Turn long YouTube videos into Shorts.

Paste the link of your own public or unlisted YouTube video, which shortshort downloads at up to 720p, or drop the file, up to 2 GB. The AI transcribes it and keeps the passages that stand alone, reframes them to 9:16 on the face on screen with automatic zooms, and captions every word. Download each 1080 x 1920 MP4 and upload it to YouTube Shorts; the video costs one credit per minute, and a new account starts with 30 free credits.

Yes, if it is your own: paste the link of your public or unlisted YouTube video under the drop zone, and shortshort downloads it on its servers at up to 720p with the audio, or at 480p or 360p when 720p would exceed 2 GB. It needs a free account. Private, age-restricted and live videos cannot be imported, and YouTube sometimes refuses downloads from servers: if an import fails, upload the file instead. For the sharpest crop, export the original from your editor and drop the file.

YouTube has not said, and no tool can promise reach either way. On 1 October 2026 TeamYouTube announced that Shorts recommendations would further prioritize original content and show less of what is re-uploaded from other creators with nothing of the uploader's own added. The post is about other creators' videos and says nothing specific about Shorts cut from your own long-form video. shortshort is meant for footage you own, and its link import is for your own public or unlisted videos. Guide: what the Shorts originality update says, and what it does not. TeamYouTube: Prioritizing original content on Shorts, posted 1 October 2026, read 16 October 2026.

For one or two Shorts from a video already on your channel, it may be all you need: YouTube Studio's Video Clips & Shorts tool is built in, lets you pick a passage from the transcript or the timeline, offers AI suggestions in ten countries and seven languages, adds automatic captions you can restyle where they are available, and adds the source video as the Short's related video. Its help page describes no face tracking: for scenes that show black bars above and below in the preview, the final Short fills them with a blurred crop of the video. shortshort proposes up to 20 Shorts per video on the Studio plan from the whole transcript, crops each one to 9:16 or 4:5 on the face on screen, times the captions word by word in four styles and also takes files that are not on YouTube; it costs one credit per minute of source, after 30 free credits. YouTube Help: Video Clips & Shorts in YouTube Studio, read 16 October 2026. Guide: YouTube Studio clips or a clip maker.

Exports on the free tier carry a small shortshort watermark. Every paid plan removes it.

The AI proposes them from the transcript; in the studio you can change a passage in and out and correct the captions, then render again. You can also add a clip to a proposed short and type the start and end of any passage.

Four: Spotlight, the default, lights up the word being said; Impact highlights one word per line in bold; Karaoke colours words as they are spoken; Minimal keeps plain readable text.