GUIDE
How to make a YouTube Short from a long video
There are two ways, and they do different things. Ginvid can cut Shorts out of a finished video: it picks up to five self-contained moments of 20 to 60 seconds, crops them to 9:16 around the speaker, adds captions and a short title card, and charges 1 credit per Short. Or it can write a new Short from a public YouTube link, using the link only as a reference: nothing from the video is downloaded or reused.
By Eventarena AB. Published 25 October 2026.
Option 1: cut Shorts from a video in Ginvid
This is for a long video with someone talking in it: a recording, a lecture, a podcast, a tutorial. Upload it on the Video page (choose Upload a video; up to 20 minutes and 1 GB), and Ginvid transcribes it, takes out long pauses, filler words and retakes, and adds punch-in zooms and chapter points. That cut costs 2 credits for each minute you upload. Any finished Ginvid video can be cut too, as long as its scenes are still kept.
Then press Make Shorts on the finished video. Ginvid reads its transcript, chooses up to five moments of 20 to 60 seconds that stand on their own and open on a hook, and makes each one as a Short of its own, cropped to 9:16 around the speaker, with captions and a three-word title card. Each Short costs 1 credit, charged when it is made and returned if it cannot finish. Make more Shorts picks other moments instead of repeating the ones already cut.
Option 2: a new Short from a YouTube link
Paste a public YouTube link and Ginvid watches the first 30 minutes of it as a reference, finds the points worth keeping and writes an original Short around them, with a new script, a new voice and new pictures. The analysis is not a word-for-word transcript, and no footage is downloaded. Videos that need a sign-in, or that are age-restricted, cannot be read.
This is the right choice when you want a short narrated version rather than the speaker on screen, or when the source is a different kind of video from the Short you want. Use it on your own videos, or on ideas you have the right to build on. Ginvid reading a link does not replace your own judgement about someone else's work.
Which to use
| Make Shorts | Short from a YouTube link | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Real moments from the video, cropped to 9:16 | A new Short with new words, voice and pictures |
| Start from | A video uploaded to or made in Ginvid | A public YouTube link |
| Length | 20 to 60 seconds each | 5 seconds to 3 minutes |
| How many | Up to five at a time | One |
| Price | 1 credit each, plus 2 credits a minute to cut an uploaded video | From 1 credit, shown before you make it |
Before you post
- Watch each Short with the sound on. A moment can be self-contained and still start mid-thought.
- Check the rights to any footage and music in the source video.
- Answer YouTube's questions in the publish form, including whether the video is made for kids. Details
- A Short is a vertical or square video of up to three minutes (YouTube).
Limits
- Make Shorts needs speech to choose moments from, and a video of at least 25 seconds.
- A Short cannot itself be cut into more Shorts; cut from the video it came from.
- Ginvid cannot tell which moment will do well. It picks moments that stand alone, and you decide which to publish.
Try it
Choose Upload a video for a long video, or paste a YouTube link. Plans from $39 a month.
Open the Video pageSources
Read on 25 October 2026. Rules and prices change; check the page itself before you rely on it.