You Can Now Break YouTube Videos Into Chapters

YouTube creators can now add chapters to videos, making it easier for viewers to navigate them. This is especially useful with longer videos, with the content broken up into smaller chunks. Chapters are entirely optional, but should start appearing on more videos.

YouTube started experimenting with chapters in April, and thanks to positive feedback, is now rolling the feature out to all users. Chapters are optional, and won’t be applied by default, but if a YouTuber adds timestamps to a video, YouTube will do the rest.

How to Add Chapters to YouTube Videos

To add chapters to one of your YouTube videos, simply add timestamps to your description. The first timestamp needs to start at 0.00, a video needs to have at least three timestamps, and each timestamp needs to be at least 10 seconds apart.

YouTube will use your timestamps to break the video into chapters. Viewers will then see the chapters at the bottom of the video, with the timeline broken up with black lines in between each one. Making it easier to navigate to an exact point.

0:00 We heard you and added Video Chapters.
0:30 You liked it.
1:00 Now it's official: Video Chapters are here to stay.
1:30 Creators, try Chapters by adding timestamps starting at 0:00 to your video description. Viewers, scrub to find exactly what you’re looking for.
2:00 Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/bIHGsGVmyW

— YouTube (@YouTube) May 28, 2020

Chapters work on desktop, Android, and iOS. On desktop, you can hover over a chapter to see the title, and click the one you want. On mobile, you need to keep your finger on the screen and scroll across the timeline until you find the chapter you want to watch.

There are no limits on who can add chapters to their YouTube videos, so you’re likely to see them cropping up a lot from now on. However, it IS optional, and YouTubers can disable chapters by adjusting the first timestamp to something other than 0.00.

Making It Easier to Navigate YouTube Videos

Chapters have the capacity to help both YouTube creators and viewers. Creators can break videos up into smaller chunks, helping direct viewers to specific parts of their uploads. And viewers will be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

If you’re a budding YouTuber keen to start making videos, read our beginner’s guide to making YouTube videos. And if you’re a viewer keen to get more out of YouTube, be sure to check out our article explaining ways to make YouTube even better.

Image Credit: Ivan Radic/Flickr

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