Podcast Chapter Converter
Every app wants chapters in a different format. Paste chapters in any of the formats below. The converter detects which one you pasted and writes it out as the one you need. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Got a back catalog without chapters? Send us the episodes and we do the whole lot for you: chapters checked against the audio, show notes and 3 pull quotes per episode, paste-ready within 24h.
3 episodes, $49 1 episode, $19 10+ episodes? Email hello@getchapterdesk.com for a catalog price.
Formats it reads and writes
| Format | Where it's used | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube timestamps | YouTube descriptions, Spotify and Apple show notes, most host episode pages | 00:00 Intro |
| podcast:chapters JSON | Podcasting 2.0 apps (Podcast Addict, Fountain, Podverse, Castamatic) through the RSS <podcast:chapters> tag | {"version":"1.2.0","chapters":[{"startTime":0,"title":"Intro"}]} |
| Audacity labels | File, Export, Export Labels in Audacity. Also a quick way to mark chapters while you edit | 0.000000 0.000000 Intro |
| WebVTT chapters | HTML5 players (<track kind="chapters">), Video.js, Plyr | 00:00:00.000 --> 00:01:30.000 |
| FFmpeg metadata | Writing chapters into an MP3/M4A/MP4 with ffmpeg -i in.m4a -i meta.txt -map_metadata 1 -c copy out.m4a | [CHAPTER] TIMEBASE=1/1000 START=0 |
| CUE sheet | Audio players and DJ tools; frames are 1/75 second | INDEX 01 01:30:00 |
| mp4chaps / Nero | mp4chaps, Forecast, older chapter tools | 00:01:30.000 Intro |
End times
JSON, WebVTT and FFmpeg can carry an end time for each chapter. The converter ends every chapter where the next one starts. Fill in the episode length to close the last chapter too. Without it, WebVTT and FFmpeg get a 60 second last chapter and the converter warns you.
YouTube's rules
If you're converting to YouTube timestamps: the first chapter has to start at 00:00, you need at least 3 chapters, and each one has to be at least 10 seconds long. The converter flags anything that breaks those rules. To check and fix a list in detail, use the YouTube chapters checker. To build a JSON file with images and links per chapter, use the chapters.json generator.