Make chapter markers for a podcast episode from its audio
Upload an episode and get a chapter list with real timestamps taken from the transcript, starting at 0:00, in a file you can paste into a YouTube description or your podcast host. You also get the full transcript, show notes and captions. Up to 15 minutes is free in full; a longer episode is $5, paid once, up to 6 hours.
- A chapter list file with lines like "0:00 Intro", first line always 0:00
- Chapter times taken from the transcript, not estimated
- Plus title ideas, a description, takeaways, quotes and mentions
- Every transcript paragraph labeled with a speaker
- SRT and VTT captions in the same download
How to make podcast chapters from audio
-
1
Upload the episode
Add the MP3, M4A, WAV or video file, up to 2 GB, or paste a public Google Drive, Dropbox or direct link.
-
2
Pay once for the episode
Look at the free part, then pay $5 so the chapters are written from the whole transcript, not just the opening.
-
3
Paste the chapter list
Download the chapter list file and paste it into your YouTube description or your host’s episode notes, then adjust titles.
Why chapter times need a transcript
Chapter markers help only if they land where the topic actually changes. A chat assistant asked for chapters from a long episode often returns round numbers, or times that drift further off as the episode goes on, because it cannot reliably place timestamps in a long file. Here the episode is first transcribed in parts of up to ten minutes, with every paragraph stamped from the start of the file, and the chapters are written from that transcript. Each chapter time is the time of a real paragraph.
Pasting chapters into YouTube
YouTube turns timestamps in a video description into chapters when the list starts at 0:00, has at least three timestamps in ascending order, and each chapter lasts at least ten seconds. The chapter list file always starts at 0:00, so it can be pasted as it is. Edit the titles afterwards to match your show’s voice.
Many podcast hosts and apps also show timestamps in episode notes. Whether they become clickable chapters depends on the host and the listening app.
What else comes with the chapters
- Three plain episode title ideas
- An episode description in two short paragraphs
- Key takeaways
- Short word-for-word quotes with speaker and time
- People, books, products and sites mentioned by name
- The full transcript in Word, PDF and TXT
Limits
Chapters follow what is said. A topic change marked only by a music sting may not get its own chapter. Titles are written by AI from the transcript, so they are a starting point. On long episodes, speaker numbers can shift between ten-minute parts; rename them with Find and replace on screen before downloading.
How the tool works, what it costs and how your files are handled is on the Podcast Transcript and Show Notes page; prices for every tool are on the pricing page.
Last updated
Questions and answers
Can ChatGPT make chapters for my podcast episode?
From a short transcript it can suggest sensible sections. For a long episode it usually cannot take the audio, and the timestamps it gives tend to be rounded or drift, so chapters land in the wrong places.
Why are my YouTube chapters not showing?
Most often the first timestamp is not 0:00, there are fewer than three, or a chapter is shorter than ten seconds. The chapter list from this tool always starts at 0:00.
What does an episode cost?
$5 for the whole episode, up to 6 hours. An episode of up to 15 minutes is free in full. Weekly shows can use Unlimited at $19 a week.
Can I upload a video podcast?
Yes. MP4, MOV, MKV and other video files work, up to 2 GB. YouTube links are not accepted, so upload the file or link to it in cloud storage.