How it works
Ever sent someone a two-hour podcast link with “the good part is around 1:20:00 somewhere”? They’re not going to find it. A timestamp link fixes that: the video opens already cued to the second you picked.
Paste any YouTube URL (watch, youtu.be, Shorts, embed, or live, even a bare video ID), set hours, minutes, and seconds, and three outputs appear instantly. The long link uses YouTube’s t= parameter, like watch?v=ID&t=4830s. The short youtu.be version is cleaner for chats and social posts. And there’s a ready-made iframe snippet with the start= parameter set, since embeds use a different parameter than regular links. Each output has its own copy button, plus a test link that opens the video in a new tab so you can confirm it lands where you meant.
The math is handled for you. Type 1 hour, 20 minutes, 30 seconds and the tool converts it to 4,830 seconds behind the scenes while showing you the human-readable 1:20:30 as a sanity check. Nothing gets uploaded anywhere; the whole thing runs locally in your browser.
Tips
Start the link 2 or 3 seconds before the actual moment. YouTube seeks to the nearest keyframe, so playback can land slightly off, and a little lead-in gives viewers context anyway.
Use the short link in Discord, Slack, and WhatsApp. It unfurls the same way but reads much cleaner in a message.
The embed snippet is the right pick for blog posts. Readers stay on your page and the player still opens at your chosen moment.
Double-check long videos before sharing. A typo in the hours field on a 3-hour VOD sends people 60 minutes off target, and the test link catches that in one click.
If you own the video, chapters in the description complement timestamp links nicely. Chapters help people browsing; timestamp links help people you’re pointing somewhere specific.
Questions people ask
What’s the difference between t=123 and t=123s?
Practically nothing. YouTube accepts both plain seconds and the s-suffixed form on watch and youtu.be links. Embeds are the exception: they use a separate start= parameter in plain seconds, which is why the tool generates a distinct snippet for them.
Do timestamp links work on mobile? Yep. Mobile browsers respect them, and the YouTube app on Android and iOS seeks to the specified time when it opens the link.
Can I timestamp a Shorts URL? You can paste one. The tool extracts the video ID and the generated watch link plays the Short in the regular player, where the timestamp actually takes effect. Timestamps don’t work inside the vertical Shorts feed itself.
Why does playback start a second or two early or late? Video seeking works on keyframes, not exact frames. YouTube jumps to the nearest one, so a second of drift is normal. Set your time slightly early to be safe.
Is there a maximum timestamp? The hours field goes up to 99, which covers anything on YouTube. If you enter a time past the video’s end, YouTube just starts from the beginning.
Does this work for unlisted or private videos? Unlisted, yes, for anyone who has the link. Private videos only open for accounts with viewing permission, timestamp or not.