The whole video gets read, not sampled
The full audio is transcribed first, then that transcript is read from beginning to end to pick the moments. That is slower than scanning for volume spikes or taking a clip every few minutes, and it is the reason a clip out of a batch here tends to start where the thought starts rather than in the middle of a sentence.
It also means the tool is only as good as your audio. A video where somebody is talking, and specifically a video where somebody says something with a beginning and an end, is what this is for: commentary, tutorials, reviews, podcasts, vlogs, reactions.
Vertical without losing the point of the shot
Going from 16:9 to 9:16 throws away about two thirds of the width, so something has to be decided about what to keep. For a single speaker we keep the speaker. For a frame with a facecam and a second picture, which is most gaming and a lot of screen recording, we stack the two so both survive: face on top, the other picture whole underneath.
Captions that survive a muted feed
Captions are burned into the video word by word, timed to the voice, because most Shorts are watched with the sound off and a clip without captions is a clip most people scroll past. A short hook line sits on screen for the first couple of seconds.
On a video with no speech at all, the captions are simply left off rather than filled with placeholder text.
Post back without leaving
Give a clip a title and it uploads to your channel as a Short. You pick private, unlisted or public, so you can push one up privately and look at it in the YouTube app before anyone else sees it.
The same video twice costs nothing twice
If somebody has already cut the exact video you are pointing at, with the same settings, you get that batch in seconds instead of waiting for it to be made again. It costs you nothing extra and it costs us nothing to serve, which is part of how the free tier stays free.
Your newest upload has Shorts in it
Sign in with YouTube and they are cut and waiting in about two minutes. No file to find.
Frequently asked questions
›Do you need access to post to my channel?
Only if you want the one press posting. Signing in covers reading your channel so we can find your videos. Nothing is ever uploaded without you pressing the button on a specific clip.
›How many clips do I get from one video?
Up to five, and fewer if the video honestly does not have five moments in it worth posting. Padding a batch out with weak clips helps nobody.
›How long can the video be?
Up to four hours from a pasted link. On the free tier your first two videos can each be up to two hours.
›Can I clip somebody else's video?
You need to own the video, and you confirm that when you paste a link. Clipping a channel you have no rights to is not something we are going to help with.
›What does it cost?
Your first two videos are free to cut and to watch, with no card. After that it is a monthly plan with a token allowance, priced per minute of source video. The pricing page has the numbers.