Type one chapter per line with its start time or its length, and the generator writes a chapter list ready to paste into the video description. Lengths of 1:30, 2:45 and 4:00 become 00:00 Intro, 01:30 Setup and 04:15 Demo. It also checks YouTube's rules: first chapter at 00:00, three or more chapters, each at least 10 seconds.
YouTube turns timestamps in a description into chapters on the progress bar, but only when the list follows its rules, and a single slip silently disables all of them. Editors usually have the times in a messy form: notes taken while scrubbing, out of order, or a list of segment lengths from the edit timeline. This generator takes either form, sorts or sums the times, writes them in the mm:ss or h:mm:ss style YouTube reads, and warns about a missing 00:00 start, fewer than three chapters or a chapter shorter than 10 seconds. The table shows each chapter's start and length. It cannot see your video, so the times are only as right as the ones you type.
Pick Start time if each line says where a chapter begins, or Chapter length if it says how long the segment runs.
Write one chapter per line with a time like 2:30 or 1:02:30 and its title, or open a .txt file of notes.
Fix any chapter flagged as shorter than 10 seconds; a missing 00:00 start is added as Intro for you.
Copy the chapter list and paste it into the video description in YouTube Studio.
Result Chapter list for your description: 00:00 Intro
01:30 Setup
04:15 Demo
Chapters: 3
Last chapter starts: 04:15
Shortest chapter: 90 s
Lengths of 1:30, 2:45 and 4:00 give start times of 00:00, 01:30 and 04:15, and the list ends at 08:15.
Result Chapter list for your description: 00:00 Intro
01:30 Setup
04:15 Demo
Chapters: 3
Last chapter starts: 04:15
Shortest chapter: 90 s
Three start times that already meet YouTube's rules come back formatted as 00:00, 01:30 and 04:15.
Result Chapter list for your description: 00:00 Intro
02:00 Method
05:00 Results
Chapters: 3
Last chapter starts: 05:00
Shortest chapter: 120 s
The lines are sorted and an Intro chapter at 00:00 is added, because YouTube ignores a chapter list that starts later.
start(1) = 0; start(n) = start(n−1) + length(n−1) in length mode; times written as mm:ss, or h:mm:ss from one hour
start(n)length(n)Each line is scanned for the first time in m:ss or h:mm:ss form; the rest of the line, with separators trimmed, becomes the title. In start-time mode the lines are sorted, and a chapter at 00:00 is added if none exists. In length mode the start of each chapter is the running total of the lengths before it. Each chapter's length is the gap to the next start, and any gap under 10 seconds is flagged, as are lists with fewer than three chapters.
The usual causes are a first timestamp other than 00:00, fewer than three timestamps, or a chapter shorter than 10 seconds. The channel must also have chapters enabled, and some videos with restricted features do not get them. The warnings here catch the first three.
Yes, in start-time mode the lines are sorted from earliest to latest before the list is written, so notes taken while jumping around the video still come out in order.
It treats each time as the duration of that segment and adds them up. Lengths of 1:30, 2:45 and 4:00 give chapters starting at 00:00, 01:30 and 04:15, which matches how an edit timeline lists clips.
Either works. The first time on each line is taken as the timestamp and the rest of the line becomes the title, with dashes, pipes and colons around it removed.
Once any chapter starts at one hour or later, every time in the list switches to h:mm:ss, such as 1:30:05, so the column lines up in the description.
It is left out of the list, and a warning tells you how many lines were skipped so you can add the missing times.
Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.
Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 10). YouTube Timestamp Generator. Tools Directory. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/youtube-tools/youtube-timestamp-generator/
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “YouTube Timestamp Generator.” Tools Directory, 10 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/youtube-tools/youtube-timestamp-generator/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “YouTube Timestamp Generator.” Tools Directory. Last modified October 10, 2026. Accessed October 26, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/youtube-tools/youtube-timestamp-generator/.
<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/social-media/youtube-tools/youtube-timestamp-generator/">YouTube Timestamp Generator – Tools Directory</a>