YouTube Timestamp Generator

Paste a YouTube link and get chapter timestamps written from what's said in the video, checked against YouTube's chapter rules and ready to drop into your description.

Updated October 2026

Example: chapters for a 2-hour coding lecture

The output for Let's build GPT: from scratch, in code, spelled out. by Andrej Karpathy. Each chapter starts where the topic changes in the captions.

Real, unedited output from this tool. Generated September 2026.

  1. 0:00:00How ChatGPT generates text
  2. 0:01:52Transformers and language models
  3. 0:03:13Building a Shakespeare model
  4. 0:07:42Preparing the Shakespeare data
  5. 0:14:26Batching training examples
  6. 0:22:16The bigram language model
  7. 0:29:00Generating and training text
  8. 0:37:42Turning the notebook into a script
  9. 0:42:22Averaging context with matrix multiplication
  10. 0:58:24Setting up self-attention
  11. 1:01:59Queries, keys, and values
  12. 1:11:36Attention as communication
  13. 1:17:01Scaling attention scores
  14. 1:19:08Implementing a self-attention head
  15. 1:22:05Multi-head attention
  16. 1:26:37Feed-forward networks
  17. 1:32:57Residual connections
  18. 1:37:38Layer normalization
  19. 1:42:18Scaling up the Transformer
  20. 1:46:21Decoder-only versus encoder-decoder
  21. 1:48:47Walking through NanoGPT
  22. 1:51:12Pretraining and fine-tuning ChatGPT
  23. 1:54:27Summary and next steps

What you copy

0:00:00 How ChatGPT generates text
0:01:52 Transformers and language models
0:03:13 Building a Shakespeare model
0:07:42 Preparing the Shakespeare data
0:14:26 Batching training examples
0:22:16 The bigram language model
0:29:00 Generating and training text
0:37:42 Turning the notebook into a script

… and 15 more, ending at 1:54:27 Summary and next steps.

Videos under an hour come out as minutes and seconds (00:00, 01:52). Longer videos include the hour (0:00:00).

Titles come from the spoken words, so a stretch that's mostly on screen, like live coding, may deserve a clearer name before you publish.

How it works

  1. Paste a link

    Any public YouTube video between 30 seconds and 12 hours with captions, including YouTube's automatic ones.

  2. Chapters are written from the captions

    An AI model marks where the topic changes and titles each section from what is said there. The result is checked against YouTube's chapter rules: a first chapter at 00:00, at least three chapters, each at least 10 seconds long.

  3. Copy it into your description

    Click Copy all, review the titles, and paste the list into your video's description. See the steps below.

How to add the chapters to your YouTube description

  1. 1

    Generate the chapters above and click Copy all.

  2. 2

    Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Content in the left menu.

  3. 3

    Select the video to open its details.

  4. 4

    Paste the list into the Description, each chapter on its own line. If the description already has timestamps, delete them first, so there's only one ascending list starting at 00:00.

  5. 5

    Click Save. The chapters show on the progress bar after YouTube processes the new description.

Your own chapters take the place of any automatic chapters YouTube made for the video. For the full walk-through and how to link to a moment in someone else's video, see how to add timestamps to a YouTube video.

YouTube's chapter rules, and what the generator checks

  • The first timestamp is 00:00

    Always sets the first chapter to the start of the video

  • At least three timestamps, listed in ascending order

    Sorts chapters by time and won't return a result with fewer than three

  • Each chapter lasts 10 seconds or more

    Drops any chapter less than 10 seconds after the one before, and never starts a chapter in the last 10 seconds

Rules from YouTube Help: Video Chapters, checked 22 October 2026.

Meeting the rules doesn't guarantee chapters will show. YouTube also needs your channel to have access to advanced features, and it doesn't show chapters on channels with active strikes or on videos it considers possibly inappropriate for some viewers.

When chapters don't show up

  • Old timestamps are still in the description

    A second list, or a stray time above the new one, can break the ascending order. Keep a single list.

  • The first timestamp isn't 00:00

    Text above the list is fine, but the earliest time in it has to be the start of the video.

  • Your channel lacks advanced features

    Chapters depend on it. See the advanced features link in the rules section above.

  • YouTube hasn't processed the change yet

    Save the description, then look again after a while.

  • The video had no captions when you ran the tool

    For a new upload, YouTube may still be making automatic captions. Try again later; a run that fails this way isn't counted.

Need more than chapters?

MomentClip searches inside a video for the moment you describe, by what's said or what's on screen. Open one of these videos and try it.

Steam Frame Review

Linus Tech Tips

Search this video

Restaurant Hacks I Still Use To Make Home Cooking Simple

Andy Cooks

Search this video

Tour the International Space Station

NASA Johnson

Search this video

How to add timestamps to a YouTube video · YouTube transcript generator · How to search a YouTube transcript · YouTube video search tools compared

FAQ

Is the timestamp generator free?

Yes. Create a free account and you can generate chapters for 5 videos a day. Results that were already generated for a video don't count toward your 5. MomentClip Pro and Scale subscribers get a much higher daily limit.

How are the chapters written?

The tool reads the video's captions and asks an AI model to mark where the topic changes and title each section from what is said there. It doesn't watch the video, so a change that is only shown on screen won't get its own chapter.

Do the timestamps follow YouTube's chapter rules?

Yes. YouTube needs the first timestamp to be 00:00, at least three timestamps in ascending order, and chapters of at least 10 seconds. Every result is checked against those rules before it is shown. See the rules.

How do I add the chapters to my video?

Copy the list and paste it into your video's description in YouTube Studio, then save. YouTube turns the timestamps into chapters on the progress bar, usually shortly after the description updates.

What if the video has no captions?

Chapters can't be written without captions, and the run isn't counted. YouTube adds automatic captions to most spoken videos after upload, so it's worth trying again later for a new upload.

Which videos work?

Public YouTube videos between 30 seconds and 12 hours long that have captions, in any language YouTube captions support.

How many chapters will I get?

It depends on length. The generator aims for roughly one chapter every 2 to 6 minutes where the topic actually changes, with at least 3 and up to about 25 for long videos. A 2-hour lecture got 23.

Can I edit the chapters before I publish them?

Yes. Copy the list, then change any title or time in your description before you save. Keep the first line at 00:00, the times in ascending order, and each chapter at least 10 seconds long.

Does it work for videos in other languages?

Yes, if the video has captions. The chapter titles are written in the language of the captions.

Sources

Chapter rules and Studio steps checked against YouTube Help: Video Chapters and advanced features on 22 October 2026. The example is unedited output from this tool. This page was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed against those sources.