YouTube chapters generator
Paste your video link. The timed transcript comes from the captions, free; one click turns it into chapter lines, "0:00 Intro" style, ready to paste into the description.
A real chapter list, from a real transcript
Read the transcript it was written from
0:00Almost everything you own spent part of its life inside a steel box.
0:04This is the story of the shipping container and why a plain box made world trade cheap.
0:09Before the container, cargo was loaded piece by piece.
0:12Sacks, barrels and crates were carried onto ships by teams of dock workers,
0:16a process called breakbulk shipping.
0:18A ship could spend a week in port being loaded and unloaded.
0:22In 1956, an American trucking businessman, Malcolm McLean, tried something different.
0:28He loaded 58 truck trailer boxes onto an old tanker, the Ideal X, and sent it from Newark to Houston.
0:34The idea was simple, never unpack the goods.
0:38The same box moves from a truck to a ship to a train without anyone touching what is inside.
0:43The savings were huge.
0:44Loading a ton of loose cargo was estimated at about $5.86 in 1956.
0:51McLean's container cost about $0.16 a ton.
0:55For containers to work everywhere, they had to be the same size everywhere.
0:59In the late 1960s, international standards set the sizes we still use, mainly 20 and 40 feet long, with the same corner fittings so any crane can lift any box.
1:09Ports changed with them, old city docks emptied, and huge container terminals with giant cranes were built where there was space and deep water.
1:18So the next time a parcel arrives from the other side of the world, remember that its trip was cheap because of a box that nobody opened along the way.
0:00 Introduction to Shipping Containers 0:22 Malcolm McLean's Innovation 0:34 The Concept of Unpacking 0:55 Standardization of Container Sizes 1:09 Transformation of Ports
Written by openai/gpt-4o-mini with the same instructions the tool uses, 2026-10-31. On the site this costs 2 credits. Not edited by hand.
How do you add chapters to a YouTube video?
YouTube makes chapters from timestamps in the description: the first must be 0:00, there must be at least three, each at least ten seconds long (YouTube Help, "Video chapters"). Paste your video link above, let the timed transcript load from its captions, and press Write with YouTube chapters selected. A language model reads the timestamps and returns three to twelve lines, "M:SS Title", starting at 0:00; any line that would make a chapter shorter than ten seconds is removed before you see the list. Check them, then paste into the description. 2 credits.
- YouTube's rule
- First at 0:00, 3+ chapters, 10 s each
- Output
- 3–12 lines, M:SS Title, 10 s apart
- Price
- 2 credits
- Needs
- Captions, or a transcript run
Before you paste them into YouTube Studio
Look at the first and last line
The first must read 0:00. The last should start well before the end of the video, at least ten seconds, or YouTube ignores the whole list.
Rename for viewers, not for search
Two to six words that say what happens in that part. Viewers scan chapter titles on the progress bar, so a plain "Pricing" beats a clever line.
Save and check the progress bar
After saving the description, the bar under the video splits into segments. If it does not, one of the three rules is broken; most often a chapter is shorter than ten seconds.
Chapters questions
Where do I paste the chapters?
In the video's description in YouTube Studio, each on its own line. YouTube turns them into chapters when the first is 0:00, there are three or more and each lasts ten seconds or more.
Are the timestamps exact?
They come from the caption cue times, which mark where a sentence starts. The model picks the cue where a topic begins; nudge a line by a second or two if a chapter starts mid-word.
My video has no captions.
Then the transcript is written by a speech model, 3 credits a minute up to 10 minutes, with its own timestamps; chapters work the same on it.
Is it free?
The transcript is free when the video has captions; the chapters cost 2 credits. 1,500 credits are $15.
Add chapters to your video
Paste your YouTube link. Chapters are 2 credits.
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Explore each tool’s instructions, output limits and available recorded examples.
