Add a timestamp and title for each section of your video, and get a validated, ready-to-paste chapter list for your YouTube description.
The YouTube Chapter Generator builds a properly formatted chapter list — the clickable timestamp menu that appears on the video’s progress bar — and checks it against YouTube’s actual activation rules before you paste it in. Chapters only turn on when every rule is met at once: the first timestamp has to be exactly 0:00, there must be at least three chapters, each timestamp has to come after the last, and every chapter needs to run at least 10 seconds. Miss any one of these and YouTube silently ignores the whole list — no chapters, no error message, just a plain description. This tool catches each problem as you type, so what you paste in works the first time.
The first chapter must start at 0:00, you need at least three chapters, timestamps must increase throughout, and each chapter must be at least 10 seconds long. Miss any of these and YouTube won’t turn your list into clickable chapters.
Paste it directly into your video’s description on YouTube, anywhere in the text — YouTube detects a valid list of timestamps and titles automatically and turns it into chapters.
YouTube only activates chapters if the very first timestamp in the description is 0:00. If it starts later, YouTube ignores the entire list and no chapters appear at all.
m:ss for videos under an hour (like 4:32) and h:mm:ss for longer videos (like 1:15:00). Typing a format YouTube won’t recognize is flagged immediately.
Yes — add as many rows as you need with “+ Add chapter,” and remove any row with the × button. The validation and output update live as you edit.
No — it only formats and validates the timestamps and titles you type in. It doesn’t access YouTube or your video in any way.