Turn Long Videos Into Shorts: Do It Yourself or Hire a Service

If you post a few clips a week, cutting them yourself in YouTube or CapCut is enough. Hiring a service to turn long videos into shorts pays off when you have lots of long videos and nobody to pick the best moments.

Shorts can now run 3 minutes, so picking the right moments takes more work

Since Oct 15, 2024, YouTube counts every square or vertical video of 3 minutes or less as a Short. You can upload Shorts of up to 3 minutes through the YouTube app or YouTube Studio.

The YouTube help page on uploading Shorts lists two file requirements: up to 3 minutes long, and a square or vertical frame. In YouTube Studio on a computer, you can select up to 15 short videos at once, then fill in the details for each draft before you publish.

A longer time limit means a one-hour video can turn into dozens of clips. The hard part is not the cutting itself. It is watching the footage again, picking segments with an opening line strong enough to hook viewers, and turning a landscape frame into a vertical one without losing the speaker's face.

Cutting inside YouTube is fast, but each clip is capped at 60 seconds

YouTube has a built-in feature to create Shorts from your own long videos. Shorts made this way link back to the original long video, which helps new viewers find the full version. The steps on a phone:

1. Open the watch page of a public video you uploaded.
2. Tap Remix, then Edit into a Short.
3. Select up to 60 seconds of the video, and tap Next to add text or filters.
4. To change the framing, tap Layout.

There are two limits to know. Clips made from your own videos cannot use music from the YouTube Audio Library. If you select less than 60 seconds, you can record extra footage with the Shorts camera to reach 60 seconds. This method suits a channel that posts a few clips a week. It does not suit you if you need clips longer than one minute.

Automatic clipping tools are the way to let AI pick the best parts

Some editors have an automatic clipping mode. CapCut's AI Clip Maker page says the tool analyzes your video, finds the highlights and cuts them into clips on its own. It also turns 16:9 footage into 9:16, uses subject tracking to keep the speaker in the frame, and creates captions automatically.

The process has three steps: upload the video, let the tool generate the clips, then export. You cannot close the page while the upload is running. The CapCut page itself recommends adjusting the length, editing the captions and checking each clip so it works on its own.

That advice matters. According to CapCut's FAQ, the tool finds key moments based on speech patterns. The segment the tool picks is not always the one you want your audience to see, so you still need to review every clip before you post.

If you post to TikTok from a computer, note that the TikTok help page says uploading through a web browser posts the whole video. To change the length, you have to upload in the TikTok app, so it is best to finish all your cuts before you post.

When should you hire a service to turn long videos into shorts?

Hiring pays off in one of three cases. You have many long videos every week, such as podcasts, livestreams or courses. You need consistent captions, text colors and logos across the whole channel. Or nobody on your team has time to rewatch hours of footage to pick the segments.

On the other hand, if you only have one video a week and you are the one talking in it, cutting it yourself is usually faster. You know which moments are worth keeping better than anyone you could hire.

If you hire, ask five questions first

Who holds the rights to the content. YouTube reminds you that you must have the rights to any copyrighted content in your Shorts. If you use copyrighted material, a clip can get a Content ID claim. Background music added by the editor is the most common trouble spot.

How many clips and how long each one is. Ask how many clips one long video will produce, how many seconds each clip runs, and who picks the segments.

The frame for each platform. Shorts need a square or vertical frame, while a Facebook post or a website may need a different one. News has a guide to when to use 4:5, 1:1 or 16:9. Read it before you order.

Caption accuracy. Automatic captions can get names, accents and spelling wrong, especially outside English. Ask whether the editor proofreads the text.

Promises about views. Be careful with anyone who guarantees a viral clip. News also has a post on why you should not trust promises of business results.

Doing it yourself fits small volumes, hiring fits large ones

Choose to do it yourself if you have few videos, want to pick every line, and have an hour or two a week. Choose to hire if long videos keep coming in and nobody on your team has time to review them. How many hours of long video on your channel are still waiting to be cut?

The Cut long videos into shorts skill is still being finished, and the early version is free before it goes on sale. If you need new videos made rather than cut, see AI video with a source table. Every line of narration in the video comes with its source, link and access date.

Sources, accessed Oct 9, 2026:

• YouTube Help: Learn about Shorts up to 3 minutes
• YouTube Help: Upload YouTube Shorts
• YouTube Help: Create YouTube Shorts from your videos
• CapCut: Create Viral Clips from Long Video (AI Clip Maker)
• TikTok Help Center: Making a post
• Images: Unsplash (Luciano Oliveira, Austin Distel, Amy Hirschi, Jakub Żerdzicki, Kit), Unsplash License.

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