Here’s a helpful tip for sharing a YouTube link that starts and stops at specific times: 1. Find the video you want to share. 2. Pause the video at the start time you want, then right-click on the video and select "Copy video URL at current time." 3. To set an end time, you can add a timestamp to the link manually. The format is `&t=XXmYYs` for the start time and `&end=ZZmWWs` for the end time. 4. Share the complete link with your friends! This way, they can view only the part of the video you want them to see.

Image showing how to copy a YouTube link with timestamp, captioned, “Share videos that get to the point.”

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Share a link to a YouTube video that begins at a specific moment to help everyone save time. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

If you want to share a YouTube link that highlights a specific moment in the video, especially one that's halfway through, it's quite simple to do so from either the YouTube website or the mobile app.

I’ll explain how to share a YouTube video that begins at a designated timestamp.

To copy a YouTube link with a timestamp, follow these steps: 1. **Open YouTube**: Go to the YouTube video you want to share. 2. **Play the Video**: Start playing the video and pause it at the exact moment you want to link to. 3. **Copy the URL**: Right-click on the video and select "Copy video URL" or simply copy the URL from the address bar. 4. **Add the Timestamp**: To the copied URL, add the timestamp in the format `?t=XmYs` where X is the number of minutes and Y is the number of seconds. For example, if you want to link to 2 minutes and 30 seconds, you would add `?t=2m30s` to the end of the URL. - If the URL already contains a question mark (?), use `&t=XmYs` instead. 5. **Share the Link**: Paste the modified link wherever you want to share it. Now, anyone clicking the link will be taken to the specified timestamp in the video.

This tip will come in handy any time you want to get straight to the point with a video you share. It proves especially useful when you want to highlight something that takes place in the middle of an incredibly long video. For instance, if you want to see Steve Jobs prank calling a Starbucks in the middle of the iPhone introduction, you can do that.

It's a simple task, and your friends will appreciate you for saving them the trouble of sifting through a lengthy video.

Please indicate the starting time for the YouTube video.

Copying a YouTube video URL at a specific time

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Utilize this option to share a link that begins at a particular section of a video. Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

To do this, simply look up a YouTube video you want to share and find the exact time you want it to start. Pause the video at the right moment. Then click the Share button underneath the title. Before copying the link, check the box that says Start at X:XX. Then click Copy.

Now, whenever you share, send, or embed this link, the video will begin playing from the specified time.

If you need to change the start time slightly, you can edit the last few characters of the URL. Change the number at the end of the URL — ?t=X — to the precise number of seconds into the video that you want it to start playing. For example, if you want the video to start at three minutes and 20 seconds, you would change the last part of the URL to ?t=200 (200 seconds from the beginning).

You also have the option to share a YouTube link that specifies a certain time to start.

What if you want a video that both starts and stops at specific times? That’s a little more complicated, but it can be done.

First, copy the video with the timestamp from before. You should have something that looks like either this: https://youtu.be/7RnLBsSi9UI?t=76

or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RnLBsSi9UI&t=75s

Either way, you need to edit the URL a little bit. Change it to start with youtube.com/embed/ instead of youtu.be or youtube.com/watch?v=.

Then, edit the snippet &t= to ?start=X (note the question mark). Then specify the video’s end time by adding &end=Y (with an ampersand) to the end of the URL. Make sure you put the time in seconds there instead of X and Y, removing the s.

You should arrive at a link that resembles the following:
youtube.com/embed/7RnLBsSi9UI?start=165&end=228

The most effective methods for sharing YouTube videos.

Once you get the hang of it, sending someone a YouTube link with an exact timestamp is simple. It only takes a minute to prepare. And it makes it very easy to call out a specific moment in an otherwise long video that might be hard to find.