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How to download and split a YouTube video into separate files by chapters

Many YouTube videos are divided into chapters - named sections visible as segments on the progress bar. Instead of downloading the entire video and splitting it manually, you can use MediaHuman YouTube Downloader to automatically save each chapter as a separate file. This works great for music albums, podcasts, tutorials, conference talks, and any long video with timestamped sections.

The screenshots were taken using the Mac version of the program, but the application looks almost the same on Windows and Linux.

Download for other platforms →

  1. Find a video with chapters

    Open YouTube and find a video that has chapters. You can tell by the segmented progress bar below the video or a list of timestamps in the description. Copy the video URL from your browser’s address bar.

    A YouTube video with chapter segments visible on the progress bar

  2. Paste the link into YouTube Downloader

    Open MediaHuman YouTube Downloader and click the Paste link button in the toolbar, or simply press Ctrl+V on Windows or ⌘+V on Mac. The program will fetch the video details, including its chapters.

    Press Paste Link button to add a video you want to download

  3. Click the chapters icon to split

    When the video has chapters, a special icon (a list inside a circle) appears next to the download button. Click it - the single video will be replaced by a list of individual chapter items, each with its own title and a chapter indicator (e.g. "3/10") on the thumbnail.

    Press Split button to split video by chapters Video split into chapter items, each showing a chapter number on the thumbnail

  4. Choose format and start downloading

    Pick the desired output format (MP4, MKV, or others) and quality, then click Start all. The program downloads the video and automatically trims each chapter to its exact time range - no manual editing needed.

    Select format, quality and start downloading

  5. Locate your files

    Once the download is complete, click Locate next to any chapter to open its folder. Each chapter is saved as a separate video file, ready to play or share.

    Locate downloaded files
Tip: keep chapter files organized

Open Preferences → Download tab and enable Place in subfolder named as playlist title. All chapters from one video will be saved in their own folder, named after the original video title.

Preferences showing the subfolder option in the Download tab

Then go to Preferences → Video output tab and enable Add number to filename. This adds a track number to each file, so chapters stay in the correct order (e.g. “01 - Introduction.mp4”, “02 - Main Topic.mp4”).

Preferences showing the numbering option in the Video output tab