✦ AI YouTube to Shorts Converter

Turn any YouTube video into Shorts

Paste a link, pick the exact moment, and the Studio does the rest: smart 9:16 framing with the speaker kept in shot, word by word captions, music, effects, and a clean export. You get finished Shorts, not homework.

First Short free. No account, no software, nothing to upload.

First Short free No signup Nothing to install Works on any device
Quick Facts

The whole tool in eight lines.

For people in a hurry, which is everyone making Shorts.

  • What it is: a YouTube to Shorts converter that runs in your browser.
  • Input: any public YouTube link. No file upload, ever.
  • Output: vertical 1080 by 1920 MP4, the exact format Shorts, TikTok and Reels want.
  • The editor: a full Shorts Studio with an Easy wizard for speed and a Studio mode for control.
  • The framing part: Auto-frame follows the speaker, so faces stay in the shot. You can drag to reframe any time.
  • Captions: word by word, bold, synced, burned in. Arabic fully supported.
  • Price: first Short free with no account. Pro removes limits and watermarks.
  • Made by: the team behind YTCut, the YouTube clipper creators already use daily.
Three steps, done

How to make Shorts from a YouTube video.

No timeline, no keyframes, no editing software. The work happens on our servers.

1

Paste the link

Drop in any public YouTube URL: a podcast, an interview, a stream VOD, a lecture, your last upload. The longer the video, the more moments there are to find.

2

Pick the exact moment

The Studio opens on a real timeline. Drag the range you want, preview it in a phone frame, and move on. Easy mode walks you through seven quick steps; Studio mode gives you every control at once.

3

Download and post

The clip is cut, reframed to vertical with the speaker centered, and captioned. One MP4, correct size, correct ratio. Post it to Shorts, TikTok and Reels as is.

Under the hood

Three hard problems, handled for you.

Anyone can chop a video into pieces. The difference between clips and Shorts that perform is what happens in these three places.

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Two modes, one editor

Easy mode is a guided wizard: moment, framing, captions, export, done in minutes. Studio mode opens the whole desk: captions, music, visualizer, framing, words, effects, and your brand. Start easy, go deep when you want to.

⌖

Reframing that follows the subject

Vertical keeps about a third of a widescreen picture. Center cropping blindly is why other tools ship Shorts with half a face at the edge. We look at where the subject is in the actual footage and place the crop there, clip by clip.

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Captions people can read at a glance

Word by word timing, bold display type, high contrast. Sound off viewing is the default on every short form feed, and captioned clips simply hold attention longer. Arabic and right to left scripts render correctly, not as blank boxes.

Who this is for

One long video is a week of content.

The people already doing this every day.

🎙

Podcasters

A one hour episode holds five to ten strong moments. Clip them the day the episode drops and feed your Shorts shelf all week, each one pointing new listeners back to the full conversation.

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YouTubers

Shorts are the discovery engine YouTube actually pushes. Repurposing your long uploads costs nothing and puts your best thirty seconds in front of people who have never seen your channel.

🎮

Streamers

The VOD is full of moments your chat already told you were good. Paste the VOD link, clip the reactions, and post them while the stream is still fresh.

🎓

Educators and coaches

One idea per Short beats an hour of lecture for reach. Pull the sharpest explanations out of webinars and courses and let each one travel on its own.

Honest comparison

Vid2Shorts next to the alternatives.

The big names are good products. Here is where we differ, stated plainly.

ToolStarts free, no signupSubject aware reframingInputBuilt for
Vid2ShortsYes, first Short freeYesPaste a YouTube linkCreators who want finished Shorts fast
OpusClipTrial, account requiredYesLink or uploadTeams and agencies on subscription
KlapLimited free, signupYesPaste a linkVolume clipping on subscription
CapCut / PremiereManual workYou do it by handUpload and editEditors who want full control
Random free clip sitesUsuallyBlind center cropVariesOne off cuts, no captions
One file, every feed

Made for Shorts. Ready for TikTok and Reels.

Every platform standardized on the same vertical format, so one correct file posts everywhere: 1080 by 1920, 9:16, MP4. That is exactly what you download here. No re-exporting, no letterboxing, no squeezed faces.

Need a precise clip instead of a Short?

YTCut, our sister tool, cuts any exact start to end range from a YouTube video and downloads it in six formats. Same engine, same speed, no watermark.

Open YTCut
FAQ

Questions people actually ask.

Straight answers, no fine print surprises.

Is Vid2Shorts free?
Your first Short is free and needs no account. You paste a link, the AI does its work, and you download the result. Heavy users can upgrade for unlimited Shorts with clean, watermark free output.
How do I pick the moment?
You choose it yourself, on a real timeline. Paste the link, the Studio opens on Pick the moment, and you drag the exact range you want. From there the wizard walks you through framing, captions, music, and export, or you can switch to full Studio mode for complete control.
Will the speaker stay in the frame after the vertical crop?
Yes, and this is the part most tools get wrong. Going from 16:9 to 9:16 keeps roughly a third of the picture, so a blind center crop regularly slices people out of frame. Vid2Shorts analyzes where the subject actually is and positions the crop around them. When it cannot find the subject with confidence, it stays centered instead of guessing wrong.
Do the clips work on TikTok and Instagram Reels too?
Yes. The output is a standard 1080 by 1920 MP4, which is exactly the file YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels expect. One download posts everywhere.
What about captions?
Every Short gets bold, word by word captions burned into the video, timed to the audio. Most short form video plays with the sound off, so captions are the difference between a scroll past and a view. Several caption styles are available, including full Arabic support.
How long does it take?
A couple of minutes for a typical video. The transcript analysis takes seconds; the cutting, reframing, and caption rendering take the rest. Long podcasts take a little longer simply because there is more transcript to read.
Is it legal to make Shorts from a YouTube video?
Use Vid2Shorts for content you own or have permission to repurpose. Creators clipping their own uploads is the core use case, and reposting your own long form as Shorts is exactly what the format was made for. If you clip someone else, get their permission first. The full details live in our terms.
Do I need to install anything or make an account?
No install, no signup, no upload. Everything happens in the browser and on our servers. You paste a link and download a finished file.