Free Title Case Converter — AP, APA, Chicago & MLA
Convert titles and headings to the correct title case for AP, APA 7th, Chicago, and MLA style guides — instantly in your browser. No account, no tracking, no limits.
AP · APA · Chicago · MLA — accurate per style guide, free & instant.
Paste your title, select your style guide, and the correctly capitalized result appears immediately. Perfect for academics, journalists, editors, and students.
Style Guide
Associated Press: lowercases articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of 3 letters or fewer.
Last updated: May 17 2026
Reviewed by the QuickTooly Team
Title Case Guide
Why Use a Style-Guide Title Case Converter?
- Per-style accuracy: AP, APA, Chicago, and MLA each have different capitalization rules — this tool applies each one correctly.
- Instant results: No button press needed. Your output updates as you type or switch style guide.
- Handles edge cases: Hyphenated words, words after colons, and prepositions of varying lengths are all treated per each style's rules.
- Private & secure: All conversion happens in your browser — no text is ever sent to a server.
- Copy to clipboard: One click to copy the result and paste it wherever you need it.
- 100% free: No sign-up, no limits, no paywalls.
AP vs APA vs Chicago vs MLA Title Case — What's the Difference?
Each major style guide has a distinct set of rules for which words to capitalize in a title. The differences are subtle but matter for academic submissions, journalism, and publishing.
AP Style Title Case
The Associated Press Stylebook capitalizes all words except articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor), and prepositions of three letters or fewer (at, by, in, of, on, to, up, as, vs). The first and last word are always capitalized. AP is the standard for newspapers and news writing.
APA 7th Edition Title Case
The American Psychological Association capitalizes the first word, the first word after a colon or em dash, and any word of four or more letters. Short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions under four letters are lowercase — but a word like With (four letters) would be capitalized. APA is used in psychology, social science, and education.
Chicago Manual of Style Title Case
Chicago style capitalizes all "major" words: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions. It lowercases all prepositions regardless of length (including long ones like between and throughout), as well as articles and the seven coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet). First and last words are always capitalized. Chicago is widely used in books, humanities, and academic journals.
MLA Style Title Case
The Modern Language Association follows rules similar to Chicago but with a more targeted preposition list. MLA lowercases articles, coordinating conjunctions, and common prepositions such as at, by, for, from, in, into, of, on, onto, to, up, upon, with. It is the standard for literature, language arts, and humanities research papers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is title case?
Title case is a capitalization style where the first letter of most words in a title or heading is capitalized. Which words get capitalized depends on the style guide — articles, prepositions, and conjunctions are often left lowercase unless they appear as the first or last word.
Which style guide should I use?
Use AP style for journalism and news writing, APA for psychology and social science papers, Chicago for books and humanities, and MLA for literature and language arts. When in doubt, check the submission guidelines of the journal, publisher, or course you're writing for.
Are prepositions always lowercase in title case?
It depends on the style. AP lowercases only short prepositions (three letters or fewer). APA capitalizes any word of four or more letters, so longer prepositions like Between or Throughout would be capitalized. Chicago and MLA lowercase all prepositions regardless of length — except when they appear as the first or last word of a title.
What happens to words after a colon?
APA 7th edition explicitly requires capitalizing the first word after a colon or em dash in a title. AP and Chicago also generally capitalize the first word after a colon when it introduces a subtitle. This converter applies that rule across all style guides.
How are hyphenated words handled?
Each part of a hyphenated compound is treated as an independent word for capitalization purposes. For example, state-of-the-art becomes State-of-the-Art in AP style because "of" and "the" are lowercase words, while "state" and "art" are not.
Is this title case converter free to use?
Yes — completely free, no registration required, and no limits on usage. All conversion runs locally in your browser, so your text is never sent to any server.