Handytool
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YouTube chapters generator

Auto-generate timestamped YouTube chapters from a video's captions or from your own MP4.

.mp4.mov.webm.mkv.m4v.avi
Source

The video must have subtitles or auto-captions enabled. If it doesn't, switch to the file upload tab and we'll transcribe it for you.

Only the YouTube URL is sent to our server to fetch the public captions. Chapter titles are AI-generated — feel free to tweak before posting.

About the YouTube chapters generator

Auto-generate YouTube chapter markers in the right format — 00:00 Intro, 02:34 Topic, and so on — without copy-pasting timestamps by hand. Paste any YouTube link and Handytool reads the public captions to find topic shifts; or drop your MP4, MOV, or WebM into the file tab and Whisper transcribes the speech locally before our chapter writer turns it into clean section titles. The output drops straight into the YouTube Studio description box and unlocks the chapter scrubber on your video.

YouTube chapters generator features

  • 01

    Two ways to start

    Paste a YouTube URL to use whatever captions or auto-captions the video already has. Or upload the video file — audio is extracted with FFmpeg.wasm and transcribed in your browser by Whisper before chapters are generated.

  • 02

    Topic-aware chapter boundaries

    Sections are placed at real shifts in subject matter, not at arbitrary intervals. Each chapter gets a short, descriptive title — and the first marker always sits at 00:00 so YouTube actually shows the chapter scrubber.

  • 03

    Localized titles

    Chapter titles are written in the language of the page you're using. Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese viewers all get titles in their own language, no matter what language the video itself is in.

YouTube chapters generator FAQ

Do I need a YouTube API key?
No. Handytool reads the same public captions YouTube already serves to viewers — no API key, no Google login, no quota.
What if my video doesn't have subtitles?
If you paste a URL for a video without captions, the tool will tell you. Switch to the file upload tab and we'll transcribe the audio locally with Whisper, then generate the chapters from that — no captions required.
How do I add the chapters to my YouTube video?
Copy the output, open YouTube Studio for your video, paste it into the description box, and save. As long as the first chapter is 00:00 and each chapter is at least 10 seconds long, YouTube enables the chapter scrubber automatically.
How long can the video be?
URL mode handles videos of any length the YouTube transcript covers. File uploads are capped at 500 MB, which usually covers an hour of HD video — chapters are generated for the entire transcript.
Are titles editable before posting?
Yes. The generated text is plain text — copy it, edit any title that doesn't fit your tone, and paste it into YouTube. AI-generated titles are a starting point, not a final cut.
Is the video uploaded somewhere?
When you paste a URL, only the URL is sent to our server so we can fetch YouTube's public captions and write the chapter titles. When you upload a file, the video stays on your device — only the small text transcript is sent for chapter title generation.

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