How do I add chapters to a YouTube video?

Updated 30 October 2026

To add chapters to a YouTube video, type a list of timestamps and titles into the video's description, starting with 0:00, then save. YouTube turns that list into chapters on the progress bar. You need at least three timestamps, in order, and every chapter has to be at least 10 seconds long.

Step by step in YouTube Studio

1. Open YouTube Studio and go to Content.
2. Click the video you want to add chapters to. If you're still uploading, you can do this on the Details screen instead.
3. In the Description box, add your chapter list. Put each chapter on its own line: the time first, then the title.
4. Click Save.

A list looks like this:

0:00 Intro
0:22 What you need
0:45 Getting the plant out
1:10 Loosening the roots

Once it's saved, the timestamps in the description become clickable, and the progress bar splits into sections with the chapter title showing as viewers move through the video. You can change chapters at any time by editing the description again. There's no separate chapter editor.

The rules your list has to follow

YouTube only shows chapters when the whole list follows its rules. If one line breaks a rule, you get no chapters at all.

• The first timestamp is 0:00. 00:00 works too.
• There are at least three timestamps.
• They go in order, from earliest to latest.
• Every chapter is at least 10 seconds long.

Your intro, links and hashtags can sit around the list. The chapter lines are the only part YouTube reads for chapters.

Work out the times before you film

Most people add chapters at the end, scrubbing through the finished video and writing down times. You can do most of that work earlier, from the script. Give each part of the script a heading, time it as you'd say it, and you get a draft chapter list before you've pressed record.

We wrote a short script for a video on repotting a houseplant, with a # heading for each part, and ran it through Script Clock. At 150 words per minute it came to 374 spoken words and 2:33. These are the chapters it produced:

Then we wrote the description the way people often do in a hurry. We skipped the intro, because it didn't feel like a "real" chapter, and typed one time with a full stop (1.10 instead of 1:10). We ran it through Chapter Checker, with the video length set to 2:40. It found two problems, and either one on its own would stop every chapter showing:

• The first chapter was at 0:22. YouTube needs the first one at 0:00.
• 1.10 used a full stop. YouTube only reads colons.

What the example shows:

• Even a short video gets useful chapters. A 2:33 script split into seven chapters, and the shortest (the outro, at 13 seconds) still cleared the 10-second minimum.
• The intro always needs a line. Leaving it out is the easiest way to break the list, because whatever comes first becomes the first chapter. Adding "0:00 Intro" fixed it.
• One typo breaks the whole list. YouTube doesn't skip the bad line. It shows nothing, with no error message.
• Script times are a starting point. Your edit will move things a little: a title card, a cut pause, a retake. Check each time against the finished video before you publish.

Automatic chapters

YouTube can also add chapters on its own. New uploads have Allow automatic chapters ticked by default, under Show more on the video's details page. Not every video gets them, though, even when the box is ticked.

If you add your own timestamps, they replace the automatic ones. If you'd rather have no automatic chapters at all, untick the box for that video and save. To turn them off for every new upload, go to Settings, then Upload defaults, then Advanced settings, untick the automatic chapters option and save.

If chapters still don't show

If the list follows every rule and chapters still don't appear, the cause is usually the channel. Chapters can need advanced features turned on for your channel. They're also switched off while the channel has an active strike, and on videos that may not be suitable for all viewers. For more on this, the Chapter Checker page has a full list of the reasons chapters go missing.

How Chapter Checker helps

Paste your description into Chapter Checker before you save it in YouTube Studio. It checks every chapter rule, points to the line that breaks one, and builds a fixed description you can copy. It also counts your characters against the 5,000 limit and flags the < and > characters YouTube won't save. If you script your videos, Script Clock turns your # headings into chapter times, and you can insert them straight into the checker.

Questions people ask

The timings and checks in this guide come from running the examples through our own tools. Sources are listed below.