YouTube Timestamp Link Generator Guide
A quick reference for the exact URL shapes that start a YouTube video at a given time.
The short answer, then the details.
Quick answer
- Short form: https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID?t=SECONDS
- Long form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&t=SECONDS
- The value is in seconds. 90 means one minute thirty.
The rules that trip people up
- On a watch URL the separator is &, not ?, because ?v= already opened the query string.
- A bare number is fine; 90s also works. Older 1h2m3s values still work but are no longer produced by YouTube itself.
- The Shorts player ignores a start time — convert the link to the standard watch form first.
- Some chat apps strip query parameters. The short form survives this more reliably.
Keeping the playlist
If the source URL has a list parameter, keep it to preserve playlist context or drop it for a clean single-video link. Both are valid; pick the one that matches what you are pointing at.
Timestamp Link Generator Generate either form, get the matching share text, and tidy a chapter list at the same time.