> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.tella.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# YouTube chapters

Tella lets you copy your video's chapters in a format that YouTube automatically turns into clickable chapter markers. This is useful when you download a Tella video and upload it to YouTube.

For general information on creating and editing chapters, see [Chapters](/docs/help/editing/chapters "/help/editing/chapters").

## How it works

Tella offers three copy formats for chapters: **Copy as text**, **Copy with descriptions**, and **Copy for YouTube**. To copy for YouTube, open the three-dot menu in the Chapters panel and select **Copy for YouTube**. This copies your chapters in YouTube's required format:

```
0:00 Intro
0:45 Getting started
2:30 Advanced settings
5:12 Wrap up
```

Paste this into your YouTube video's description field. YouTube will automatically create clickable chapter markers on the video progress bar.

<Note>
  YouTube requires timestamps without dashes. If you use **Copy as text** instead, the format includes dashes (`0:00 - Intro`) which works for general use but may not be recognized by YouTube.
</Note>

## Copy chapters for YouTube

1. Open your video in the Tella editor.

2. Click **Setup** in the sidebar, then click the **Chapters** button.

3. Click the three-dot menu and select **Copy for YouTube**.

4. Go to your YouTube video and paste the text into the **description** field.

5. Save the YouTube description. Chapter markers will appear on the progress bar.

## YouTube chapter requirements

For YouTube to recognize chapters, your description must meet these requirements:

* The first timestamp must be **0:00**. Tella handles this automatically — if your first chapter starts after 0:00, Tella adds an "Intro" chapter at the beginning when you save.

* You need at least **three chapters**.

* Each chapter must be at least **10 seconds** long.

## Timestamp format

Tella formats timestamps based on your video's length:

* Videos under one hour use **M:SS** format (e.g., `0:00`, `2:30`, `14:05`).

* Videos one hour or longer use **H:MM:SS** format (e.g., `1:02:30`).

Both formats are recognized by YouTube.

## Tips

* Keep chapter titles short and descriptive. YouTube displays them in the progress bar, so long titles get cut off.

* You can [generate chapters with AI](/docs/help/editing/chapters "/help/editing/chapters") or add them manually before copying.

* If you enable **Auto-generate chapters** in Settings > Preferences, chapters are created automatically after each recording's transcription completes.