YouTube Clip Maker

Create scroll-stopping clips from a single YouTube video with Descript. It’s a YouTube clip maker that highlights the best moments in your video and turns them into clips. Transform longer videos into YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, GIFs, or any short-form video you need with one smooth clip creation workflow.

How to clip a YouTube video

Step 1

Upload your YouTube video

Upload your YouTube video by dragging and dropping it into a new Descript project. This will automatically generate a transcript synced with your video that you can use to find clips by pressing CTRL/CMD+K or using the search bar.

Step 2

Find moments to turn into clips

When you find a moment you want to clip, you can highlight it and right click to select Duplicate to > New composition to preserve the original while creating a new composition. Or you can automatically highlight the best moments in your video using the Find good clips AI Action, then simply confirm the ones you want to turn into clips in separate compositions.

Step 3

Polish and export your clips

Edit your newly created clips by selecting a clip from the compositions dropdown. Use the canvas to choose your aspect ratio, as well as add music, animated captions, and more using the insert menu. Save time by selecting Save scene as template to turn your clip into a template you can apply to other clips. Finally, click Publish to export all your clips or publish them directly to your YouTube channel.

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YouTube Clip Maker

YouTube Clip Maker

Create scroll-stopping clips from a single YouTube video with Descript. It’s a YouTube clip maker that highlights the best moments in your video and turns them into clips. Transform longer videos into YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, GIFs, or any short-form video you need with one smooth clip creation workflow.

Get started →
How to clip a YouTube video
  • 3
    Create a new project
    Drag your file into the box above, or click Select file and import it from your computer or wherever it lives.
Step 1
Upload your YouTube video

Upload your YouTube video by dragging and dropping it into a new Descript project. This will automatically generate a transcript synced with your video that you can use to find clips by pressing CTRL/CMD+K or using the search bar.

Step 2
Find moments to turn into clips

When you find a moment you want to clip, you can highlight it and right click to select Duplicate to > New composition to preserve the original while creating a new composition. Or you can automatically highlight the best moments in your video using the Find good clips AI Action, then simply confirm the ones you want to turn into clips in separate compositions.

Step 3
Polish and export your clips

Edit your newly created clips by selecting a clip from the compositions dropdown. Use the canvas to choose your aspect ratio, as well as add music, animated captions, and more using the insert menu. Save time by selecting Save scene as template to turn your clip into a template you can apply to other clips. Finally, click Publish to export all your clips or publish them directly to your YouTube channel.

Create scroll-stopping YouTube clips faster
Highlight the transcript or use AI to find good clips

Forget scrubbing your timeline and cutting parts of a video you want to clip and edit. Just search the transcript to highlight soundbites, or curate multiple clips in one click with the Find good clips AI action.

Save time with templates & automatic captions

Apply short-form video templates from our template library, or create custom templates from existing clips to easily apply the same style of captions, animations to all your future clips for TikTok, Instagram/Facebook reels, YouTube shorts, and more.

Your entire YouTube workflow in one place

Write your script, record content, edit videos, create clips, and publish to YouTube all in one app with Descript. Work alone with the support of a built-in AI, or collaboratively by inviting your team to give feedback or create videos with you.

Questions? We have answers
How do I create clips for YouTube Shorts from a YouTube video?

You can create YouTube shorts by cutting your YouTube video into clips that are under 60 seconds. Then optimize them for shorts by changing the aspect ratio to portrait or square, and adding animated captions to capture and keep attention.

How do I turn my YouTube clips into GIFs?

To make a GIF from a YouTube video, follow the same process as creating a clip but aim for clips under 15 seconds to turn into a GIF. Once you’ve edited your GIF, click Publish > Export and choose GIF.

Can I create YouTube clips for free with Descript?

Yes, the free plan gives you access to all the core video editing features, 1 hour of transcription, and 1 watermark-free export per month. To export unlimited watermark-free clips and increase the transcription limit to 10+ hours per month, subscribe to a paid plan starting at only $12/month.

Can I customize the AI clip finder to find specific moments in a video?

Absolutely. You can customize the clip finder by just tailoring the default AI prompt. For example, you can specific topics to look for, or increase the duration or number of clips you want it to find.

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Descript is the only tool you need to write, record, transcribe, edit, collaborate, and share your videos and podcasts.
What is the point of this tool?
Descript is the only tool you need to write, record, transcribe, edit, collaborate, and share your videos and podcasts.
More than a YouTube clip maker
Descript is an AI-powered audio and video editing tool that lets you edit podcasts and videos like a doc.
  • Social clips
    Turn YouTube videos into clips optimized for different social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
  • Ask AI anything
    Get AI to create YouTube clips for you, or generate your YouTube descriptions, social media posts, and more within seconds.
  • Stock media library
    Access royalty-free music, sound effects, videos, GIFs, and more to enhance your YouTube clips.
  • Publishing
    Publish your clips directly to your YouTube channel, or download all your clips in one go.