The fastest way to make YouTube Shorts is to cut them out of videos you have already published. A 20-minute video usually holds three to six moments that work on their own: a strong opinion, a clear answer, a funny exchange or a surprising result.
This guide walks through the whole process — finding the moment, cropping to 9:16, captions, titles and posting — first by hand, then with an AI clipper that does the cutting for you.
No card to sign upLook around the studioRuns in the browser
How it works
01
Find the moment
Look for 15 to 60 seconds that make sense without the rest of the video. YouTube's Most Replayed graph and your comments show where viewers already cared.
02
Crop, caption and title
Reframe to 9:16 so the speaker fills the phone, burn word-timed captions for muted viewers and write a title that promises the payoff.
03
Post and repeat
Upload from the YouTube app or Studio, or schedule from a clipping tool. One Short a day from your back catalogue is a sustainable rhythm.
What you get
Open on the hook
The first sentence decides the swipe. Start on the claim or the question, never on 'so, um, today'.
One idea per Short
If you need to explain context first, it is the wrong moment. Pick a cut that stands alone.
9:16, full screen
Vertical 1080×1920 or 720×1280. Keep faces and text out of the bottom fifth where the UI sits.
Captions on
Most Shorts start muted. Word-by-word captions keep people reading until the sound comes on.
End on the payoff
Cut right after the punchline or the answer. A clean end gets more replays than a fade out.
Link back
Use the related video link on the Short so new viewers can find the full video.
Method 1: make a Short by hand
Open the long video in an editor (CapCut, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve or the YouTube app), find the moment and trim it to under a minute. Change the canvas to 9:16 and scale the footage so the speaker fills the frame; for two people, cut between them instead of shrinking both into a letterbox.
Add captions with the editor's auto-caption feature and fix names and numbers by hand. Export at 1080×1920 or 720×1280, then upload in YouTube Studio — any vertical or square video up to three minutes is treated as a Short. Expect 20 to 60 minutes per clip once you include finding the moment.
Method 2: let an AI clipper cut the Shorts
A clipping tool such as ClipAtelier does the first three steps in one pass. Paste the YouTube link; it reads the Most Replayed heatmap when YouTube shows one and otherwise ranks the transcript for hooks and payoffs. Each clip comes back cropped to 9:16 with captions burned in and a few title options.
Your job becomes review: watch the drafts, keep the best ones, adjust a title, then download the MP4 or schedule it straight to YouTube and TikTok on Pro. A one-hour podcast typically becomes a week of Shorts in under ten minutes of your time.
What to post first
Start with the videos that already performed: their Most Replayed peaks are proven moments. Then work through evergreen videos — tutorials, explainers, interviews — before newsy ones that age fast. Space clips from the same video across several days so each one gets its own chance in the feed.
Common mistakes
Uploading 16:9 clips with black bars, captions that sit under the like and comment buttons, Shorts that start with a greeting, and titles that repeat the long video's title instead of the clip's own point. Each of these costs swipes in the first second.
Up to three minutes for vertical or square videos. Most clips that hold attention are 20 to 60 seconds; go longer only when the story needs it.
What size should a YouTube Short be?
9:16 vertical, ideally 1080×1920. 720×1280 is accepted and looks sharp on phones. ClipAtelier exports 720×1280 MP4s with no watermark.
Can I make Shorts from someone else's video?
Only clip videos you own or have permission to use, such as your own uploads, creators who allow clipping (for example clipping programs), or licensed content. You are responsible for the clips you post.
Do Shorts help a long-form channel?
They bring in viewers who have never seen the channel. Linking each Short to its source video gives those viewers a direct path to the full upload.
Is it free?
You can create a free account with no card and look around the studio. Creating clips is on a paid plan, and you can try it for 3 days for $1. Exports have no watermark.
Your next Short is already inside your last video.
No card to look around. Clips start on a paid plan.
