YouTube is a hub of great content—but it doesn’t have to live on the platform exclusively. The video sharing site allows creators to clip their content and share the video clip elsewhere, be that TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. It’s a great way to maximize the mileage of your original video and get more views from a single piece of content.
Whether it’s a funny moment that you want to capture from a livestream or an insight that’d perform great on TikTok, there are multiple ways to clip a YouTube video on PC or mobile. This guide shares two easy step-by-step tutorials on how to clip YouTube videos, complete with tips on how to protect your own content against clipping.
Can you clip or trim YouTube videos?
YouTube allows anyone to clip content on the platform—provided the original creator hasn’t turned off clipping permissions.
The YouTube clip feature works by saving a specific portion of a full video, such as an interesting tip the creator has shared. Anyone who’s made the clip can share the link with their friends. Clips can be up to 60 seconds long and are saved to your own clip library, which you can find under the Your Clips tab in the YouTube sidebar. They’re played on a loop, similar to YouTube Shorts.
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How to clip YouTube videos on PC
Step 1. Find the YouTube video you want to clip
First, head to the YouTube website and sign into your account. Find the video that you want to clip either by searching your channel page or filtering videos in your YouTube Studio.
Step 2. Start a new clip
YouTube’s clipping feature is automatically turned on for all channels, so once you’ve found the full video you want to clip, go to Menu (which appears as three vertical dots) and choose Clip. Give your snippet a new name—one that’s easy to find when searching your video clip library.
Step 3. Drag the sliders
Use the sliders to confirm which part of the video you want to create clips from. There’s a minimum length of 5 seconds and a maximum of 60 seconds. Play around with these timestamps to make sure you don’t cut the video off unintentionally.
Step 4. Save the YouTube clip
Confirm the timing settings and press the Share clip button. You’ve got a few options to choose from here:
- Share the YouTube clip via email
- Get a shareable link to share the clip anywhere
- Embed the YouTube video clip on your website or blog
- Promote the YouTube clip on other social media platforms (note that this won’t share the actual video—it’ll share a link to divert people back to your YouTube channel)
Bonus: Create longer clips with Descript
YouTube’s clipping feature allows you to save video clips up to 5-60 seconds in length. If you want to create snippets that are longer than this (like a clip of you live streaming a game, for example), you’ll need a professional video editor like Descript.
Descript is also the better option if you want to share YouTube clips elsewhere, such as TikTok or Instagram Reels, rather than simply sharing a link to your channel.
How to clip YouTube videos on mobile
Step 1. Use your device’s screen recorder
Unfortunately, YouTube’s clipping tool doesn’t work on mobile. You’ll need an external trimming tool to clip YouTube videos from your smartphone. Luckily, most devices have built-in screen recording features to help you do so.
For simplicity’s sake, we’ll do this demonstration on an Apple iPhone or iPad:
- Open the Settings app
- Go to Control Center
- Drag Screen Recording up to the Included Controls section
If you’re recording on any other device (like a Google Phone or Android device), follow this quickstart guide to enable screen recording.
Step 2. Open the video you want to clip
Next, open the YouTube video you want to clip. It’s easier to do this through the YouTube app, but you can open YouTube in your browser and record from there.
Step 3. Start screen recording
It’s now time to start clipping. Scrub to the section of the video you want to record, then drag down from the bottom of your screen to find the screen recording button. Remember to turn on Do Not Disturb so that your video clip isn’t interrupted by notifications.
Once you’ve finished recording your clip, press the End recording button. This will look different on every device, but on iPhone, it’s the red timing button in the top right corner.
Step 4. Rewatch the YouTube video clip
Most smartphone operating systems save screen recordings to the device’s Photos app. To find yours, go to Photos and filter by videos (though it should be the most recent file). From here, you can watch it later, edit, or share your clipped YouTube video.
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How to trim or clip a YouTube video that is not yours
Step 1. Check whether the creator allows clipping
On YouTube, creators can decide whether they give permission to have their videos clipped. If the original creator has this setting turned on, open the video and go to Menu and select Clip. Drag the sliders to choose which portion of the video you want to clip, give the video a name, then press Share clip.
Step 2. Choose a clipping tool
If the creator hasn’t given permission to clip their YouTube video, there is a workaround—but we want to preface this with one thing: only use the video clip for personal use (like saving it to reference in the future). It’s unethical to create clips from a YouTuber who doesn’t want their content to be clipped.
If you’re clipping the video for personal use, find a screen recording tool like Descript. Open a new video project, press the Record button, and start recording your screen as the YouTube video plays.
Step 3. Trim your clipped video
Descript will automatically save your screen recording footage in the dashboard, ready for you to start video editing. Play around with the different features here, such as:
- Trimming tools to cut down the video
- Studio Sound to improve audio quality
- Captions or subtitles to make the video easier to reference
- Automated transcript to turn the video into written text
- AI Summarizer to condense the content into a simple summary
How to stop people from clipping your YouTube videos
What happens if you’re on the other side and you’re a content creator who’s posting video content to your own YouTube channel? You can stop from clipping your video, which is useful if you don’t want your content to be repurposed or manipulated by anyone else.
To prevent people from clipping your own YouTube videos:
- Go to your YouTube Studio
- Choose Settings from the left-hand sidebar
- Go to Channel
- Click Advanced settings
- Untick the Allow viewers to clip my content box
An AI-powered tool to clip YouTube videos effortlessly
YouTube has a wealth of features that make it easier for creators to produce video content. If you want to take your content to the next level and repurpose YouTube videos into shorter clips you can share online, you need Descript.
Descript is the best video editor for modern content creators because it offers:
- YouTube Cutter to trim and cut YouTube videos
- YouTube Description, which uses generative AI to write your video description for you
- Find Good Clips, which uses AI to clip the most interesting parts of your video
- Social Post Writer, which suggests captions to share alongside your repurposed videos
- Turn Into Blog Post, which turns your video content into written text
Thousands of creators are already using Descript’s AI-powered video editor. Join them today by signing up for your free plan.
How to clip a YouTube video FAQs
Why can't I trim a YouTube video?
YouTube gives creators control over who can clip their video. If the clipping feature is unavailable, there’s a good chance that the creator disabled others from clipping their video.
How can I cut a part of a YouTube video?
- Go to your YouTube Studio
- Select Content from the sidebar
- Choose the video you want to cut
- Select Editor
- Choose Trim & cut
- Drag the timestamps to cut your YouTube video
How do you snip a video?
- Download the Descript app
- Start a new video project
- Import your footage
- Drag the sliders in the project toolbar
- Add stickers, transitions, or music
- Preview your snipped video
- Export and share the video file
Is there an app to clip YouTube videos?
The Descript app for Mac and Windows allows you to clip YouTube videos. Import your file to start trimming, or use its screen recording features to record a video and edit it in Descript.
