Using MKVtoolnix Chapter Editor

[hurricane1951]

I'll admit it. The chapter editor in mkvtoolnix 8.6 has defeated me. It might be me, but I've worked with computers for over 25 years and I can't figure this thing out. There's a starter chapter (Chapter 1) and I can enter the time span and other properties of that chapter. But I can't figure out how to add new chapters. Can someone enlighten me or point me to a tutorial of some type?

[johns0]

Use MKV Chapterizer if you need basic chapters such as every 5 minutes,i tried mkvtoolnix chapter editor and it's too much work for videos i'll watch and then put away.

[ndjamena]

Right-click on a chapter and choose, "add new chapter after". A chapter will be added AFTER the chapter you clicked on.

You don't have to fill in end times, in fact after creation all you really need to do is add a start time and that chapter will be prepped for saving.

It looks complicated because it also lets you modify ALL of the Matroska Chapter elements, the vast majority of which normal people will never use.

If you right click an edition, it will even let you do what the program john0 suggested does via "generate subchapters"

(ps why are you using 8.6? The Current version is 9.7.1... a lot of improvements would have been made since your version was released.)

[Jamaika]

What's so difficult to do manually chapters.
The problem is elsewhere. What are the standard chapters?
Well, the chapters are stored in XML and OGG files. OGG files are limited. They don't contain information about the language. Best if they weren't described. Chapters are a limited number of (probably 255). You can't use the 'enter' and the best save code TXT ASCII. Saved in UTF-8 in each converters must specify that it is UTF-8.

Flies XML should be saved codec UTF-8. You can each chapter to describe multiple languages. This is an unsupported function in player. You can use any characters. Chapters have their headers ID. Depending on the player, you can skip between chapters or choose a description. Limited operation without menu. The headers ID were to take into account the assignment of the interactive menu or interactive link metadata or subtitle. Matroska resigned these functions.

    <EditionUID>4802496268624056450</EditionUID>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>6617849763546311325</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>00:06:14.400000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterString>Football</ChapterString>
        <ChapterLanguage>eng</ChapterLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterString>Piłka nożna</ChapterString>
        <ChapterLanguage>pol</ChapterLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
    </ChapterAtom>

[hurricane1951]

Right-click on a chapter and choose, "add new chapter after". A chapter will be added AFTER the chapter you clicked on.

You don't have to fill in end times, in fact after creation all you really need to do is add a start time and that chapter will be prepped for saving.

It looks complicated because it also lets you modify ALL of the Matroska Chapter elements, the vast majority of which normal people will never use.

If you right click an edition, it will even let you do what the program john0 suggested does via "generate subchapters"

(ps why are you using 8.6? The Current version is 9.7.1... a lot of improvements would have been made since your version was released.)

I knew it would be something simple that I missed. Thanks for the tip.

[hurricane1951]

What's so difficult to do manually chapters.
The problem is elsewhere. What are the standard chapters?
Well, the chapters are stored in XML and OGG files. OGG files are limited. They don't contain information about the language. Best if they weren't described. Chapters are a limited number of (probably 255). You can't use the 'enter' and the best save code TXT ASCII. Saved in UTF-8 in each converters must specify that it is UTF-8.

Flies XML should be saved codec UTF-8. You can each chapter to describe multiple languages. This is an unsupported function in player. You can use any characters. Chapters have their headers ID. Depending on the player, you can skip between chapters or choose a description. Limited operation without menu. The headers ID were to take into account the assignment of the interactive menu or interactive link metadata or subtitle. Matroska resigned these functions.

    <EditionUID>4802496268624056450</EditionUID>
    <ChapterAtom>
      <ChapterUID>6617849763546311325</ChapterUID>
      <ChapterTimeStart>00:06:14.400000000</ChapterTimeStart>
      <ChapterFlagHidden>0</ChapterFlagHidden>
      <ChapterFlagEnabled>1</ChapterFlagEnabled>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterString>Football</ChapterString>
        <ChapterLanguage>eng</ChapterLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
      <ChapterDisplay>
        <ChapterString>Piłka nożna</ChapterString>
        <ChapterLanguage>pol</ChapterLanguage>
      </ChapterDisplay>
    </ChapterAtom>

I think you missed the point. I asked about making chapters with Chapter Editor in mkvtoolnix. You say "What's so hard about chapters?". After that, your entire message is so far over my head that it might as well be a foreign language. I appreciate the effort, but I'm afraid I won't benefit from it.

[madkracker6969]

Really late to the thread, but hope this will really clear things up about making chapters, and muxing them into videos with MKVToolNix.

There is a simple means to compose chapters for videos using nothing but Notepad text editor, with relatively little code at all.

Making Chapters


The following chapters are used here an example for Horriblesubs release of Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro episode 2.

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=Opening
CHAPTER02=00:01:30.078
CHAPTER02NAME=Bloody Butterfly Effect
CHAPTER03=00:08:20.123
CHAPTER03NAME=Manana, Ootoro, and Me
CHAPTER04=00:14:53.037
CHAPTER04NAME=Bump of Slave
CHAPTER05=00:22:00.087
CHAPTER05NAME=Ending
CHAPTER06=00:23:30.073
CHAPTER06NAME=Preview

Copy and paste the following into Notepad, saving as a .TXT file, will give you a template to use for your future video muxing projects. The values in blue are those that are variable, where the chapter # increments sequentially by one as an identifier for both chapter time and chapter name: the chapter time in 00:00:00.000 format, and the chapter name using any Unicode characters (be careful to modify the text file Unicode settings in Notepad's "Save As..." window depending on the Unicode setting required for the text you are using for your chapter name).


Muxing Chapters into MKVToolNix


In MKVToolNix, open a new tab if one is not already open.


In the tab, click on the "Output" tab, and on the right side of the window you'll find the "Chapters" group.


In the "Chapter File:" field, click the blue folder icon to open a navigation window to open your chapter file.
Navigate to your chapter file, select it, and click "Open".


In the "Chapter File:" field, you'll notice the file path for your chapters file is now filled in.


If you have completed everything else for your video muxing project, then you are ready to click the "Start Multiplexing" button at the bottom of the MKVToolNix application window.


When it's done, open your newly created MKV file, pause the video, and, in VLC for example, click on "Playback" in the menu, navigate to "Chapters", and select your chapter to verify the chapter timing is accurate.




That's it.



Sorry it wasn't more complex than that, but why make it more complicated than it has to be? Simple is best.

[hubblec4]

try chapterEditor, it has more options and is simple to use

[dralicox]

Thanks @madkracker6969.This is perfect for making chapters from the timestamp in YouTube description, you can do it manually or with some simple code.