A YouTube to Shorts converter that starts from the link
Paste a YouTube link above and get back 3 to 15 vertical clips with subtitles, sized for Shorts, Reels and TikTok. No downloading the source and re-uploading it first.
The link-first flow is free on both editions: the self-hosted MIT edition has no cap, and the hosted free tier clips your first video whole up to 60 minutes, then 20 minutes a month. Uploads work on every tier too, for sources that are not online.
Convert videos you have the rights to: your own channel, your clients’ with permission, or licensed footage.
Your first video free up to 60 minutes, then 20 free minutes a month, no credit card. Or self-host it free under MIT.
How to convert a YouTube video into Shorts
- Paste a YouTube link above. OpenShorts fetches the video itself; there is no download-then-upload round trip through your machine.
- The video is transcribed with word-level timestamps and scanned for scene boundaries.
- Google Gemini scores the transcript against the scenes and picks the 3 to 15 segments most likely to stand alone, 15 to 60 seconds each.
- Each segment is cropped to 9:16 with face tracking, or a split or screencast layout when the content calls for it, and subtitles are burned in.
- Download the clips, or post them straight to YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels from the dashboard or the API.
Why starting from the link matters
Competitor terms checked 2026-10-05 on public pricing pages.
Most long videos worth clipping already live on YouTube, so a converter that only accepts uploads adds a detour: fetch the file with a downloader, wait, re-upload gigabytes, wait again. OpenShorts accepts links and uploads on every tier, including both free ones. Not every tool does both: as of October 2026 2short.ai takes YouTube links only on its free plan and adds Drive and URL imports from its paid plans, and SendShort only clips long videos from its $29/month plan up.
What comes out the other end
Vertical 9:16 clips of 15 to 60 seconds with word-level subtitles burned in, each with an AI-written title and description ready for the platform. The reframing follows the content: a single speaker is face-tracked with a stabiliser that holds the camera still instead of chasing every head movement, a two-person conversation renders as a stacked split layout, and screen shares keep the screen legible instead of cropping it to ribbons.
Whose videos can you convert?
Yours, and those you have permission for. Your own uploads, your podcast guests' episodes with their blessing, client channels you manage, licensed or public-domain footage. Clipping someone else's video without permission is a copyright question OpenShorts does not answer for you, and platforms remove reuploads that fail it. The tool fetches what you point it at; the rights are your call and your responsibility.
What does it cost?
Converting a link costs nothing on the self-hosted edition (MIT, Docker, your own keys, no watermark and no cap). On OpenShorts Cloud the converter is free for the first video clipped whole up to 60 minutes, then 20 minutes a month with a watermark and no credit card; plans without the watermark start at $12/month for 100 minutes of source video.
Common questions
- Can I convert a YouTube video to Shorts for free?
- Yes, two ways. Self-host OpenShorts (MIT licence, Docker, your own free-tier Gemini API key): unlimited, no watermark. Or use the hosted free tier: 20 minutes of source video a month, watermarked, no credit card. Paid hosted plans without watermark start at $12/month.
- Do I need to download the video first?
- No. Paste the URL and OpenShorts fetches the source itself on every tier, including free ones. Local file upload is also supported when the source is not online.
- Can I clip a video from someone else’s channel?
- Technically yes, legally only with rights or permission. Use it for your own content, channels you manage, or footage you have licensed. Unauthorized reuploads are copyright infringement and platforms strike them.