YouTube’s experimental feature, Chapters is rolling out to more users: Here’s what it does

It is not clear exactly how widely is the Google’s video sharing platform is testing YouTube Chapters but it sure is proving to be a welcome change.

YouTube Chapters currently don’t show up when the video is embedded in a post or is a part of a playlist. (Reuters)

Last month YouTube was spotted testing 'Chapters' on its Android, iOS and desktop versions, letting you skip to specific parts in a long video easily. The feature, as per The Verge, seems to be rolling out to more users now. It is not clear exactly how widely is the video sharing platform testing YouTube Chapters but it sure is proving to be a welcome change.

Until now, the creators used to mention the timestamp in the video description and hyperlink it so you could click and start from that particular moment. YouTube Chapters takes a step forward and integrates that in the red progress bar itself. You can hover the cursor over the progress bar and click on different Chapters to play that exact portion. However, they will still be based on the timestamp mentioned by the creator in the video description.  

This is HUGE for YouTube! Look at the timeline!!! It takes the timestamps from my description and essentially turned them into chapter markers for the video! It shows the title of the section and how much you've completed! AMAAZING! pic.twitter.com/gEG5fYvoot

— Podcastage (@podcastage) April 12, 2020

"To help you more easily navigate videos, we're testing out video chapters, which allow you to jump forward to a specific section of the video, rewatch a portion of the video, and more. Chapters appear at the bottom of the video player and use timestamps from the creator's video description," said the YouTube support page updated last month.

The Verge points out that this feature doesn't seem to show up when the video is embedded in a post or is a part of a playlist. If it is a music video, the Chapters are not seen in the YouTube Music app. All of this clearly indicates that YouTube might still be testing this feature and is taking its sweet time to roll it down to more users.