How to Use Audacity Label Tracks for Podcast Chapters

Adding chapter markers to your podcast helps listeners navigate topics and improves their overall listening experience. In Audacity, you can easily create and manage these timestamps using a dedicated Label Track. This guide provides a direct, step-by-step walkthrough on how to create a Label Track, insert markers at specific points in your audio, manage chapter titles, and export the timestamps for use in your podcast hosting platform or metadata tagging tools.

Step 1: Create a Label Track

Open your podcast audio project in Audacity.
Go to the top menu and select Tracks.
Hover over Add New and choose Label Track.
An empty track titled "Label Track" will appear below your main audio tracks.

Step 2: Add Chapter Markers (Labels)

You can place labels at exact timestamps to denote the start of each chapter:

Using the Playhead: As you listen to your episode, press Ctrl + M (Windows) or Cmd + . (macOS) to drop a label at the current playback position.
Using a Selection: Click on your audio track where you want a chapter to begin, or highlight a section of audio. Then press Ctrl + B (Windows) or Cmd + B (macOS). A blank label text box will appear on the Label Track at that exact timestamp.

Step 3: Name and Adjust Your Chapters

Enter Chapter Titles: Immediately after creating a label, type the chapter's name (for example, "Introduction", "Guest Interview", or "Q&A"). Press Enter on your keyboard to lock in the text.
Move Labels: Click and drag the circle handle in the center of the label marker to move it forward or backward along the timeline.
Edit Titles: Click inside any label flag to edit the chapter text at any time.

Step 4: Export Chapter Information

Once your chapters are placed, you need to extract the timestamps to apply them to your audio metadata or show notes:

Go to File > Export > Export Labels...
Choose a destination folder and click Save.
Audacity will generate a plain text file (.txt) containing the start time, end time, and title of each label.

You can copy these timestamps into your podcast episode description or import the text file into dedicated chapter-tagging software to embed the markers directly into your final MP3 or M4A file.