Chapters from your transcript, not a URL
Most chapter tools ask for a YouTube link and pull the captions for you — which means scraping a video’s transcript, something YouTube’s own API only allows the video’s owner to do. This one works the honest way instead: you paste a transcript you already have, and it finds the section breaks and has an AI write a title for each — from your own text, never a fetched video. If you don’t have a transcript yet, our video transcriber turns your own recording into an SRT you can drop straight in — and chapters are a natural step in the repurposing workflow, where one long video becomes navigable sections, clips, and notes.
The rules YouTube hides
YouTube won’t tell you why your chapters aren’t showing — it just doesn’t render them. Break any one of these four rules and the whole chapter bar silently disappears, which is why the tool validates them as you edit:
- ✓First chapter at 0:00
- Chapters won't appear at all unless the very first one starts at exactly 0:00.
- ✓At least 3 chapters
- Two won't do — YouTube only renders the chapter bar once there are three or more.
- ✓≥ 10 seconds apart
- Every chapter must be at least ten seconds after the one before it.
- ✓Standard videos only
- Chapters show on regular uploads of a minute or longer — not on Shorts.
How to make YouTube chapters
Transcript to a valid chapter block, in five steps:
Get your transcript
Export captions from your editor, or run your video through our transcriber and download the SRT — your own content, never a URL.
Paste it in
Drop the transcript (SRT, VTT, or timestamped text) — or an existing chapter list — into the box.
Generate, and AI titles each section
It splits the transcript into sections at the spacing you choose, and an AI writes a title for each — refine them into something clear and clickable.
Check the rules
The validator flags anything that would stop chapters showing — a missing 0:00, too few, or two too close together.
Copy into your description
Paste the chapter block into your YouTube (or podcast) description and publish.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to paste a YouTube URL?
No — and the tool can't take one. It works on a transcript you already have, not a link. That's deliberate: YouTube's API only lets a video's owner download its captions, and pulling captions from a URL you don't own means scraping, which breaks YouTube's terms. So this tool stays on the right side of the line by working on your own content — paste a transcript you already have and it builds the chapters from there.
What are YouTube's chapter rules?
Four, and they're easy to break by accident: the first chapter must start at exactly 0:00, you need at least three chapters in total, each must be at least ten seconds after the previous one, and chapters only appear on standard videos (a minute or longer) — not Shorts. Miss any one and YouTube silently shows no chapters at all. The validator here checks all four as you edit.
Where do I get a transcript to paste?
Two easy ways: export the caption file (SRT or VTT) from your video editor or YouTube Studio once your video is uploaded, or run the video through our video transcriber, which generates a transcript in your browser and exports SRT. Either gives you the timestamped text this tool turns into chapters.
Does this work for podcast chapters too?
Yes. Podcast chapters (on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and players that support them) use the same timestamped format, and many shows put the chapter list in the episode notes. Build the list here from your episode transcript and paste it wherever your show notes live.
My chapters aren't showing on YouTube — why?
Almost always one of the four rules: the first timestamp isn't 0:00, there are fewer than three, two are closer than ten seconds, or the video is a Short. Paste your existing list into this tool and the validator will tell you exactly which rule is failing so you can fix it.
Does my transcript get sent anywhere?
The parsing, editing, and rule-checking all run in your browser. The one server step is writing the titles: to do that, the text of each section is sent to our AI titler and the suggested titles come back — no file, no URL, and no video is ever fetched or uploaded, and nothing is stored. If you'd rather keep it fully local, skip the AI and type the titles yourself; the validator and formatter never call out.