to maintain accessibility.

This allows students to stay focused on learning with a distraction free, learner focused video experience.

Institutions that previously restricted YouTube access can now bring valuable video content into their curriculum while maintaining privacy and compliance.

What to Expect

This integration is available at no additional cost to all Canvas Studio customers. If you are already using Canvas Studio, we encourage you to migrate any YouTube links embedded in Canvas over to Canvas Studio to take full advantage of the benefits. We have created a step-by-step instructional guide to help you get started quickly and are maintaining FAQs. Additionally, we’re developing a new tool to help streamline the migration of YouTube videos to Canvas Studio. This automated solution will work at the course level and save educators time. We’ll be launching an early adopter program for this migration tool soon—if you're interested in testing this feature, please fill out this form.

If you are not yet using Canvas Studio, the YouTube videos embedded in your Canvas courses may begin to display ads starting September 22, 2025. We encourage you to explore Canvas Studio’s capabilities, including:

Simplified video creation and sharing
Support for student-created video submissions and feedback
Real-time insights into learner engagement
A secure and distraction free YouTube viewing experience

Full Rollout Expected by September 2025

The Player for Education integration is expected to be fully rolled out by early September 2025. We are working closely with our partners to ensure a smooth experience for all users.

dbrace · ‎08-08-2025

This is great, @AkosFarago! A huge thank you to you and your team! I know YouTube ads and captions have been a common topic in the Community.

I have reviewed YouTube Player for Education FAQs - Instructure Community - 651366 and I have a question and a request based on the answers to "Where will I be able to find the migration tool in Canvas?" and "How will I be able to enable the migration tool?".

My question is, will the YouTube to Canvas Studio migration tool work for the most common ways YouTube videos may have been added to native Canvas LMS content? By that I mean (1) linked, (2) embedded, and (3) the YouTube LTI?

My request: I understand that it will be one of the main purposes of an Early Adopter Program/EAP (I will need to check with my team before signing up because our academic year begins on Monday, August 25th and this is short notice) but would it be possible to see an example of:

What an admin will need to do (either specifically for the EAP or even after September 1, 2025 when it becomes available)
Any steps that an instructor will need to take to enable the tool in course navigation (or will it automatically be visible if (a) "Studio" is visible in course navigation or (b) if YouTube embeds/links are detected)
What the migration tool looks like?

Understandably because of the EAP and its newness, I did not see anything at Canvas Studio Guide - Instructure Community (except for How do I add media from YouTube and Vimeo in my Studio account? - Instructure Community - 487670 and How do I migrate embedded YouTube videos in Canvas to Studio content for distraction-free viewing? ...).

Thanks again for everything!

-Doug

Hildi_Pardo · ‎08-11-2025

Hi @AkosFarago

Our Elementary students are blocked from YouTube. This new solution could potentially be the answer to many elementary teachers' prayers to be able to use YouTube videos. Our ES and MS students are on iPads. Will this work on the iPads both in the Student App and using the Safari browser? (I don't see this question in the FAQs)

Thanks!

AkosFarago · ‎08-12-2025

@dbrace great questions!

The migration tool will work with the embedded content (when the actual embed code from YouTube is pasted) and for videos added through the YouTube LTI. Direct links (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...) open YouTube in a new tab, not playing it in Canvas, so those are not converted. Based on the EAP results, we will decide how useful (2) and (3) which might lead us to implement (1) as well.

For the other 3 questions, I'd strongly recommend you to join the group. I am going to post a video this Friday so that you can see what the tool looks like.

@Hildi_Pardo the Player for Education is platform independent, meaning students on iPads will get to enjoy the benefits irrespective of the client they use, whether that is the Student App or the Safari browser.

dbrace · ‎08-12-2025

Thank you for your reply, @AkosFarago.

Unfortunately, because of the timing and my institution's current workload, we will not be able to participate in the EAP.

We look forward to all of the upcoming features when they become available.

-Doug

Hildi_Pardo · ‎08-13-2025

Hi @AkosFarago - I filled out the form. Can you provide me next steps, please? Thank you!

Hildi_Pardo · ‎08-18-2025

Hi @AkosFarago

I was wondering if you have the video about the migration tool?

Also, I have a question: In a scenario where a teacher wants/needs to post several YouTube videos (and want ad free/distraction free/secure), how can they do this so all the videos don't take up a lot of space?

For example: If they want to give instructions to choose one of three videos to watch, or if they have a series of shorter videos instead of one long video -- is there a way to post several on a page in a way that isn't the very big Studio screen?

Thanks for any ideas on this. (P.S. We have sharing of studio videos blocked from sharing outside of our district, so public links do not work for us -- but it would be great if a link could still be generated to share internally)

AkosFarago · ‎08-19-2025

@Hildi_Pardo I added you to the EAP Community group where you'll find all the details with a showcase video on the tool as well.

I believe the feature you are looking for is a playlist functionality that will come next year to Studio (it's been asked a lot recently!) Currently, you need to add those videos separately. Let me reach out to you early next year when we can show you a prototype!

dbrace · ‎08-19-2025

@AkosFarago, is it possible to be in the EAP group in the Community to see resources and discussions but not have anything enabled yet?

-Doug

AkosFarago · ‎08-19-2025

@dbrace yes, I added you! It has just been launched yesterday.

Tasha_Weaver

@AkosFarago I would like to be added to the EAP group (just to see resources and discussions, we will hold off on enabling for a bit due to start of the semester), please! Also, a specific question: our university relies heavily on blueprints. We design courses centrally and deploy blueprints to sections for each semester. Will we be able to migrate embedded videos in the blueprint course and have those included in each section as it deploys?

AkosFarago

@Tasha_Weaver I added you to the group!

Once you enable the migration tool in the blueprint course and migrate the necessary YouTube videos, the associated courses will be also migrated automatically upon syncing, no need to follow up on them one by one. This is a great question and I added this to our FAQ. Thank you!

Tasha_Weaver

Thank you, @AkosFarago !

dbrace

@AkosFarago, you added me to the EAP for resource viewing purposes but I have not (1) received an invitation in my Community Inbox and (2) someone else shared the link to the group with me and I was told that I did not have access.

Can you please double-check my access?

-Doug

AkosFarago

@dbrace could you please check now? I am not sure why the invite was not out, but it should be pending now.

Currently it is not possible to join the group via links.

dbrace

Thank you, @AkosFarago, I received it and joined.

-Doug

PLDeMartini

Hi there @AkosFarago

We appreciate the development of a Studio-linked tool that will help keep YouTube videos in Canvas ad-free, and are looking forward to its release on September 1.

Not knowing exactly what the tool will look like yet, we're assuming it will help our faculty bring YouTube videos they're using in active courses into Studio, replacing the original YouTube embed, without the need for manual removal of the old embed.

The FAQ for the coming tool mentions that migration will need to be done one video at a time, but that bulk functionality may be part of a future update. Any further automation of this process would be extremely appreciated by our faculty, students and LMS support staff.

Thank you!

- Paul

AkosFarago

HIi@PLDeMartini,

Correct, the tool will help you scan for original YouTube embeds in a central place in the course and provide you with an option to Convert them on the spot without locating and replacing those content one by one. We are aware of the bulk migration (course level) need and we will deploy it once we confirm the tool successfully converting a large amount of original YouTube embeds and that customers provide positive feedback about it. As a start, we are already seeing hundreds of content successfully converted as part of the EAP!

Best,

Akos

aimee_garten1

I signed up for the EAP but never heard back. I'm very disappointed. We have a huge lift to tackle in just three short weeks before Sept 22. Any way to get me in there today? Will it be fully available Tuesday?

AkosFarago

Hi @aimee_garten1,

I quickly looked at the list and we are not seeing you in the sign up form unfortunately. Apologies for the inconvenience. I've added you to the EAP group where I'll post an update about the exact release details coming next Monday (9/1). Feel free to use the group for any feedback.

You may also follow the Studio release notes (09/01) for more information in the meantime.

Best,

Akos