How to share a YouTube video with a timestamp (every way)

Sharing a 90-minute video and saying "the part I mean is around 47 minutes in" is a tax on whoever you're sending it to. YouTube has had timestamped sharing for years, and there are six different ways to do it depending on where you are and how precise you need to be. This is all of them, ranked by speed.

1. The Share button (fastest)

On desktop:

1. Pause the video at the moment you want.
2. Click Share below the video.
3. Tick the Start at box. The time auto-fills with the current playback position.
4. Click Copy.

On mobile (iOS/Android): tap Share, then Copy link. The mobile app adds the timestamp automatically based on where you paused — no separate "Start at" toggle needed.

2. Right-click → "Copy video URL at current time" (desktop only)

Right-click anywhere on the video player and select "Copy video URL at current time". Same result as the Share button but skips the dialog. Two clicks instead of four.

3. Manual URL edit

If you already have the URL but the video isn't open:

https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=1m23s

For a youtu.be link use ?t=; for a youtube.com/watch link use &t=. The value can be plain seconds (t=43) or a time expression (t=1m23s).

4. Our timestamp link generator

If you have the URL but want a clean link without doing manual URL gymnastics, our YouTube timestamp link generator does it in two clicks: paste, set hours/minutes/seconds, copy. Returns the short share link, the long URL, and the embed URL all at once.

5. Embedding a video starting at a specific time

Embed URLs use a different parameter name — start instead of t:

<iframe
  src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ?start=43"
  width="560" height="315" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Add &end=98 to also stop at second 98 — useful when you want to embed exactly one moment without the rest of the video.

6. Comments on the same video — type the time

If you're commenting on the same video, you don't need a URL at all. Type 1:23 anywhere in your comment and YouTube auto-converts it to a clickable timestamp pointing at 1:23 of that video. Multiple times in one comment all become clickable individually. Details: how to add timestamps in YouTube comments.

Where timestamped links work

• WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram, Signal — full support, link preview shows the timestamped frame.
• Slack, Discord — full support, unfurl shows the right preview.
• Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook — full support; previews vary in quality.
• Email (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) — full support.
• Instagram and TikTok in-app browsers — sometimes strip the timestamp parameter. Recipient should long-press and "Open in YouTube" to fix.

Mobile vs desktop differences

See our dedicated mobile timestamp guide for the iOS and Android specifics — share-button differences, in-app-browser quirks, and why links sometimes start at 0:00 on a phone but work fine on desktop.

Sharing multiple timestamps in one message

For long videos where you want to point at several moments at once, write each as its own line:

Watch these specifically:
- 4:32 the framework
- 12:30 the demo
- 21:14 the conclusion

https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=4:32

If you're posting in a YouTube comment under that same video, the plain timestamps without URLs become clickable automatically. If you're sharing off-platform, list one full URL with the most important timestamp.