Create and convert chapters for podcasts, youtube, matroska, mkvmerge/nero/vorbis, webvtt, ffmpeginfo, ffmetadata, pyscenedetect, apple chapters, edl, podlove simple chapters (xml, json), apple hls chapters and mp4chaps.
Click here to open the web app.
| name | key | ext | info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podcasting 2.0 Chapters | chaptersjson | json |
spec |
| FFMetadata | ffmpegdata | txt |
spec |
| Matroska XML chapters | matroskaxml | xml |
spec |
| MKVToolNix mkvmerge XML | mkvmergexml | xml |
spec |
| MKVToolNix mkvmerge simple | mkvmergesimple | txt |
spec |
| WebVTT Chapters | webvtt | vtt |
spec |
| Youtube Chapter Syntax | youtube | txt |
|
| FFMpegInfo | ffmpeginfo | txt |
read only, used internally |
| PySceneDetect | pyscenedetect | csv |
project home |
| Vorbis Comment Format | vorbiscomment | txt |
spec |
| "Apple Chapters" | applechapters | xml |
source |
| Shutter EDL | edl | edl |
source |
| Podlove Simple Chapters | psc | xml |
spec |
| Podlove Simple Chapters JSON | podlovejson | json |
source |
| MP4Chaps | mp4chaps | txt |
source |
| Apple HLS Chapters | applehls | json |
spec, partial support |
| SceneCut | scenecut | json |
spec |
You need to install node and optionally ffmpeg on your system:
Windows: modern terminal, package manager, node, ffmpeg
macOS: package manager, node, ffmpeg
linux: node, ffmpeg
npx chaptertool@latest generate YOUR_FILE.mp4Wait for the process to finish, afterwards a new folder called YOUR_FILE_chapters should be present.
It contains the screenshots from the video and a chapters.json-file that contains the automatically generated chapters.
npx chaptertool@latest <command> <input?> --option-a --option-b=value
Run the http-server that hosts the web ui.
| option | description | default |
|---|---|---|
--port |
port for the http-server | 8989 |
Generate raw chapters from video using ffmpeg.
| option | description | default |
|---|---|---|
<input> |
the video file that you want to process | |
--y |
when set ffmpeg will always overwrite existing output | |
--n |
when set ffmpeg will never overwrite existing output | |
--output-format |
output format for the chapters, see below | chaptersjson |
--output-folder |
image destination folder, $filename will be replaced with the input video filename minus the extension |
$filename_chapters |
--chapter-template |
template string for the chapter names. | Chapter $chapter of $total |
--scene-value |
min value for ffmpeg's scene detection. If you only use a small portion of the screen, the value should be smaller. See the crop option | 0.1 |
--scale |
when given, images will be scaled to given width while keeping original aspect ratio | |
--force-dar |
when used, the display aspect ratio will be used for generated images. Useful for some videos. overwrites --scale |
|
--crop |
when set, it will apply the crop filter on the input to the given coordinates. General syntax is w:h:x:y |
|
--use-crossfade-fix |
when set, a special filter setup will be used to handle crossfade situations | |
--crossfade-frames |
assuming your input video has a framerate of ~30fps and your average cross-fade transition is 2 seconds long, the amount of frame should be at least FPS * CROSSFADE_DURATION * 2 |
120 |
--silent |
suppress output | |
--img-uri |
uri to prepend to the images in the json | |
--pretty |
pretty-print the output, if supported | |
--keep-info |
when set, info.txt will not be deleted | |
--config |
point to a yaml file that may contain all options for a enhanced re/usability, see below | |
--dump-ffmpeg |
echo the generated ffmpeg-command to stdout | |
--ffmpeg-binary |
path to the ffmpeg binary, optional | ffmpeg |
--ffprobe-binary |
path to the ffprobe binary, optional | ffprobe |
--extract-audio |
extract the audio from video file | |
--audio-filename |
filename for the audio file. $filename will be replaced with input filename, same as --output-folder. Extension controls the output format |
$filename.mp3 |
--audio-options |
options for the ffmpeg command that extracts the audio | -q:a 0 -map a |
--audio-copy-stream |
copy audio stream from video. Correct output file extension will be set automatically. --audio-options will be overwritten internally |
|
--audio-only |
create no chapters and images | |
--input-chapters |
path to a chapters.json file. See below | |
--dump-options |
dump final options object, for debugging only | |
--min-chapter-length |
minimum chapter length. New chapters below that threshold are ignored | 10 |
--no-end-times |
when set, no endTime-attributes are written on chapters.json |
Converts existing chapters between any of the supported formats:
| option | description | default |
|---|---|---|
<input> |
the file that you want to convert, format will be detected | |
--format |
target format, one of those listed above. When omitted, detected input format is used | |
--pretty |
some formats support pretty printing | |
--img-uri |
see above, works only with chaptersjson |
|
--output-file |
file to write the output to. see below | |
--psd-omit-timecodes |
When set, first line of PySceneDetect-CSV will not be written | |
--psd-framerate |
set the framerate for PySceneDetect output | |
--ac-use-text-attr |
use the text-attribute for Apple Chapters |
use
--output-filewhen using powershell, otherwise you'll have BOMs in your output
Use any option (except input) listed above in a config file passed via --configto create reusable configurations:
# my-config.yaml
- --crop=616:410:554:46
- --silentAdditionally you can create an .env file in any directory and put in options like this:
# prefix with CT_, option name uppercase and replace all dashes with underscore
CT_CROP="616:410:554:46"
CT_SILENT=true
CT_DUMP_FFMEG=trueYou can combine config with regular cli options. Evaluation occurs in this order:
- build-in default value
.envvalues- config yaml (if present) value
- explicit cli value