Link to an Exact Time

To link to an exact time in a YouTube video on a computer, click Share under the video, tick the Start at box, type the time (for example 2:30), then click Copy (Share videos and channels). The copied link opens the video at that second. You can also write it yourself: add &t= and the number of seconds to a watch address, as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEn58iCruwc&t=90, or ?t=90 after a short link, as in https://youtu.be/kEn58iCruwc?t=90. Both open the video at 1:30.

Quick facts

How do I share a YouTube video at a specific time?

On a computer, with Share:

1. Play or pause the video at the moment you want.
2. Click Share under the video.
3. Tick Start at. The box fills with the current time; change it if needed.
4. Click Copy, then paste the link anywhere.

0:24 On a computer, with a right-click: pause at the moment, right-click the video, and choose Copy video URL at current time from YouTube's menu (seen on Nov 6, 2026). The link carries the time to the second.

0:41 In the YouTube app: pause, tap Share, turn on the option showing the current time if your app offers it, and tap Copy link. vidIQ, which describes these steps, notes that the toggle is not always there; when it is missing, copy the link and add the time by hand (vidIQ, Sep 22, 2026). Trevor Nace showed that by hand in a Sep 30, 2024 video, when his app had no such option: Share, Copy link, paste it into a note, delete everything after the ?, and type ?t=120 (the seconds) after the question mark.

Writing the time into the address

Use &t= after a watch?v= address, because it already has a ?; use ?t= after a youtu.be link, which has none. On Nov 6, 2026 Vi.ki checked that youtu.be/kEn58iCruwc?t=90 passes the time on: it redirects to youtube.com/watch?t=90&v=kEn58iCruwc. The minutes-and-seconds form is described by vidIQ; YouTube Help documents only its own Start at box.

Timestamps in comments and descriptions

Type a time such as 5:30 in a comment and YouTube turns it into a link that jumps the video there (vidIQ). Use minutes and seconds with a colon (5:30), and hours too in a long video (1:05:30).

0:18 In a description, a list of timestamps does more: when it starts at 00:00, has at least three times in ascending order, and every part lasts at least 10 seconds, YouTube turns it into Chapters on the progress bar (Video Chapters). Viewers can then skip from chapter to chapter with Ctrl + Left and Right arrow (Option on a Mac; Keyboard Shortcuts).

Embeds start and end differently

0:00 A video embedded on a website does not use t=. Its address takes start= and end=, both in whole seconds from the beginning of the video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/kEn58iCruwc?start=90&end=120 plays from 1:30 and stops at 2:00 (YouTube player parameters). Two details from that reference: end counts from the start of the video, not from start, and the player may begin up to about two seconds early because it seeks to the nearest keyframe. In the Share menu, Embed with Start at ticked writes the start= for you. Jacob LE, whose video shows the trick on a shared link (youtube.com/embed/<id>?start=...&end=...), found that the start time worked everywhere but the end time worked only in a web browser, not when the link opened in the YouTube app. More on embedding: YouTube Embeds.

What creators say

1:46 Trevor Nace tested his edited link by pasting it into a web browser, where the video "started directly at 2 minutes", and called the phone route the one that "needs a little bit of work" compared with a computer's right-click.

0:36 Jacob LE, in a Jun 12, 2023 video, called the end-time limit "vitally important" for anyone sharing a start-and-end link, since the end fails in the YouTube app: his advice was to tell the person to copy the link and paste it into a web browser.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a YouTube link start at a certain time? Click Share under the YouTube video, tick Start at, enter the time and click Copy. Or add &t= and the number of seconds to the end of the address.

What does t= mean in a YouTube link? It is the start time. &t=90 or &t=1m30s makes the YouTube video open at one minute thirty seconds.

How do I timestamp a YouTube comment? Type the time as minutes and seconds with a colon, such as 4:20, and YouTube turns it into a link that jumps to that point.

Can I make a YouTube link that stops at a time? Not for the watch page. A YouTube embed can stop with end= (in seconds), and a clip shares a short looping section of a video.

Why doesn't my YouTube timestamp link work? Check the separator: after watch?v= the time needs &t=, and after a youtu.be link it needs ?t=. A time past the end of the video, or a typo in the number, also fails.

Sources

• Share videos and channels, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• Video Chapters, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• How To Share A YouTube Video At A Specific Timestamp, Trevor Nace, Sep 30, 2024 (video)
• How to Share a YouTube Video That Starts and Ends at Specific Times, Jacob LE, Jun 12, 2023 (video)
• How to Add Chapters to Your Videos Using Timestamps, YouTube Creators, Jun 16, 2020 (video)
• YouTube Embedded Players and Player Parameters, Google for Developers, read Nov 6, 2026
• How to Make a YouTube Timestamp Link (Step-by-Step Guide), vidIQ, Sep 22, 2026
• YouTube's right-click menu on a watch page, and Vi.ki's requests to youtu.be and youtube.com, Nov 6, 2026