Free YouTube to Shorts: Paste a Link, Get an Edited Short in Minutes

Your best Short is already inside a video you published.

Try YouTube to Shorts free

You spent hours recording a 20-minute video. Somewhere inside it there are two or three moments that would stop someone mid-scroll: a sharp answer, a personal story, a line that lands.

The problem is the work in between. Scrubbing the timeline, finding a clean start and end, reframing a wide shot to vertical, adding captions, writing a title. Do that for every upload and Shorts quietly become a second job.

We built a free tool to remove that work: paste a YouTube link, and you get an edited Short back.

What the free tool does

YouTube to Shorts is the same engine our customers use every day, open to anyone, with no sign-up needed to try it.

• It transcribes your video with its own speech model, not YouTube's auto-captions.
• It scores every passage for a strong hook, clarity, and whether it makes sense on its own.
• It renders the strongest moment as a vertical Short with captions and a title.
• It lists more suggested moments underneath, each with its score.

You can make up to three Shorts from one video up to 30 minutes long, without an account.

How to use it, step by step

Screenshot from MintiStudio

Framing that follows the people on screen

A wide horizontal shot doesn't fit a vertical screen by default. Cropping the middle often cuts someone out.

The tool frames the Short around the faces it finds:

• One person talking stays centered and followed through the clip.
• Two people on screen, as in an interview, become two stacked frames so both stay visible.
• You can keep the original 16:9 frame instead, if the shot works better wide.

Screenshot from MintiStudio

What makes the AI pick a moment

Not every minute of a long video works as a Short. The moments that perform well usually share three things:

1. A hook in the first seconds

A question, a bold claim, or the start of a story. If the first line needs context from earlier in the video, it won't hold a new viewer.

2. It stands alone

Someone who has never seen you should understand it without the rest of the video.

3. One idea, finished

A single point, made clearly, with an ending. Most strong clips land between 30 and 60 seconds.

That is what the scores in the editor reflect. A higher score means a stronger standalone moment, but you can create any suggestion, or make your own clip from the transcript.

Editing without a timeline

Most clip tools stop at the first result. If the cut starts a sentence too early, you're back in an editor.

Here, the transcript is the editor:

• remove a filler sentence or a false start by deleting the words
• fix a misheard word in the captions
• shorten the setup so the payoff comes first
• change the title before you regenerate

Tips for Shorts that get watched

• Lead with the payoff. If the best line comes 20 seconds in, cut the setup from the transcript.
• Keep captions on. Many people watch Shorts with the sound off.
• Write a title that makes a promise. "The mistake that cost me my first 1,000 subscribers" beats "Episode 42 clip."
• Make two or three Shorts from every upload and post them over the following days.
• Use your own videos. Repurpose content you own or have permission to use. Posting other creators' clips without permission can lead to copyright claims.

Which videos work best

Talking videos give the AI the most to work with: podcasts, interviews, lessons, talks, sermons, reviews and vlogs. Music videos or footage without speech don't.

The tool transcribes many languages, including Turkish, so non-English channels get the same moment detection and captions.

When you want more than the free tool

The free tool is the fastest way to see what Minti picks from your video.

Use the DIY plans if you want to keep making Shorts yourself from longer videos, with AI suggestions, scheduling and publishing.

Use Autopilot if you want the long-video-to-Shorts workflow handled for you, while you still review every Short before it goes live.

Related guides

• How to Turn YouTube Videos into Shorts
• The Weekly Shorts Workflow for Busy Creators
• Done-for-You vs DIY Video Clipping: Which Fits Your Week?

The simplest next move

Pick the last long video you uploaded and paste the link. In a few minutes you'll see which moment the AI picked, and whether it would have been your pick too.

Turn your YouTube video into Shorts, free