DVD Chapter

DVD 章节 (DVD Chapter) is a navigation unit within a DVD-Video title that allows a player to jump to a specific location in the program from a menu, via a remote control, or through chapter selection. Movies are often divided into chapters by scene, while concerts typically designate each song or stage segment as a separate chapter.

A chapter is not the same as a standalone file. A title can span multiple VOB files, and multiple chapters can be located within the same continuous video stream; IFO navigation information and the program chain define the playback order and entry points. Therefore, the file boundaries visible when copying the `VIDEO_TS` directory cannot usually be directly treated as chapter boundaries. Chapter points typically specify only the starting position; playback continues until the next chapter or the end of the title. Menus may display names and thumbnails for chapters, but names are not required fields in the DVD 章节 structure itself; some discs have only numeric entry points, while others have no user-visible chapters at all.

Multi-angle, branching programs, and different program chains may share portions of the video but have different chapter arrangements. When ripping software exports each chapter as a separate file, this is a subsequent split based on navigation points and does not indicate that the original disc stores the content in these files.

Blu-ray, streaming media, and digital video may also utilize the concept of chapters, but their file and navigation systems differ. “DVD Chapter” specifically refers to the implementation in DVD-Video applications and cannot be used as a generic term for all video timestamps.