Chapters appear as clickable links in the play bar and let viewers navigate to key points in your video. They can increase engagement and accessibility while also improving SEO benefits.
Tip
Automatic chaptering is enabled by default for new accounts. Account Owners can adjust this setting in their Account Settings under "Automatic captions, transcripts, and chapters." This setting applies only to new uploads. To add chapters to existing media, generate them from the Chapters tab as described below.
Note
This article discusses chapters for videos. To learn how to add chapters to audio files, refer to our audio player customization guide.
Add chapters to your video
To add chapters to your video, click "Customize" on a media page and open the "Chapters" tab. There, switch the toggle to "On" to enable chapters, or click "Add chapter."
Newly added chapters are titled "New Chapter" by default. Click into the text field to edit the chapter's title. Click into the timestamp field to adjust the timing. Alternatively, scrub to the desired time using the timeline at the bottom of the page. Click "Add chapter" to add a new chapter.
If your video is less than a minute long, chapter timestamps will be formatted as seconds.milliseconds. For videos longer than one minute, timestamps will be formatted as minutes:seconds.milliseconds. Videos longer than an hour will be formatted as hours:minutes:seconds.milliseconds.
Once you've configured your chapters, click "Save" at the top right of the page to save your changes.
Tip
There is no hard character limit for chapter names, but longer titles may appear cut off in the player.
Chapters appear as clickable points on the play bar. Hovering over each chapter marker in the play bar allows you to see the name of the chapter. You can also open up the chapter menu to see the full list of chapters.
AI chapters
The AI-powered chapter generator carefully reviews and analyzes your video’s transcript to create chapters for topic changes. To generate new AI chapters, click "Generate chapters" in the chapters editor. Once created, you can edit the title and timing of the chapters as needed.
Tip
Any users with "Can manage" or custom Upload permissions can generate AI chapters.
If you don't see this option in the Chapters modal, you can also generate AI chapters by clicking "Generate chapters" in the transcript dropdown menu.
AI chapters usually generate in a few seconds. If the loading indicator keeps spinning, refresh the page. Your chapters may already be saved in the Chapters tab.
Note
Your media must have a transcript before you can create AI chapters. Generating new AI chapters will replace all existing chapters. Chapters cannot exist for multiple languages at once.
Remove chapters
To remove a chapter, click the "X" next to any chapter title. This will remove just that chapter and will not delete any portion of your video.
Tip
If you're looking to trim your video or remove footage, use the Editor.
If you've added several chapters and would like to start from scratch, you can click the "X" next to each one or click "Discard" at the top of the page to fully start over.
Note
The "Discard" button removes any unsaved changes, including other customization options. Be sure to save any unsaved customizations before using the "Discard" option to reset chapters.
Still working on setting up your chapters but not ready to have them be public yet? You can toggle chapters off while still keeping the ones you've added, so you can come back later and finish them when you're ready. Remember to click "Save" as you go.
Remove automatically generated chapters
You can remove chapters created by automatic chaptering the same way. Click "Customize" on the media page, open the "Chapters" tab, and click the "X" next to each chapter, or switch the toggle to "Off."
To stop chapters from being generated on future uploads, an Account Owner can uncheck "Automatically generate chapters from transcript content" in Account Settings under "Automatic captions, transcripts, and chapters."
Chapters FAQ
Can I link to chapters outside the Wistia player?
Chapter markers are clickable only inside the Wistia player. To build a clickable chapter list on your own webpage, use the Player API's Chapters plugin.
What happens to chapters when you replace or edit a video?
Chapters are timestamp-based. Replacing a video keeps your chapters, but if the new file has a different length or cuts, the markers may land in the wrong spots. As a result, double-check them and adjust the timing or recreate them if needed. Editing a video can also shift or drop chapters depending on how much footage you trim and where, so re-check them after any edit.
Will my chapters translate based on a viewer's caption preferences?
A video can have only one set of chapters, and it isn't tied to caption language. Chapter titles won't translate when a viewer switches caption languages.
Can I apply the same chapters to multiple videos?
Chapters are unique to each video and aren't included in folder defaults. To copy chapters from one video to others, ask the Wistia Agent (bottom-right corner of any page in Wistia), for example: "Copy the chapters from this video and apply them to all videos in the 'Example' folder." If you're comfortable with code, you can also use the Data API to read chapters from one video and update others, including in bulk.
Can I export or copy chapters?
Chapter titles and timestamps can't be exported from Wistia at this time, and they aren't included when you download a transcript. If you're comfortable with code, you can read chapter data through the Data API.
Why are my chapters not visible on my embedded video?
Chapters appear in the play bar of the standard Wistia embed. If they aren't showing on your page, the embed may be using a simplified or third-party player (e.g., an oEmbed or a website builder like GoHighLevel) that doesn't render the full control bar. Re-copy the standard embed code from your media's "Embed & Share" menu, and confirm your player customizations are saved. On mobile, the play bar and chapter markers appear once a viewer taps the video.