How Do You Add Chapters to a YouTube Video? (3 Rules)
Chapters come from your description timestamps; three rules decide if they show.
Aditya Challa1 min read
Summary
Add chapters by putting a list of timestamps and titles in your video description, starting with 00:00. YouTube requires at least three timestamps in ascending order, and each chapter must be at least 10 seconds long.
Step by step
- Open YouTube Studio and select the video.
- In the description, add lines such as
00:00 Intro,01:15 Setup,04:30 Results. - Save. Chapters appear on the progress bar once processed.
The rules from YouTube Help
- The first timestamp must be 00:00
- At least three timestamps, in ascending order
- Each chapter at least 10 seconds long
Automatic chapters
YouTube can also generate chapters automatically. You can turn this off in the video's settings if you prefer your own.
Related: /blog/how-many-subscribers-to-monetize-on-youtube
Related: /blog/what-is-average-position-in-search-console
Sources
Lab evidence
What I found running this
Facts in this draft were checked on 12 Oct 2026 against the primary sources listed in the body (official docs, release schedules or Google/YouTube help pages). No benchmarks or timings were run, so the post makes no performance or measurement claims; dates are quoted as published by the maintainers, and any estimate is labelled as such.
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