To add timestamps to a YouTube playlist description, edit the playlist in YouTube Studio or the YouTube app, enter the timestamp text, and save. This adds text to the playlist’s description; it does not set up YouTube video chapters. For chapter navigation in a video player, add timestamp-title pairs to that individual video’s description instead.
Add timestamp text to a playlist description
On desktop in YouTube Studio
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Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Content.
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Select the Playlists tab.
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Hover over the playlist you want to edit and choose Details.
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Enter or edit the text in the playlist description. For example:
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Click Save. YouTube Studio’s documented playlist workflow gives a 5,000-character limit for the description.
In the YouTube mobile app
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Open the playlist from Library.
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Tap Edit, change or add the description, then confirm the edit.
You can also edit playlist settings in the YouTube Studio app from Content > Playlists. Controls may differ by app version.
Playlist timestamps and video chapters are different
Timestamp-like lines in a playlist description are descriptive text associated with the playlist. YouTube’s documented manual video-chapter instructions apply to an individual video’s description, not the playlist description. The official documentation does not establish whether timestamps in playlist descriptions become clickable across desktop, mobile, or TV interfaces, so check the saved playlist in the client your viewers use rather than promising that they will work as links.
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In YouTube Studio, open Content and select the video.
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Add timestamp-title pairs to that video’s Description, not the playlist description.
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Start the first timestamp at 00:00, include at least three timestamps in ascending order, and make each chapter at least 10 seconds long.
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Save the video. Manual chapters override automatic chapters. If chapters are unavailable for your account, YouTube says to apply for access to advanced features.
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YouTube describes chapters as sections of a video that can be found in the description or selected in the player. These rules concern video chapters; they do not make playlist-description timestamps into chapters.
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