YouTube has started testing Clips – the company’s new feature that lets viewers create short clips from videos and live streams. With this addition, you can easily share interesting moments from videos without any hassle. The duration of the generated clips can be between 5 and 60 seconds. In this article, we show you how to use the new Clips feature on YouTube to create short video clips.
Use clips on YouTube
According to YouTube, Clips is currently in a limited alpha release. Therefore, not all channels support the feature and YouTube has enabled the feature selectively on certain channels. Given this limitation, we’ve also added a third-party solution that you can use to somewhat replicate the functionality of Clip.
Excerpts from the YouTube Web
1. In YouTube web interface, you will notice a new ‘Clip’ button if the feature is available on the channel. Click on it and wait for the clip creation popup window to appear. Keep in mind that you will only see this button if you are logged in to YouTube.
2. You can now use the preview window to choose the exact duration of the clip. It should be noted that you can also specify exact timings in the timestamp box just above the preview window. As a reminder, clips can last from 5 seconds to 60 seconds.
3. Add a title to the clip and click on the “Share clip” button to share the clip with your friends. Here you can choose to directly share the clip to social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, KakaoTalk, Reddit, VK, Odnoklassniki, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Mix and even email. You can also copy the link to the clip by clicking the Copy button.
4. When your friends access the video from the link you just generated, they will only see the part you highlighted. Moreover, the the highlighted part will continue to rotate until the user clicks the “Watch Full Video” button to see the full video. The title of the clip will also be visible to the recipient.
Clips on YouTube Mobile
YouTube Clips is limited to Android devices at this time. However, the company promised to bring the feature to YouTube for iOS in the foreseeable future.
1. Open the YouTube app and tap the “Clip” button. Now you will be taken to the clip creation interface. Unlike the YouTube web, you cannot specify the duration in a timestamp box here. Instead, you should use the slider to choose the exact time. Once you have finalized the duration, tap “Share Clip” to share the part of the video.
2. Now you will see Android’s share sheet to help you quickly share the clip with your friends. You can also press the “Copy link” button to copy the clip link to your clipboard.
Third Party Solution to Cut Videos
Since Clips is still in alpha, it doesn’t support the vast majority of YouTube channels. Therefore, here are some workarounds to replicate the functionality of Clips until YouTube officially adds it. The method mainly varies depending on which aspect of the clips you are most interested in.
If you are someone who wants to share specific moments from a YouTube video, you can use timestamps to do so. Open a YouTube video and click Share. On the Share page, check the “Start at” box to start a video from a particular timestamp. That way, when a friend opens the video, they’ll be taken directly to that part.
On the other hand, if you’re like me who plans to use clips only to loop specific parts of a video, there’s a Google Chrome extension for one called “Looper”. With Looper, you can easily loop part of a video until you get bored. Once you download it, you get a new ‘Loop’ button that offers access to a neat slider to control the length of the loop.
To download Looper for YouTube (Chrome Web Store)
Try YouTube clips to share highlights
With Clips, YouTube brought the trim feature which is already popular on other live streaming platforms like Twitch. It will be interesting to see if YouTube’s implementation of Clips proves an instant hit for sharing important moments in a video. This is something we’ll have to wait and find out when YouTube rolls out clips widely to all channels. For more such tips, check out our article on YouTube tips and tricks.
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