YouTube Title and Chapter Card Templates
A title card is the only graphic here that takes the whole frame. For a second or two it is the video, which changes what it has to do and how long it is allowed to stay.
The job is orientation. A chapter card tells somebody who has been watching for six minutes where they are, and tells somebody who just arrived from a timestamp what they are about to see. Both need it read at a glance — a card that has to be studied is a card watched by nobody, because the viewer has already started scrubbing.
Which is why every one of these leaves. They arrive, they hold for about a second and a half, and they go. That is long enough to read twice and short enough that nobody reaches for the scrubber. The hold is a keyframe you can drag if your pacing is slower, but the default is deliberately impatient.
The shelf covers the shapes that actually get used: a numbered chapter, a kicker over a headline, a masked reveal, a pull quote, a divider that is barely there. Every word is a text layer and every rule is a shape, so a card can carry your typeface and your palette rather than looking like the last channel that used it.
Every template here is free to open, free to change and free to watch back, with no account needed to browse. Exporting the finished file costs $5 once for that project, or a plan covers every export.
All 20 Title templates
- Chapter CardA number and a title, centred, for a video in parts.
- Masked TitleText revealed from behind a bar that wipes across it.
- Split TitleTwo halves that meet in the middle and hold the words.
- Underline TitleLarge type with a rule that draws itself underneath.
- Box TitleA framed card that opens out to the words inside it.
- Kicker TitleA small line above a large one. The editorial standby.
- Numbered SectionOversized numeral beside the section it names.
- Quote CardA pull quote with the marks set large and the credit small.
- Section DividerA labelled rule across the frame. The quietest of the ten.
- Stamp TitleTitle that lands hard and settles, for a punchier cut.
- Bracket CardBrackets that close in around the words and hold them.
- Stacked WordsThree lines of heavy type, arriving one after another.
- Highlight TitleA marker pen drawn through the word that matters.
- Timecode TitleA monospace timestamp above the chapter it opens.
- Corner Frame TitleFour corner marks that draw themselves around the text.
- Recap CardA previously-on card for a video in parts.
- Statistic CardOne number set large, with the claim under it.
- Two Line TitleA two-line statement split by a hairline rule.
- Label TitleA category chip above the title it belongs to.
- Note CardA framed note for the thing people need before they start.
Using title graphics
- How long should a title card stay on screen?
- About two seconds end to end for a short title, three for a long one. Read it out loud twice at a normal pace — if you finish before it leaves, it is long enough. Anything past four seconds and viewers start skipping ahead, which trains them to skip your next one too.
- Should a chapter card have sound?
- A single soft hit on the frame it lands is enough, and only if your video is otherwise quiet at that moment. Over narration it is noise. The templates here ship silent and the sound library is a tab away.
- Do these work for Shorts?
- Change the canvas to vertical before you start positioning. The type sizes hold up, but a headline built for a 16:9 frame runs off the sides of a 9:16 one — the editor changes the canvas shape and leaves your layers where they were.
- Can I put one over footage rather than on black?
- Yes — export with a transparent background and the card sits over your shot. That is also the argument for changing the colours before you export: a title in your channel's palette over your own footage reads as part of the film. No After Effects; the file goes straight onto a track in any editor.
Next
- Make it yoursChange the words, the colours and the timing without breaking the animation that was built for the shape.
- Export it with transparencyWhich format your editor actually reads, and why a black rectangle behind your graphic means the wrong one was chosen.
- Keep it inside the safe areaA card owns the frame, and the frame is cropped differently on a television than on a phone. What has to survive both is the middle of it.
- What exporting costsOpening this template, changing it and watching it back are free. Getting the finished file out is $5 once for this project, or a plan if you make them often.