How to Add Chapters to a Video
Chapters in WP Media Player are named markers that divide a video into segments. Viewers see them in a chapters menu and as markers on the progress bar, and can jump to any segment with one click. Adding chapters takes under a minute per video.
Open the Chapters Section
Open the video in the media editor and scroll to the Chapters section. If the video has no chapters yet, the section shows an Add Chapter button. Click it to open the chapter editor modal.
The modal shows a live preview player with the current chapter markers displayed on the time slider. On the right is the chapter form.
Set the Title and Start Time
Each chapter needs two things:
- Chapter Title: A name for the segment. Required. Use a short label — “Introduction,” “Product Demo,” “Q&A” — that tells the viewer what that part of the video covers.
- Start Time: The moment in the video where the chapter begins. Enter it manually or drag the time slider to the right point in the preview player.
The End Time is calculated automatically. It is set to the start time of the next chapter, or to the video’s total duration if this is the last chapter. You do not set it manually.
Click Save to add the chapter to the list. Repeat for every segment you want to mark.
Reorder Chapters
Chapters are sorted by start time automatically. To change the order, edit a chapter’s start time so it falls before or after the others. The list and the time slider markers update immediately.
Save the media item when you are done. The chapters are stored with the video and appear in every embed of that video.
What to Check
- Each chapter has a title and a start time before saving
- The time slider in the editor shows markers at every chapter start point
- The chapters menu on the frontend lists all chapters in order
- Clicking a chapter name seeks the player to the correct timestamp
Next Steps
Chapters work alongside captions and layers on the same video. To add subtitle tracks in VTT format, see how to add captions and subtitles.