How to Add Timestamps to a YouTube Video

Timestamps in your description turn into chapters on the progress bar, so viewers can see what's in the video and skip to the part they came for. Here is how to add them, the rules that decide whether they show up, and how to link to an exact moment in any video.

By the MomentClip team · Updated 28 September 2026

Add chapters in YouTube Studio

  1. 1

    Open YouTube Studio

    Sign in to studio.youtube.com and choose Content from the left menu.

  2. 2

    Open the video

    Click the video you want to edit to open its details.

  3. 3

    Add timestamps to the description

    Put each chapter on its own line: the timestamp, then the title. Start the first one at 00:00.

  4. 4

    Save

    Click Save. Chapters appear on the progress bar once YouTube processes the updated description.

If chapters aren't available on your account yet, YouTube asks you to apply for access to advanced features.

What the description should look like

These are the first six of 23 chapters our timestamp generator wrote for Andrej Karpathy's two-hour lecture Let's build GPT. One chapter per line, timestamp first:

00:00 How ChatGPT generates text
01:52 Transformers and language models
03:13 Building a Shakespeare model
07:42 Preparing the Shakespeare data
14:26 Batching training examples
22:16 The bigram language model

The titles describe what's said in each section. A section that's mostly visual, like a long demo, may need a better name than the transcript suggests.

The rules that make chapters appear

From YouTube's chapters documentation. If any of these is broken, the chapters won't appear.

  • The first timestamp starts at 00:00.
  • There are at least three timestamps, in ascending order.
  • Every chapter is at least 10 seconds long.

Chapters you add override YouTube's automatic chapters. If you'd rather let YouTube choose, leave the description without timestamps and keep "Allow automatic chapters" checked under Show more in the video's details. Not every video gets automatic chapters.

Link to an exact moment

To send someone to a point in a video you don't own, use a timestamped link instead of chapters.

  • Share at the current time

    Pause where you want the video to start, click Share, and tick "Start at" before copying the link.

  • Edit the link

    Add &t=90s to a watch link to start at 1 minute 30 seconds.

  • Write it in a comment

    A timestamp such as 4:05 in a comment becomes a link that jumps to that moment.

If you don't know where the moment is, search the transcript or read it in the transcript generator.

FAQ

Why aren't my chapters showing?

Check YouTube's three rules first: the first timestamp is 00:00, there are at least three in ascending order, and each chapter lasts at least 10 seconds. Chapters also need access to YouTube's advanced features, and they aren't available on channels with active strikes or on videos that may be inappropriate for some viewers.

Do timestamps in comments create chapters?

No. Chapters come from the video's description. A timestamp in a comment becomes a link that jumps to that moment, but it doesn't add chapters to the progress bar.

Can I add chapters to someone else's video?

No. Only the channel that uploaded a video can edit its description. You can still link to a moment in any public video with a timestamped link.

Do my chapters replace YouTube's automatic chapters?

Yes. Chapters you add in the description override automatic chapters for that video.

Can I generate the timestamps instead of writing them?

Yes. MomentClip's timestamp generator reads a video's captions and writes chapters that follow YouTube's rules. It's free with an account for 5 videos a day. Review the titles before you paste them in.

Sources

Steps and rules checked against YouTube Help: Video Chapters on 28 September 2026. The example chapter titles are unedited output from MomentClip's timestamp generator; the timestamps are shown as minutes and seconds. This guide was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed against those sources.

Skip the writing

Paste a link and get chapters that follow YouTube's rules. Free with an account for 5 videos a day.

Generate timestamps