Video → YouTube chapters

YouTube timestamp generator — chapters for your description and links to any moment.

Get a chapter list you can paste into a video description, and links that open a video at the second you choose.

Paste a YouTube link with captions, or choose the video file before you publish it. The topics of the video are found, each gets a start time and a short title, and the list is checked against YouTube's chapter rules so it is ready to paste.

Chapters: Checked against YouTube's rules.
Before you publish: Works from the video file too.
Timestamp links: Made in your browser.

The chapter generator

Chapters from a published video or from the file.

Published: paste the link

For a video that is already on YouTube and has captions, paste its watch, youtu.be or Shorts link. The captions are read, so the chapter times follow the caption timings.

Not published yet: choose the file

Choose the video in the file box and keep the whole video selected. Your browser extracts the audio and only the audio is sent to be transcribed. The video file never leaves your device.

Copy the chapters

The result opens with a preview of the chapter list. Read it, select Copy as YouTube chapters, and paste it into the description in YouTube Studio. The summary and notes follow below.

The timestamp link tool

Make a link that starts a video at any moment.

Paste a YouTube link, type the time, and get the two link forms YouTube uses. The links are built in your browser: nothing is sent anywhere, and it uses none of your transcription time.

YouTube's chapter rules

What a chapter list needs before YouTube shows it.

The first timestamp is 0:00. YouTube only turns a list into chapters when it starts at the very beginning of the video. The generator always makes the first line 0:00, keeping the title of the first topic.

At least three chapters. Two timestamps are not enough. When a video has fewer than three separate topics, the result says so instead of giving you a list YouTube would ignore.

Each chapter lasts at least 10 seconds. A topic that starts less than 10 seconds after the one before it is dropped, and so is a last topic that starts in the final 10 seconds.

Ascending order, one per line. Each line is a time followed by a title. Times under an hour are written as minutes and seconds, such as 4:05, and later times as hours, minutes and seconds, such as 1:02:05. Titles are kept short, at most 80 characters, and never end in a full stop.

In the description. Paste the list into the video's description. Automatic chapters in YouTube Studio are replaced by your own list once it follows these rules.

An example list for a 25-minute cooking tutorial:

0:00 Introduction and what we are making
1:12 Ingredients and tools
3:40 Making the dough
9:05 Resting and shaping
14:30 Baking and checking the colour
21:10 Tasting and storage tips

Why the times are approximate

Check the times before you publish.

For an uploaded file, the transcript is split into topics and each topic's start time is estimated from where its sentences fall in the transcript. That estimate is usually within a few seconds of the moment the topic starts, and the result is labelled as approximate.

For a YouTube link, the times come from the caption timings, which are tied to the video, so they are usually closer. A topic can still start a sentence earlier than the chapter says, for example when the speaker introduces it before the caption line that names it.

Either way, play each chapter once in the video before you publish, and nudge a time or rename a title where you want to. Chapter titles are a summary written by AI, so read them as a draft rather than the final text.

While you watch

Notes and a timeline next to any YouTube video.

The Video to Notes extension for Chrome adds an Extract notes button to YouTube watch pages. It reads the transcript in your browser and shows the summary, key points and a timeline of the topics in a side panel next to the video.

Notes next to the video you are watching
Works when the website's YouTube transcripts are busy
Long lectures, talks and local video files
Export to PDF, Markdown, HTML or TXT

FAQ

YouTube timestamp and chapter questions

What are YouTube's rules for chapters?

Chapters are timestamps in the video description, one per line, each followed by a title. The first timestamp must be 0:00, there must be at least three of them in ascending order, and every chapter must be at least 10 seconds long. The generator applies these rules before it offers the list, and it only shows the copy button when the list meets them.

Can I make chapters for a video I have not published yet?

Yes. Choose the video file in the file box instead of pasting a link. Your browser extracts the audio, only the audio is sent to be transcribed, and the video file stays on your device. Select the whole video, because chapters describe all of it, then paste the list into the description before you publish.

How accurate are the chapter times?

For a YouTube link, the times come from the caption timings, so they are usually close to where a topic starts. For an uploaded file, the times are estimated from the transcript and are approximate, usually within a few seconds. In both cases, check each time against the video before you publish.

How long can the video be?

For an uploaded file, one selection can be up to 1 hour without signing in, or up to 2 hours signed in with a Trial PRO or an hour pack, within your remaining balance. Chapters need the whole video, so the file itself has to fit in one selection. For a YouTube link, what counts is the size of its captions, and most talks, tutorials and podcasts fit.

What does a YouTube timestamp link look like?

A timestamp link is the video link with a start time in seconds. The short form is https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID?t=3725 and the long form is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&t=3725s, where 3725 seconds is 1:02:05. The link tool on this page builds both from any watch, youtu.be or Shorts link.

Do timestamps work in comments?

Yes. A time such as 4:30 typed in a comment on a video becomes a link that jumps to that moment, but a list in a comment does not create chapters: only the description does that. To point someone to a moment from outside YouTube, for example in a chat or an email, use a timestamp link instead.

Why is there no copy button for the chapters?

The chapters block explains why in one line. Either the notes were made from part of the file, and chapters need the whole video, or the video has fewer than three topics that are at least 10 seconds apart, which is too few for YouTube chapters. Select the whole file, or add the chapters by hand.

Need a summary instead of chapters?

The YouTube summarizer gives you a summary, key points and a timeline from a link, and the Chrome extension shows them next to the video.