How to make clips on YouTube

Just like you can on Twitch, you can create clips on YouTube. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to make clips on YouTube, so you can share your favorite moments of a video with your audience.

What are YouTube clips?

YouTube clips are short, shareable segments of videos and can be made by content creators and viewers alike. Clips allow people to capture and share the most interesting, entertaining or informative parts of a longer video. These little snippets can be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 60 seconds long. 

Not all videos are eligible for clips – they have to be 2 minutes long at least and the owners of the videos needs to enable the creation of clips in their account settings. If the video is not eligible for clips, you won’t be able to find the clip button (✄) below the video. 

What are YouTube clips used for?

YouTube clips can be used for lots of different things, including:

• Highlighting key moments: clips can help you highlight the key moments that are most relevant to your audience. For example, if you're creating a tutorial video, you can create clips of specific steps to help your audience find the information they need more easily.
• Promoting your content: Clips can be an effective way to promote your content on social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. You can share short clips of your videos on these platforms, which can entice viewers to watch the full video on YouTube.
• Showcasing your expertise: If you're a subject matter expert, creating clips can help you showcase your knowledge in a concise and engaging way. You can create clips of yourself answering frequently asked questions or sharing insights on trending topics, which can help establish your authority in your field.
• Engaging your audience: Clips can also be a great way to engage your audience and spark conversation. You can create clips of funny or memorable moments from your videos and share them on social media to encourage your followers to watch the full video and share their thoughts.

In other words, creating clips on YouTube can help you make the most of your video content and make it suitable for cross-posting to other channels. 

How to clip on Youtube

A step-by-step guide on creating clips on YouTube.

1. Select a video

The first step to make a clip on YouTube is to find the video you want to clip. Once you've found the video, pause it at the point where you want the clip to start. Look for the three dots (...) button below the video and click on it to reveal the ‘Clip’ button. Click on it to access the clip creator tool. 

2. Edit the clip

You can now give your clip a title. Be sure to choose a title that accurately reflects the content of your clip, as this will help it show up in search results. You can use the sliders to determine the length of the clip and where it starts and ends, or enter the timestamps manually.

3. Share the clip

When you're ready to share your clip, click on the Share button. YouTube will generate a link to your clip, which you can share on social media, embed on your website or blog or send to your email list. Your audience can also like, comment and share your clip, which can help it reach a wider audience.

You can find all your created clips in the left menu under Your clips or in your Library. 

How to enable viewers to create clips

If you’re a content creator, you might not be sure whether to enable the creation of clips or to keep control of the video. Enabling this feature can help with engagement, promotion and create some insight to which parts of your videos appeal to a wider audience, so it can be worthwhile. 

To enable viewers to create clips on your videos, you need to ensure that the feature is enabled on your channel. Similarly, if you want it to be disabled, you’ll need to opt out. It’s enabled by default on all videos above 2 minutes on YouTube, so the latter is more likely. 

Here's how to enable or disable clips on YouTube:

• Go to YouTube Studio and select the video you want to enable the Clips feature for.
• Click on the Editor tab and select Clips from the dropdown menu.
• Toggle on the Allow viewers to create clips option.
• Click on Save to apply the changes.
• You and your viewers will now be able to create clips from your videos! 

How to turn your YouTube clips into perfect videos for social media

To make your clips suitable for cross posting to other channels, like TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts, you may need to make some edits. You can use StreamLadder to turn your landscape videos into portrait size and get it into the right dimensions for social media. And by adding captions, viewers will be able to watch the video without sound.

Looking to create the perfect social media video from your YouTube clips? Visit StreamLadder.com to get started.