Ever wondered how YouTubers quickly turn long videos into Shorts? It doesn't have to be a tedious task. With YouTube Shorts makers, you can easily trim, resize, add captions, and enhance your videos with the perfect background music, smooth transitions, stickers, and even well-structured split screens to make your content pop.
Wondershare Filmora stands out with its Smart Short Clips feature, allowing you to effortlessly convert YouTube videos into engaging Shorts. Not only does it help you capture the most important moments, but it also adds the finishing touches to your video—helping you reach a wider audience and keep up with the growing demand for short-form content.
In this article
Part 1: Choosing the Best YouTube Shorts Converter: Filmora
If you often scroll through YouTube Shorts, youll notice that they are designed to capture attention from the get-go. They use interesting visuals, catchy audio, quick pacing, and creative storytelling to make you want to keep watching more. Many even include captions that move along with the spoken words.
Therefore, if you want to create Shorts from videos, you need a YouTube Shorts creator that can help you create content that matches, if not exceeds, that quality. And the best solution for this is using Filmora Smart Short Clip.
Why You Choose Filmora to Convert YouTube Video to Shorts
Using AI, the Smart Short Clip feature in Filmora can automatically convert a video into a YouTube Shorts format. This feature works by quickly identifying and extracting key moments. It then presents you with several clips to choose from, complete with ratings to help you assess the quality of the generated clips.
Filmora Smart Short Clips also comes with pre-designed templates, automatic resizing features, and even scheduling options. For additional convenience, Filmora offers:
- Simple URL Integration: You can easily paste video links from platforms like YouTube, making the upload process straightforward.
- AI-Driven Editing: Filmora employs advanced AI methods, including Speech-to-Text(STT) analysis and GPT-based clause grouping, to effectively reorganize content for compelling short videos.
- Enhanced Quality Tools: The Smart Short Clips feature automatically adjusts layouts, includes animated subtitles, and adds AI-generated soundtracks and sound effects, as well as customizable templates to improve overall video quality.
- Feature-Rich Options: You can benefit from advanced audio enhancements, access to a library of premium fonts and B-roll resources, precise timeline editing, the ability to transform horizontal videos into vertical formats, and options to schedule your releases.
Part 2: How to Convert Video into YouTube Shorts with Filmora
As a YouTube video to Shorts converter, the Smart Short Clips feature in Filmora allows you to either paste the YouTube video link or import it from your local device. After that, select the desired aspect ratio and make any necessary edits. You then have the option to schedule your post or share it directly on your YouTube accounts.
For detailed instructions on how to convert YouTube videos to Shorts, you can refer to the step-by-step guide below.
Steps to Use Smart Short Clips in Filmora
Step 1: Download and Install Filmora
Ensure you have the most recent version of Filmora installed on your device. If you haven't done so already, you can head over to the official Filmora website to download the software.
Step 2: Navigate to Smart Short Clips
After launching Filmora on your computer, you'll see the Smart Short Clip option beneath the "New Project" button. Click on it to open and access the Smart Short Clip workspace.
Alternatively, you can also go to the Toolbox section and select Smart Short Clips to convert the YouTube video to Shorts.
Step 3: Paste the Video URL or Upload the Video
To add your video, you can either paste the YouTube link or upload the video file directly from your device. Wait for the video to process.
Step 4: Configure Video Settings
In the Project Info settings, adjust the language, duration, theme, and more. Ideally, the maximum length for a YouTube Shorts video is 60 seconds. Then, access the Advanced menu to choose the aspect ratio and activate Smart BGM Generation to auto-generate music that fits your content.
Optional: You can enter a few keywords about your content in the Main Topic box to help the AI generate relevant animations.
You can scroll down to find various high-quality short video templates. Select the one that catches your eye and click on Generate to continue.
Step 5: Select and Edit Clips
You'll now see multiple short segments from the uploaded video. Each segment comes with a rating to help you decide which to select. Review the clips and click the Edit button to make adjustments. You can also enable AI Speech Enhancement to improve audio clarity.
Step 6: Refine Your Video
Once you are in the Smart Short Clips editing interface, you'll see that it has automatically generated captions based on the audio in your video, along with sound effects, music (if you enabled Smart BGM Generation), animation stickers, and more.
If you need to fine-tune any of these elements further, don't worry. You can still customize the captions, edit music tracks, and more to better suit your vision.
1. Edit the Scripts
You can choose to use or hide specific captions in Select Mode or view the script by timecode for easier editing in Time Code Mode. You can also change the font style to better fit your video's theme by selecting the clip and navigating to the Text tab.
To modify the text, go to the Basic option under the Text tab. You can adjust the text, merge, or emphasize certain words as needed. Simply select the word(s) and the options will pop up.
If you're not satisfied with the existing speech or want to add more dialogue to the video, you can use the Text-to-Speech feature to generate new voiceovers from the text.
To do this, select the script or title tracks in the timeline and navigate to the Text-to-Speech tab. Choose the language and type of voice (such as narration, educational, etc.), then select a voice from the available options.
Once it finishes generating, the new voiceover audio will be added to your editing timeline. You can mute the previous audio by clicking the speaker button on your video track.
But if you want to add new voiceovers that are not included in the script, you can head over to Audio > Text-to-Speech and click Start.
After that, the Text-to-Speech window will open. You can either type your own script or use AI Copywriting to help generate a new one. Next, select the language, voice, and speed, and then click Generate to proceed.
2. Edit Background Music
If the music drowns out the dialogue, select the clip and go to the Audio tab in the Property Panel. Access the Adjustment menu and enable Audio Ducking, which automatically reduces the background music volume during dialogue. Use the slider to make further adjustments.
3. Add Transitions, Effects, Filters, etc.
In addition to audio adjustments, you can add transitions, stickers, and various effects or filters. Just navigate to the appropriate menu in the toolbar and drag your selections onto the clip.
For transitions, you can position them at the end of one clip, between two clips, or at the start of another clip.
Step 7: Export your videos
Finally, open the Export window, select the social media platform for your video upload, and customize settings such as the title, description, category, resolution, and more.
If you want to schedule your post, enable the Schedule option and set the desired date and time. Once all settings are configured, click "Export" to start the rendering process and upload your video at the scheduled time.
Part 3: Filmora for YouTube Shorts: Covering Different Users & Scenarios
Now that you've learned how to convert YouTube videos to Shorts, this knowledge can be highly beneficial. Are you a vlogger, gamer, or brand marketer? Repurposing longer content into impactful short clips has a greater potential to go viral, thanks to their compact format and how they're favored by YouTube's algorithm.
Some application scenarios for converting YouTube videos into Shorts include:
| Users | Usage Scenarios |
| Vloggers | Transform long videos into engaging Shorts, showcasing daily life, travel, or special events to tell compelling stories. |
| Educators | Break down course material into concise Shorts, making it easier for students to understand and retain key lessons. |
| Gamers | Highlight epic moments from live streams, including exciting gameplay and memorable mishaps, in bite-sized Shorts. |
| Brand Marketers | Create catchy promotional Shorts for products or services, plus behind-the-scenes content to boost engagement. |
| Social Media Managers | Produce attention-grabbing Shorts to enhance brand visibility and engagement across different audiences. |
| Content Creators | Repurpose existing content into shareable Shorts, from tutorials to lifestyle videos, for wider reach. |
What you need then is a YouTube Short video editor like Filmora, which provides all the tools you need to create Shorts from your existing footage. Compared to available tools for converting videos to YouTube Shorts online, using Filmora gives you more flexibility in terms of finetuning your content.
Conclusion
Filmora Smart Short Clips is one of the best YouTube Short video creator solutions to make YouTube Shorts, converting them from an existing video. With its condensed format, YouTube Shorts provides a unique opportunity to engage viewers with quick, captivating content that highlights the most exciting or informative moments of your videos.
But instead of spending countless hours on manual editing, Filmora makes the process of creating YouTube Shorts easier. It uses AI to identify and extract key segments from your videos, then generates the Shorts using customizable templates. This not only saves you time but also helps you tap into the growing trend of short-form content.
