How the timestamps are written
Each caption line starts with its start time in square brackets: [MM:SS] for the first hour and [HH:MM:SS] after that. The time comes from YouTube’s caption track, so it marks when that caption appears on screen, which is usually within a second of when the words are spoken.
Sample timestamped text (original example text, not from a real video)
[00:00] First, write down the question you want the video to answer. [00:04] Next, search the transcript for a distinctive phrase. [00:08] Finally, check the matching moment in the source video.
When timestamps are worth keeping
- Quoting and fact-checking: a timestamp lets you and your readers verify the exact moment something was said.
- Show notes and chapters: timestamps make it quick to write a chapter list or “key moments” section for a video description.
- Research and study: note the time next to each idea so you can rewatch just that part before an exam or while writing.
- Clip editing: an editor can jump straight to the section you marked instead of scrubbing through the full video.
Jumping to a moment
In the transcript viewer, clicking a timestamp opens the video on YouTube at that second (the link adds &t= followed by the number of seconds). To share a moment yourself, add &t=90s to any watch URL to start at 1:30.