A guide to YouTube chapters

What YouTube requires for chapters, and how to write ones viewers actually use.

What chapters do

Chapters split a video's progress bar into labeled sections. Viewers can see what is coming, jump to the part they need, and come back later to a specific moment. Search engines can also show chapters as key moments in results.

YouTube's formatting rules

Add timestamps to your video description, one per line. The first timestamp must be 0:00, there must be at least three, they must be listed in ascending order, and each chapter must be at least 10 seconds long. If any rule is broken, YouTube ignores the whole list.

Write titles people can scan

A good chapter title says what happens, not just what it is called. "Fixing the leaking valve" helps a viewer more than "Part 3". Keep titles short, lead with the important words, and avoid repeating the video title.

Pick the right breaks

Start a chapter where the topic actually changes, not at fixed intervals. A ten-minute video usually needs five to ten chapters. Very short sections are hard to click and make the progress bar noisy.

Check before you publish

Click through every timestamp before saving. Automatic tools, including StampBot, can be a few seconds early or late at a topic change, and a chapter that starts mid-sentence feels sloppy.

Using StampBot's output

Use the copy button on any StampBot result to grab the chapter list. Paste it into your description, confirm the first line is 0:00, adjust any titles you would phrase differently, and save.