Create chapter markers in mp4 file with QT Player?

Al Al said, Quicktime Player has no trouble seeing and using the chapter markers already existing on an mp4 file (such as one exported from FCP). It even shows the chapter poster frames set in FCP.

I was under the impression that were (also?) asking about adding such markers in Quicktime Player itself. That can't be done, as far as I can tell.

There is a way using ffmpeg to add chapter markers to an mp4 after the fact, but it's probably more work than just adding them in FCP and re-exporting. This would be useful if you only have the mp4 and don't have access to the library or the source footage in order to re-export.

I found a good explanation with a sample python script. Tested it and it works.

https://ikyle.me/blog/2020/add-mp4-chapters-ffmpeg

In a nutshell, watch your mp4 and jot the HH:MM:SS times and chapter names into a text file. Then use ffmpeg to extract the existing metadata from the mp4. Run the python script to add your new chapter info into this metadata file. Finally, run ffmpeg to copy this updated metadata file and the mp4 into a new mp4. The new mp4 is not re-encoded, just copied with new metadata.

If you have Compressor you can SEE and ADD chapter Markers when you Send to compressor:

Select the Chapter Marker settings:

Move the playhead to wherever a Chapter Marker is required and hit the orange icon.

The usual caveats apply, not too close together or the start or end of the Timeline.

Al

One more question. Is it possible to use keyboard shortcuts to jump forwards and backwards in QT?

Yes. In fact, they are already set. Use Command-Shift-right arrow to jump to the next chapter. I will let you guess the other one :-)

Can Compressor add chapters losslessly to mp4? I briefly tried Compressor 4.6.2 and could add chapters but only to a re-encoded movie.

With ffmpeg I could losslessly add chapters (thanks for the tip, terryb!). But some metadata from the source movie did not properly copy to the target movie. ("-movflags use_metadata_tags" preserves Keys:GPSCoordinates and other Keys metadata like Title, Description, Keywords and Author but QuickTime does not read them unless they are re-added with exiftool. Using "-map_metadata 0" preserves QuickTime:CreateDate. Compressor seems to use ItemList metadata tags while FCP also uses Keys and UserData. ...movie metadata is a mess and a moving target...)

With Compressor you can add chapters to virtually any movie. Create a chapter text file and select movie.

Not with MPEG-4. It has a pass through mode for QuickTime.

I'm curious as to why you need chapter markers for an mp4. Is it for a BD?

Do you just need a simple chapter list ( HH:MM:SS Chapter title) ? Or do you need to "burn" them into the file?

If you had a relatively easy way to create the chapter list inside fcpx, would you be interested?

> pass through mode for QuickTime

Compressor "pass-through metadata" option seems to only "pass through" some metadata and convert to it some other metadata.

So at the moment I do only minimal exiftool movie metadata editing that works with the apps I use.

Good evening (Oz time) Ian,

Yes they should work:

Al

Al and Spherico, that's cheating! 😜