Get more out of every long-form video you already made
You already put in the work to make the long video. Turning it into Shorts for the same channel — or cross-posting to TikTok and Reels — shouldn't mean re-editing it from scratch.
Paste a link, get clips back
Instead of re-uploading footage you've already published, paste the YouTube link directly. Extract Shorts pulls the video, transcribes it, and returns a ranked set of candidate Shorts — reframed to 9:16 and captioned — so you can decide what's worth cross-posting without scrubbing back through your own upload looking for the good part.
- Extract Shorts
- Smart Short
- Add Captions
Two ways to repurpose a video
If your video has several distinct standalone moments — a long tutorial, a multi-topic vlog, an interview — Extract Shorts gives you several separate clips to choose from. If it's more of a single narrative arc and you want one Short that samples the strongest moments across the whole timeline instead, Smart Short is built for that.
How it works
- 1
Paste your YouTube link
No need to find and re-upload the original file — a public or unlisted link works.
- 2
Choose Extract Shorts or Smart Short
Multiple standalone clips, or one highlight reel covering the full video — pick based on how the source video is structured.
- 3
Download and cross-post
Clips come out captioned and vertical, ready for Shorts, Reels, or TikTok without a separate editing pass.
Common questions
What do I actually get back from one long video?
A set of vertical 9:16 clips, ranked best-first, each already cut, reframed and captioned word-by-word. You pick which ones are worth posting — there is no editing step in between.
How long does a job take?
Longer than a page load and shorter than an editor. Transcription, ranking and rendering are real work on real hardware, so a job runs for minutes rather than seconds. The app shows you which stage it is on the whole time instead of a spinner.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Everything runs in the browser at app.ytshorts.ai. There is also a command-line version of the same pipeline for developers who would rather run it on their own machine with their own API keys.
Is the free plan actually usable?
Yes — it is the full product, not a locked demo. All four tools are available on Free. What you trade is a watermark on exports, 50 credits a month, source videos capped at 30 minutes, and up to 2 clips per Extract job.
What is a credit?
One job costs credits based on how long its source video is — counted per 5 minutes, rounded up — and which tool you ran. Higher plans get more credits each month and pay fewer credits for the exact same video.
How long do you keep my clips?
Rendered clips stay in your library for 7 days on Free and 30 days on Pro and Max, then are deleted automatically. You can delete anything yourself at any time, and your uploaded voice clones are never swept.
Does it work if my video isn't in English?
Yes. Transcription auto-detects the language, and you can force a specific one if you would rather. Captions can also be translated into another language before they are burned in.
What if my podcast is audio-only?
Add Voiceover and Add Captions both work from audio alone, so an audio-first show can still produce captioned, watchable shorts without a camera setup.
Your back catalog is full of unused Shorts
Try it on a video you've already published — the Free plan covers a couple of runs before you need to upgrade.
Start free