AI YouTube Chapter Generator — Get Timestamps in Seconds
No YouTube URL needed. Upload your video or audio and get clean, SEO-ready chapters before you even publish — works with private videos, drafts, and podcast audio.
Drag and drop a video or audio file, or click to browse
MP4, MOV, WebM, MP3, WAV, M4A — up to 500 MB
How to Generate YouTube Chapters with AI
- 1
Upload your file
Drag and drop your video or audio file. No need to publish to YouTube first — the tool works with raw files, private videos, and drafts.
- 2
AI analyzes your content
Our AI transcribes your audio, detects topic changes, and identifies the natural sections of your video — then writes a clear, descriptive title for each one.
- 3
Copy and paste
Copy the generated chapters in YouTube's exact required format (starting at 0:00) and paste them into your video description. Done.
Generate Chapters Before You Publish
Most chapter generators need a public YouTube URL — which means your video already has to be live. ChapterGen works differently: you upload the file itself.
- Unpublished videos: Generate your chapters while the video is still a draft, so your description is perfect from minute one.
- Private and unlisted videos: No public URL required, ever.
- Audio-only content: Podcasts, interviews, and voice recordings work just as well as video.
- Any language: Whisper auto-detects — works with 90+ languages.
Why YouTube Chapters Boost Your Views
Chapters aren't just convenient for viewers — they're one of the most underused SEO levers on YouTube:
Key Moments in Google Search
Videos with chapters can appear in Google results with clickable sections, taking up more space on the results page.
Higher engagement
Large-scale analyses of YouTube videos show that videos with chapters get significantly better like and comment ratios.
Better retention
Viewers who can jump to what they need are more likely to stay, rewatch, and return — all signals YouTube's algorithm rewards.
Searchable metadata
Every chapter title is text YouTube can index. Descriptive, keyword-rich titles help your video rank for more searches.
Better Than YouTube's Automatic Chapters
YouTube can auto-generate chapters — so why use a dedicated tool? Because YouTube's automatic chapters are inconsistent: they often cut mid-sentence, miss topic transitions, and produce generic titles like "Section 1" that carry zero SEO value.
| YouTube auto-chapters | ChapterGen | |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive, SEO-ready titles | Generic | Based on real content |
| Editable before publishing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Works on unpublished videos | ✗ | ✓ |
| Works with audio / podcasts | ✗ | ✓ |
With ChapterGen you get chapters based on what's actually said in your video, with descriptive titles you can edit and optimize with your own keywords — then simply disable YouTube's auto-chapters in YouTube Studio and paste yours in.
Built for Every Kind of Long-Form Content
Tutorials & how-tos
Let viewers jump straight to the step they need — and come back to your video as a reference.
Webinars & courses
Turn a 2-hour recording into a navigable lesson.
Product reviews & vlogs
Highlight each product or moment so nobody scrolls away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Copy the generated chapter list and paste it into your video description in YouTube Studio. YouTube automatically detects the format and turns it into clickable chapters on the progress bar.