GoPro Camera File Chaptering

How are chapters created with GoPro cameras?

When recording a video, the camera will automatically segment into a new file chapter once it has reached a certain size. These files when put together with editing software will play seamlessly as if they were never chaptered. When played back from the camera directly the recording will play through as one continuous video.

Chaptering is intentional and there is no way to keep the camera from doing so. Chapters are divided like this so in the event of a jolt or crash that causes a file to become corrupted, only a portion of your video will be effected and not the whole thing. While there is a file recovery feature in the camera, chaptering is a precaution step just in case the feature is unable to fix the video.

Here are the chapter lengths for each camera:

HERO11 Black:

With a 64gb or larger SD card:

• Chapter size: Approximately 12gb
• 5K/30fps High Bitrate is approximately 15 minutes
• 1080p/60fps High Bitrate is approximately 25 minutes

With a 32gb or (not recommended) below SD card:

• Chapter size: Approximately 4.0gb
  • 5K/30fps High Bitrate is approximately 5 minutes
  • 1080p/60fps High Bitrate is approximately 7.5 minutes
• Chapter size with Looping set to 5 min: 1 minute
• Chapter size with Looping set to 20 min and above:  5 minutes

HERO10 Black, HERO9 Black, HERO8 Black, MAX, HERO7 Black, HERO6 Black, Fusion, HERO5 Black & HERO5 Session, HERO4 Black & Silver, HERO (2018):

• Chapter size: approx. 4.0 GB (Samples of HERO9 Black recording times are below)
  • 5k/30fps High Bitrate is approximately 5 minutes
  • 1080p/60fps High Bitrate is approximately 7.5 minutes
• Chapter size with Looping set to 5 min: 1 minute
• Chapter size with Looping set to 20 min and above:  5 minutes

HERO7 Silver, HERO7 White, HERO+, HERO+ LCD, HERO Session / HERO4 Session:

• Chapter size: approx. 2.2 GB
• Chapter size with Looping set to 5 min: 1 minute
• Chapter size with Looping set 20 min:  5 minutes
• Chapter size with Looping set to anything above 20 min: 10 minutes

HERO3+:

• Chapter size: approx. 3.9 GB (HERO3+ Black Edition) / 2.2 GB (HERO3+ Silver Edition)
• Chapter size with Looping set to 5 min: 1 minute
• Chapter size with Looping set 20 min:  5 minutes
• Chapter size with Looping set to anything above 20 min: 15 minutes

HERO3:

• Chapter size: approx. 3.78 GB (HERO3: Black Edition) / 1.99 GB (HERO3: Silver Edition & HERO3: White Edition)
• Chapter size with Looping set to 5 min: 1 minute
• Chapter size with Looping set to 20 min: 5 minutes
• Chapter size with Looping set to anything above 20 min: 15 minutes

HD HERO2:

• Chapter size: approx. 1.99 GB

Source: GoPro Camera File Chaptering Information