How to Share a YouTube Video With a Start and End Time

YouTube makes it easy to share a video that starts at a specific moment, but ending at one is a different story. Here's how to do both, including the URL parameters YouTube doesn't expose in its share menu.

Tech Talk News EditorialMar 8, 20213 min readUpdated Jul 15, 2026

Key takeaways

To share a start time, use YouTube’s Share button and check "Start at," or add ?t=90 (90 seconds) to the video URL.

YouTube’s native share menu has no "end at" option — a real stop point only works through an embed URL using the end parameter.

The embed format youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?start=30&end=90 plays only seconds 30 through 90 and then stops.

The t and start parameters take a number of seconds (t also accepts 1m30s); end always takes plain seconds.

Linking someone to the exact moment in a video is one of those small things that makes sharing feel less rude. Nobody wants to be told "the good part is around seven minutes in, go find it." YouTube handles the start half of this well. The end half it mostly hides from you. Here is how to do both.

The Easy Part: A Start Time

The simplest way is the Share button right under the video. Click it, check the "Start at" box in the dialog, and it stamps the current playhead position into the link for you. Copy it and you are done. If you want a different moment, scrub the video to where you want it before opening the dialog, or edit the number after you copy.

You can also write the link by hand. Add ?t= and a number of seconds to a full video URL, so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&t=90 starts at 1:30. The t parameter is forgiving: &t=1m30s works too. On a shortened youtu.be/VIDEO_ID?t=90link the same parameter applies. And if you right-click the video itself, YouTube offers "Copy video URL at current time," which is the fastest route of all.

The Hidden Part: An End Time

Here is the catch that sends people looking for third-party tools: YouTube's Share dialog has no "stop at" option. On a normal watch page, the video will happily keep playing past whatever moment you had in mind. The stop point exists, it is just not exposed on the watch page.

The parameter is end, and it only takes effect in an embed URL. The embed format looks like this:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?start=30&end=90

That plays from second 30 to second 90 and then stops. Note two differences from the watch-page version. First, it is /embed/VIDEO_ID, not /watch?v=VIDEO_ID. Second, the start parameter here is spelled start, not t, and both start and end want plain seconds, no 1m30s shorthand.

When You Actually Need the Clip

The embed trick covers you when the video lives on a page you control, a blog post, internal doc, or slide with an embedded player. If you just want to hand a coworker a link in a chat that opens the app and stops on its own, YouTube does not give you that natively. You either accept the start-only link, put the embed on a page, or use YouTube's own Clip feature (the scissors icon under a video) to cut a 5-to-60-second segment that has its own shareable URL. Clips are the closest thing to a native start-and-end share link, with the tradeoff that the length is capped and the creator can disable them.

Quick Reference

Start on a watch link: watch?v=ID&t=90 (seconds, or 1m30s)
Start on an embed: embed/ID?start=90 (plain seconds)
End (embed only): embed/ID?start=30&end=90
Native start-and-end clip: the Clip button under the video

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a YouTube link start at a specific time?

Click Share under the video, check the "Start at" box, and copy the link — or add ?t=SECONDS to the URL yourself (for example ?t=90 for 1:30). On a watch-page URL you can also use &t=1m30s. Right-clicking the video and choosing "Copy video URL at current time" does the same thing.

Can I make a YouTube video stop at a certain time?

Not through the normal Share menu — YouTube only exposes a start time there. To force a stop point you have to use the embed URL: youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?start=30&end=90 plays from second 30 to second 90 and then stops. On a normal watch page the video keeps playing past your end time.

What is the difference between the t, start, and end parameters?

t and start both set where playback begins, in seconds; t is used on watch URLs and also accepts formats like 1m30s, while start is the embed-friendly version and takes plain seconds. end sets where playback stops and only works in an embed URL, in plain seconds.

Do these YouTube timestamp links work on mobile?

Start-time links work on mobile: a ?t= link opens the YouTube app at that moment. The end parameter is an embed-only feature, so it does not apply to a link opened directly in the mobile app — it only takes effect where the video is embedded, such as on a web page.