How to Edit YouTube Shorts: A Step-by-Step Workflow

Four places to edit a Short

Use the YouTube app for quick Shorts filmed on your phone, and a phone editor for more control without a computer. Use desktop software for detailed work, and an AI editor when you have raw takes and want a first cut to review.

You can mix them. Cut in a phone or desktop editor, then add a song in the YouTube app: YouTube’s Create page points to the Shorts Audio Library as the way to avoid copyright claims. The rest of this guide works the same in any of the four.

The limits YouTube sets

A Short is a square or vertical video up to three minutes long, according to YouTube’s upload page. Its Create page says Shorts upload at up to 1080p. YouTube publishes no pixel size for Shorts; we use 1080 × 1920, the 9:16 frame at 1080p.

Older uploads keep their category. Square or vertical videos up to three minutes count as Shorts if they were uploaded on or after 15 October 2024; earlier ones stay long-form videos, says YouTube’s three-minute Shorts page. The same page says to use a wider shape such as 16:9 if you don’t want a video treated as a Short.

Edit in the YouTube app: where each tool is

The Shorts camera and editor live in the YouTube app on your phone. Here is where each tool sits, from YouTube’s Create and Enhance your Shorts pages for Android and iPhone. Labels may differ in your app version.

1. Start. Tap Create, then Short. Hold or tap Capture to record a segment; the progress bar shows each segment and its length. To use clips you already filmed, tap the gallery button at the bottom left.
2. Trim. Tap Trim to set where the Short starts or to shorten a segment. Anything outside the box is left out.
3. Timeline. Tap Edit, or swipe up, to open the timeline. It holds video, text, stickers, music and voiceover. Drag a clip’s start and end points to set how long it shows, and tap and hold a clip to reorder it.
4. Text. Tap Text to place messages on the video and change their color, style and alignment. Then set when each one appears on the timeline.
5. Voiceover. Tap Voiceover, move the playhead to where the narration starts, then hold or tap the red button. Text-to-Speech reads typed text in a generated voice; YouTube sends that text to a server to make it.
6. Sound and Volume. Tap Sound to add a song or sound bite. Volume balances the music, your original audio and any voiceover.
7. Filters. Tap Filters. A filter added in the editor sits on top of any filter you chose while recording, says YouTube’s editing tips.
8. Details. Tap Next to add a title, set privacy and the audience, and tap Get feedback for an analysis of the hook and pacing. Then tap Upload Short, or Save draft.

Remix and green screen are in the app too. In the record screen, Green screen puts a photo or video from your gallery behind you. On another creator’s Short, Remix lets you use it as a green screen background, cut in a segment, record a Collab beside it, or use it as a template. On a long video, Share, then Remix offers Cut, Collab and green screen too. YouTube’s remix page says every remix credits its source, and your own Shorts are open to video remixing unless you opt them out.

Set up a vertical project in another editor

Every other editor needs one setting before you start: a vertical project. Set it first, because changing the shape later moves your text and graphics. CapCut’s help warns that changing the ratio mid-project can distort the layout.

Whichever editor you use, the passes below are the same. Export settings for each one are covered in pass 6.

Pass 1: One idea and the opening line

Decide what the Short says in one sentence before you touch the timeline. “Put your light beside the camera” is a Short. “Lighting tips” is three Shorts. One idea is easier to cut, caption and title (our judgment).

Then fix the opening line. Open on the claim or the problem, with no greeting or logo first (our judgment). YouTube’s Get feedback button, on the details screen before you upload, analyses a Short’s hook and pacing.

If you film from a script, time it before you record. The script timer times each paragraph and shows which words fit in your first three seconds.

Pass 2: Choose takes and cut

Keep the best take of each line, then cut what interrupts the thought: false starts, repeated sentences and long pauses. Keep the pauses that let a point land. Listen to every cut, because a join that looks clean can still clip a breath or a word (our judgment).

In the YouTube app, Trim shortens a segment and the timeline trims and reorders clips. If you record in the app, Align shows a see-through copy of your last frame so the next segment lines up, per YouTube’s creation tips. In other editors, cut on the timeline as usual.

Let the idea set the length. YouTube allows three minutes, but use only the time the point needs (our judgment). Past one minute, the copyright rule in pass 5 starts to matter. If your Short is you talking to camera, the talking-head editing workflow goes deeper on choosing takes and judging each cut.

Pass 3: Captions

Add captions that match what you said. YouTube’s editing tips say on-screen text helps viewers follow along word for word when you talk to camera, and makes Shorts more accessible.

Proofread names, numbers and negations, since one wrong word can flip the meaning. Break lines where the sentence breaks, and leave each caption up long enough to read (our judgment). See video captions people can actually read for timing, size and contrast. If your editor makes captions from speech, check every line against the audio.

Keep text clear of YouTube’s buttons. In the YouTube editor, visual guides appear as you drag text or stickers: they show where the like button, comments and description may sit. White lines near the edge mark a non-safe area where text may be hidden on some devices, says YouTube’s Enhance your Shorts page. In any other editor, drop a frame into the Reels safe zone checker, which has a YouTube Shorts overlay.

In the YouTube app, captions are text clips. Set when each one appears and disappears by dragging its start and end points on the timeline.

Pass 4: Graphics and B-roll

Add a graphic or B-roll shot only where it shows what the sentence says: the object, the screen, the number. Return to your face once it has done its job. One thing moving at a time reads best on a phone, so keep titles and labels short and off your face (our judgment). See choosing B-roll for talking-head videos for a worked shot list.

In the YouTube app, stickers add interactive parts: a Q&A, poll or quiz, or an image from your gallery. Green screen sets a photo or video behind you, and Remix cuts in a segment of another YouTube video, credited to its source. YouTube’s upload page warns that copyright-protected material can bring a Content ID claim, so note where every clip you didn’t film came from.

Pass 5: Sound, levels and music rights

Get the voice clear first, then set music under it. On a phone speaker, music that competes with speech makes the words hard to follow (our judgment). In the YouTube app, Volume balances music, your original audio and any voiceover.

Music rights are where Shorts need the most care. YouTube’s pages describe these sources:

• The Shorts Audio Library, through Sound in the app. YouTube says its music is free for personal, non-commercial use unless you hold the right licences. Selecting a song shows how many seconds it can cover: most up to 90 seconds in a three-minute Short, some only 60 or 30.
• The YouTube Audio Library in YouTube Studio. Its royalty-free tracks won’t get a Content ID claim, says the three-minute Shorts page, and you can download them to use in your own editor.
• Music added in another editor. YouTube’s Enhance page says copyright-protected content added outside its tools may get a Content ID claim, or be removed after a copyright request.

Pass 6: Export and upload

Export a vertical 9:16 file at 1080 × 1920, with no black bars. YouTube says Shorts upload at up to 1080p, and its aspect ratio page asks you not to add padding or black bars to the video itself.

If you edit in the YouTube app, there is nothing to export: Upload Short publishes it. From a computer, open YouTube Studio, click Create, then Upload videos. You can pick up to 15 Shorts at a time and finish each one with Edit draft.

Codec, frame rate and bitrate settings for CapCut, Premiere, Resolve and Final Cut, with where each editor hides them, are in the guide to uploading high-quality video. Export once from the original footage, because exporting an export, or re-uploading a copy saved from another app, compresses it twice (our judgment).

Pass 7: Title and thumbnail frame

Write a title that says what the Short is. YouTube allows up to 100 characters; put the topic in the first few words (our judgment).

Then pick the thumbnail frame. YouTube’s Create page says you can choose a frame from the Short before or after upload, and add text or a filter to it. You can do this only in the YouTube app, not in YouTube Studio. Once you finish a thumbnail edit you can’t go back to earlier edits, so choose the frame before you style it. Pick one where your face is clear and any words are large enough to read small (our judgment).

After upload, you can point viewers to a longer video. In YouTube Studio, open the Short under Content and pick a related video from your channel; it shows as a link under your handle. YouTube says this needs advanced feature access.

Pass 8: Check it on a phone

Watch the finished Short on a phone before anyone else does. These checks are ours:

1. Watch it muted. Can you follow it from the captions alone?
2. Watch it with sound on the phone speaker. Is the voice clear over the music?
3. Watch it with YouTube’s buttons showing. Is any text or face under them?
4. Read every caption once more for names and numbers.
5. Watch the opening again. Do the first three seconds say what the Short is about?

YouTube’s upload tips suggest a test upload to get comfortable with the steps, set to private or unlisted. It also lets you see the Short in the real player before it goes public. Once it is live, the Shorts retention guide explains how to read engaged views and where viewers leave, so your next edit starts from evidence.

Editing a Short with EditorOP

EditorOP does passes 2 to 4 for Shorts where you talk to camera. You upload every take and review a vertical cut with captions, B-roll and graphics already placed, then change anything before export. The export is a 1080p MP4, the highest resolution YouTube lists for Short uploads, with a separate “Download captions (.srt)” button.

Its reels run up to 90 seconds, so a longer Short needs another editor. The idea, the title and thumbnail frame and the phone check stay yours. If a Short you admire has the look you want, save it and upload it as a reference, and EditorOP copies its edit onto your clips. For a tier list Short, the Tier list format ranks things S to C, dropping each one into its row as you say it. See how the AI reel editor works.

YouTube Shorts editing questions

These are questions people search for on YouTube, with short answers. The chart shows vidIQ’s estimates for the main ones.