Skip to tool
ecech.
🎥 YouTube Creator Tools

Find the One Timestamp That Makes All Your YouTube Chapters Silently Disappear

Check the 00:00 start, ascending order, three-chapter minimum and ten-second chapter rule before publishing.

Chapter status

Parsed

Shortest chapter

First timestamp

Advertisement

How the calculation works

A valid list starts at zero and advances by at least ten seconds00:00–00:3000:30–01:0001:00–01:30One duplicate or out-of-order timestamp can prevent manual chapters from appearing.

How to Use This Tool

YouTube manual chapters can fail as a group even when most lines look correct. Paste exactly what you plan to place in the description. The validator checks the published requirements: the first timestamp starts at 00:00, there are at least three timestamps in ascending order, and every chapter lasts at least ten seconds.

The last chapter needs the video length

The gap between two timestamps reveals the earlier chapter's duration, but the final timestamp has no following line. Enter the full video length so the page can check that last segment too. Without it, a chapter beginning five seconds before the end may look valid even though it is too short.

00:00 Intro00:30 Demo00:30 Result0-second chapter
Duplicate timestamps are not merely untidy; they create a chapter with no duration.

Validation is not publication

A structurally correct list can still be unavailable when a channel lacks access to the feature, when active strikes affect eligibility, or when YouTube processing has not completed. This tool checks the text and timing only. YouTube Studio remains the authority on whether chapters appear.

Sources & assumptions

Tool Spec v2 · verified 2026-08-18. Platform rules and fees can change; the editable inputs remain authoritative for your account.

Official references

Model assumptions

  • Video length is entered accurately because the page cannot inspect the video.
  • Each non-empty line is expected to contain a timestamp followed by a visible chapter title.
Advertisement

Frequently Asked Questions

What are YouTube's manual chapter requirements?
The first timestamp must be 00:00, the list must contain at least three timestamps in ascending order, and each chapter must be at least ten seconds long.
Why do I need to enter the video length?
It is the only way to calculate the duration of the final chapter, because there is no next timestamp to subtract from it.
Can I write 0:00 instead of 00:00?
The parser accepts both, but the normalized display uses two digits for minutes when useful. The underlying time still equals zero.
Why are valid chapters still not showing?
Feature access, channel eligibility, strikes and processing can affect availability. Confirm the list in YouTube Studio after checking its structure here.
Do chapter titles matter?
Yes. Each timestamp should be followed by a meaningful title. A bare timestamp is flagged because it gives the viewer no chapter label.
Does this tool edit my YouTube description?
No. It only analyzes pasted text locally. Copy the corrected list into YouTube Studio yourself.

Related tools in YouTube Creator Tools

Browse all YouTube Creator Tools tools
The desk where ecech. tools get written: a laptop, a notebook of to-dos and a whiteboard listing the tools on the site.

Made by one person

ecech. is not a content farm. Every tool here is written and checked by hand, one at a time, by someone who wanted the tool to exist and could not find a version that showed its working.

No accounts and no sign-in, and nothing you type reaches a server — every calculation on this page runs inside your browser. The ads are served by Google and do set their own cookies, which is set out in full on the privacy page. More about the site.