AP Style Title Case Converter
AP style title case is the capitalization the AP Stylebook prescribes for titles of works such as books, movies, and songs. Principal words and every word of four or more letters are capitalized, and articles and short conjunctions and prepositions stay lowercase unless they come first or last. This converter applies those rules line by line.
AP Style Title Case Converter examples
| Case | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Four-letter preposition | the man with the golden gun | The Man With the Golden Gun |
| Short conjunction | what dreams may come if we wait | What Dreams May Come if We Wait |
| Hyphenated compounds | a follow-up on the all-in bet | A Follow-Up on the All-In Bet |
| Colon | the road to: a study | The Road To: A Study |
| Acronym, brand, and apostrophe | NASA's plan for the iPhone era | NASA's Plan for the iPhone Era |
| Last word | what are you looking at | What Are You Looking At |
| Abbreviations | cooking with dr. smith at 9 a.m. | Cooking With Dr. Smith at 9 a.m. |
AP Style Title Case Converter rules
The rules, sources, known limits, and test cases behind this converter are on Title Case Rules by Style Guide.
- Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters, such as With, From, and That (AP Stylebook, composition titles entry).
- Capitalize the first and last words, even an article or a word of fewer than four letters.
- Lowercase the articles a, an, and the, conjunctions of three letters or fewer (and, as, but, for, if, nor, or, so, yet), and prepositions of three letters or fewer (at, by, in, of, off, on, per, to, up, via).
- Short verbs and pronouns such as Is, Be, It, and We are principal words, so they are capitalized.
- Capitalize both parts of a two-part hyphenated compound (Follow-Up, All-In). AP gives no rule for longer compounds, so short words inside them stay lowercase, as in Chicago, APA, and MLA (Mother-in-Law).
- The entry does not cover subtitles. This converter capitalizes the last word before a colon and the first word after it.
- Acronyms and names with inner capitals (NASA, iPhone) keep their capitals, and a title typed in all caps is converted as if it were lowercase.
- The converter keeps the abbreviations e.g., i.e., a.m., p.m., etc., vs., et al., and cf. lowercase even as the last word (Cooking With Dr. Smith at 9 a.m.), and capitalizes titles such as Dr. and Mr.
- The converter does not detect parts of speech, so a short word such as "up" is lowercased even when it is an adverb (Pick up the Pace).
Words kept lowercase (22)
aantheandasbutforifnororsoyetatbyinofoffonpertoupvia
How AP style differs from Chicago style
AP capitalizes every word of four or more letters, so "The Man With the Golden Gun" keeps a capital W. Chicago (18th edition) lowercases prepositions of four letters or fewer and writes "The Man with the Golden Gun". AP lowercases short conjunctions such as if, so, and yet, which Chicago capitalizes, and AP capitalizes both parts of a two-part compound (All-In) where Chicago lowercases a short word after the hyphen (All-in). Try the same text in the Chicago Style Title Case Converter.
Full comparison with examples: AP vs Chicago Title Case: How the Rules Differ
Spotted a wrong capitalization?
How to use
Type or paste a title, or several titles on separate lines.
Press AP Style Title Case to convert the text in place; pasted text converts at once. Open Compare styles to see it in AP, Chicago, APA, and MLA, or Explain each word for the rule behind each capital.
Check any word the converter cannot judge by part of speech, such as "up", then copy the result.
When to use AP Style Title Case Converter
Journalists
Titles of books, movies, songs, TV shows, and other works mentioned in a story.
PR and communications teams
Titles of reports, campaigns, and events in releases that follow AP style.
Bloggers and content writers
Post titles on sites whose style guide is based on AP.
FAQ
The articles a, an, and the, and conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer, such as and, but, or, in, of, on, and to. They are capitalized when they are the first or last word.
Yes. AP capitalizes prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters, so With, From, Into, and That are capitalized.
The composition titles entry does not cover subtitles. This converter capitalizes the first word after a colon, as Chicago, APA, and MLA do.
Both parts of a two-part compound are capitalized (Follow-Up, All-In). For longer compounds, this converter keeps short words lowercase (Mother-in-Law).
It applies the composition titles entry, which covers titles of works. If your publication writes headlines in a different style, check your headline rules separately.
The conversion runs in your browser, so your text is not uploaded to a server to be converted.