How to turn YouTube videos into Shorts: built-in tools and AI

You already have the hard part: a long video that people watched. Turning it into Shorts is mostly a question of finding the right 30 to 90 seconds, making them work in a vertical frame, and publishing them so they point back to the full video. YouTube now gives you two free, built-in ways to do this, and for many channels they are enough. This guide walks through both, then shows when an editor or an AI clipping tool is the faster route.

Pick your route

For one Short from a recent upload, start with the built-in options. For long podcasts, streams or interviews every week, the manual routes get slow.

What YouTube counts as a Short

Before you cut anything, know the rules your clip has to meet:

• Shape: square or vertical. YouTube's help page on three-minute Shorts says square or vertical videos up to three minutes, uploaded on or after October 15, 2024, are categorized as Shorts. A 16:9 video stays a regular long-form video.
• Length: up to 3 minutes. The desktop upload instructions list the same limit.
• Copyright: a Short longer than one minute with an active copyright claim is blocked globally, according to the same three-minute Shorts page. If your source video uses licensed music or clips, keep that in mind before you post a longer Short.

Three minutes is the ceiling, not the target. For how long your clips should actually be, see our guide to video length on TikTok, Reels and Shorts, or check your cut with the video length calculator.

Method 1: "Edit into a Short" in the YouTube app

This is the fastest way to get a Short out of a video you have already published. It runs in the YouTube mobile app, and YouTube documents it in Create YouTube Shorts from your videos.

1. Open the video's watch page. In the YouTube app, open the long-form video you want to clip. It has to be a public video that you uploaded.
2. Tap Remix, then Edit into a Short. This opens the Shorts creation screen with your video loaded.
3. Select up to 60 seconds. Drag the selection over the moment you want. To change how the frame is arranged, tap Layout.
4. Tap Next and add text or filters. Add an on-screen title or a line of text that sets up the clip. Music from the Audio Library can't be added to these Shorts.
5. Upload the Short. Add a title and publish. YouTube links the Short back to your original video so new viewers can find the full version.

If you don't see the option, check three things. The video must be public (not private or unlisted), uploaded by you, and free of third-party copyright claims. YouTube's help page also says to check the sampling setting: in YouTube Studio, open the video's details, click Show more, and under "Shorts remixing" make sure "Allow people to sample this content" is checked.

The main limit is length. This route caps you at 60 seconds of source footage, so it suits punchy moments, not a two-minute story.

Method 2: "Create clip or Short" in YouTube Studio

On a computer, YouTube Studio has a transcript-based tool for the same job. YouTube describes it in Video clips and Shorts in YouTube Studio.

1. In YouTube Studio, select Content, then Videos, and click the video you want to use.
2. In the left menu, select Clips and Shorts.
3. Click Create clip or Short and choose Short. The first time, the button sits in the middle of the page; after that it moves to the upper right.
4. Choose your segment. You can highlight text in the transcript and click Confirm selection, or type timestamps into the timeline editor. In some countries and languages, YouTube also shows AI-suggested moments in the left panel. You can fine-tune the start and end in either view.
5. Click Preview Short. Where available, auto captions are added for you. Click Captions in the bottom left of the preview to change the font, color, position, or turn them off.
6. Click Create Draft, then finish the normal upload details and publish.

Two details: AI suggestions are only offered in select countries and languages, and if the preview shows black bars, YouTube says the final version fills them with a blurred crop of the video. That works for a talking head in the center of the frame. It works less well for two people sitting at opposite edges.

Shorts made with this tool get the source video added as a related video automatically, unless the Short is private, unlisted or made for kids.

Method 3: Cut it in a video editor

If you want full control over framing, captions and pacing, cut the Short yourself. The workflow is the same in any editor:

1. Find the moment. Scrub the timeline or, better, read a transcript. Premiere Pro, for example, can transcribe your footage and turn it into captions.
2. Cut a clean in and out point. Start on the first word of the idea, not on a breath or "so, anyway". End right after the payoff.
3. Reframe to 9:16. Premiere Pro has Auto Reframe, which creates a new sequence at the target aspect ratio and tracks the subject. DaVinci Resolve offers Smart Reframe in the paid Studio edition, according to Blackmagic's feature comparison. You can always crop by hand with keyframes.
4. Add captions. Burn them in so they show on every platform. Our guide on how to add captions to videos covers the options.
5. Export and upload. Export a vertical MP4, then in YouTube Studio click CREATE, then Upload videos, and keep it to three minutes or less.

The trade-off is time. Finding moments in a 90-minute video by scrubbing is the slow part, and you do it again for every episode.

Method 4: Use an AI clipping tool

AI clippers do steps 1 to 4 for you: they transcribe the video, suggest moments, reframe them to vertical and add captions. You still review and edit, but you start from a list of candidates instead of a blank timeline.

This saves the most time when:

• your videos are long (podcasts, streams, webinars, interviews) and the good moments are scattered;
• you want several Shorts per video, not one;
• your video has two or more people on screen, so a simple center crop cuts someone out;
• you also post the same clips to TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Reeltopus is one of these tools, built for long uploads like podcasts, streams and lectures, and it also exports SRT and VTT caption files and timelines for Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro if you want to finish in your own editor.

An AI clipper saves less time when your video is already short and tightly edited, or when you only want one obvious highlight. In that case, Method 1 or 2 is quicker.

Whatever tool you use, check the clip's start and end yourself. A common failure in automatic clipping is a clip that stops before the punchline, or starts mid-sentence.

How to pick moments that work as Shorts

The best Short from a long video is rarely the "best part" in the abstract. It is the part that makes sense to someone who never saw the rest. Look for:

• A complete idea. One question and its answer, one story with its ending, one tip with its result.
• A first line that hooks without context. If the clip opens with "and that's why", it needs a new opening. See our guide to short-form video hooks or try the hook generator for on-screen text ideas.
• A clear payoff. A number, a reveal, a strong opinion, a laugh, a before-and-after.
• No references to what came earlier. "Like I said before" or "as you can see on this chart" confuses new viewers.
• Something visual, if you can. A reaction, a demo, a gesture. A static shot of one person talking can still work if the words are strong and captioned.

How many Shorts can you get from one video? There's no fixed number. It depends on how many self-contained moments the video has. A tightly scripted 10-minute tutorial might hold one or two. A loose two-hour conversation might hold many more. Count the moments that pass the checklist above, not minutes of footage.

Making a horizontal video vertical

Most long YouTube videos are 16:9. Shorts are square or vertical. You have three main options:

Keep text and faces away from the top and bottom edges, where the Shorts interface overlays buttons and the channel name. Our guide to vertical video aspect ratios and safe zones covers this in detail, and the aspect ratio calculator shows you the crop before you export.

Can you turn someone else's video into a Short?

Not with "Edit into a Short". That option only works on your own public videos. YouTube does have separate remix tools for using other creators' content in a Short: Cut (a short sample of a video), Green Screen (a video as your background), Collab (side by side) and Sound (their audio). Shorts made this way are attributed back to the original. Creators can opt their content out of remixing, and content with copyright claims or certain privacy settings can't be remixed.

Downloading someone else's video and re-uploading parts of it is a different matter. YouTube's upload page warns that unauthorized material can lead to a Content ID claim or a copyright strike. Only clip videos you own or have permission to use.

Linking Shorts back to the original video

Links in Shorts descriptions and comments aren't clickable, so the main path back to your full video is the related video link, which shows under your channel name in the Shorts player. Shorts made with YouTube's own tools get the source video linked automatically. For Shorts you edited and uploaded yourself, YouTube's help page on adding a related video explains how to set it in YouTube Studio. It requires advanced feature access, and the linked video must be public or unlisted.

Common mistakes

• Uploading a 16:9 clip and expecting it to be a Short. It will be treated as a regular video. Make it square or vertical.
• Starting with context instead of the hook. Cut the first few seconds of setup and open on the most interesting line.
• Ending before the payoff. Watch the last five seconds twice. If the punchline lands after your cut, extend it.
• Captions under the interface. Text placed too low gets covered by the title and buttons.
• Forgetting the related video. A Short that doesn't point back to the full video wastes the best reason to make it.
• Clipping claimed footage. Over one minute, an active copyright claim blocks the Short worldwide.

Quick checklist before you publish

• Square or vertical, three minutes or less
• Opens on a hook that works without context
• Ends right after the payoff
• Faces and captions inside the safe zone
• Captions checked for misheard words and names
• Related video set to the full-length video
• Title written for someone who has never seen your channel (the YouTube title generator can give you options)

Start with one video and YouTube's built-in tools. Move to an editor or a clipping tool once making Shorts becomes a weekly job.