YouTube – Can You Use Half-Seconds When Linking to a Specific Point in a Video?

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I know that it's possible to link to a specific point in a YouTube video by adding #t=XhYmZs to the end of the URL. (i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zA1jRmAYfU#t=1h2m48s). However, sometimes I want be a bit more specific so the video doesn't start playing mid-sentence.

Is it possible to use a more specific timestamp? Can I send a link that starts 48.5 seconds into a video? (i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs&t=48.5s)

Best Answer

From the API documentation with added emphrasis

start

This parameter causes the player to begin playing the video at the given number of seconds from the start of the video. The parameter value is a positive integer. Note that similar to the seekTo function, the player will look for the closest keyframe to the time you specify. This means that sometimes the play head may seek to just before the requested time, usually no more than around two seconds.

In other words:

  • No, you cannot specify half-seconds as-is.
  • Even if you could, the distance between keyframes is the limiting factor for precise linking.
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