# Video is 3 minutes long but you only want 3 seconds **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369 "2015-09-24T03:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/1 "2015-09-24T03:19:10Z")
Many times I’ve seen folks link to a 3 minute long video but they set it up so that only the relevant 3 seconds play. How does one do that? Enquiring minds don’t want to piss people off when we’re trying to be snappy 🙂 Zeke ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/2 "2015-09-24T03:23:59Z")
if you have a youtube video you can right click it and there should be an option for “get URL at current time” or manually add #t=00m00s to the end of the URL for minutes and seconds where you want the video to start ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/3 "2015-09-24T04:43:40Z")
Very cool. Good question and good answer. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/4 "2015-09-24T05:24:42Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > if you have a youtube video you can right click it and there should be an option for “get URL at current time” > or manually add #t=00m00s to the end of the URL for minutes and seconds where you want the video to start Actually, most YouTube videos will now show that in the Share URL: click “Share” and check the box labeled “Start at”. And your code is slightly wrong: it’s ?t=00m00s not #t=00m00s. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/5 "2015-09-24T06:47:58Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/6 "2015-09-24T09:34:29Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from About This Message Board to General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/7 "2015-09-24T10:18:28Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Actually, most YouTube videos will now show that in the Share URL: click “Share” and check the box labeled “Start at”. > > And your code is slightly wrong: it’s ?t=00m00s not #t=00m00s. I just tested this # works and not ? > **["Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA?t=2m32s)** > > "Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay ZondayLike 👍 and 😀 SUBSCRIBE 😀 to Tay Zonday! -- https://www.youtube.com/@tayzonday?sub\_confirmation=1🔥🔥More singi... [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EwTZ2xpQwpA/hqdefault.jpg ""Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA) ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/8 "2015-09-24T10:35:38Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Actually, most YouTube videos will now show that in the Share URL: click “Share” and check the box labeled “Start at”. > > And your code is slightly wrong: it’s ?t=00m00s not #t=00m00s. It’s actually either [https://youtu.be/EwTZ2xpQwpA?t=2m32s](https://youtu.be/EwTZ2xpQwpA?t=2m32s) OR [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA#t=2m32s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA#t=2m32s) But actually, neither one fully answers your question. This is how to make a video start in the middle. but it won’t make it play for only 3 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/9 "2015-09-24T11:01:24Z")
Here is how to play a portion of a video: [nourl][BANKS - WAITING GAME (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/v/IaI5JCxOCdw?start=44&end=72&autoplay=1%5B/nourl%5D) > **[BANKS - WAITING GAME (OFFICIAL VIDEO)](https://www.youtube.com/v/IaI5JCxOCdw?start=44&end=72&autoplay=1)** > > Buy "Waiting Game" on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/banksepvshttps://www.facebook.com/hernameisbankshttp://twitter.com/hernameisbankshttp://soundcloud.com/ban... Note that the start and end times are expressed in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/10 "2015-09-24T11:21:45Z")
I screwed up my previous reply. Here is the corrected version. Here is how to play a portion of a video: ```auto https://www.youtube.com/v/IaI5JCxOCdw?start=44&end=72&autoplay=1 ``` > **[BANKS - WAITING GAME (OFFICIAL VIDEO)](https://www.youtube.com/v/IaI5JCxOCdw?start=44&end=72&autoplay=1)** > > Buy "Waiting Game" on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/banksepvshttps://www.facebook.com/hernameisbankshttp://twitter.com/hernameisbankshttp://soundcloud.com/ban... Note that the start and end times are expressed in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/11 "2015-09-24T11:29:18Z")
I never knew how to do end time thanks for that ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/12 "2015-09-24T11:45:30Z")
My pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/13 "2015-09-29T01:16:08Z")
I’ve actually looked that up before and had trouble getting it to work. But it seems to work now–though it doesn’t show the whole page. It seems to be designed for embedding. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-is-3-minutes-long-but-you-only-want-3-seconds/732369/14 "2015-09-29T14:24:52Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I just tested this > > # works and not ? > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA?t=2m32s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA?t=2m32s) > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA#t=2m32s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA#t=2m32s) The ? precedes the first query parameter name in a URI and the & precedes the rest of the parameter names. The # references an anchor point in the document