Turn a YouTube Video Into a Short You Can Share
An AI YouTube shorts maker saves you from scrubbing through a long video to find the moment worth posting. Paste a YouTube link and ScreenApp’s AI highlights and automatic bookmarks, so you can jump straight to the parts worth watching instead of watching the whole thing back.
From there, you trim the section you want to the exact start and end point, then download the clip or share a link to it. You are picking and cutting the short yourself, with AI doing the finding.
What you get:
- AI highlights and automatic bookmarks, so you do not have to scrub the whole video
- trim recordings to the exact start and end point you want
- A transcript in 100+ languages to search for the line you need
- AI chat with any recording so you can ask what happens in the video and get pointed to the timestamp
- Paid plans only for downloading the finished clip, or share a link instead
- Free plan: 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each to try it on
How to Make a Short From a YouTube Video
- Paste the YouTube link: Add the video’s URL, or upload a file in MP4, M4V, MOV, AVI, WEBM, MKV, FLV, TS, MTS, M2TS, 3GP, 3GPP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, VOB, OGV, RM, RMVB, MPG, MPEG, M2V, F4V, MXF if you already have it downloaded. Processing starts once the video is in your library.
- Let AI find the highlights: AI highlights and automatic bookmarks across the video, so you can open a bookmark instead of dragging the playhead back and forth.
- Trim and get the clip: Use the trim tool to set the exact start and end point, then download the clip on a paid plan or share the link straight from ScreenApp.
Accuracy of the transcript and the highlights depends on the audio: a clean single-speaker video works better than a noisy clip with music or several people talking over each other. See how we measure accuracy.
AI YouTube Shorts Maker vs Other Apps
| Feature | ScreenApp | Opus Clip | Choppity | Spikes Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 2 transcriptions, up to 45 min each | watermarked, up to 1080p, expires after 3 days | 1 hour/month, no watermark | 30 minutes/month, watermarked |
| Auto-generates vertical (9:16) shorts | Not available | 9:16 only | AI reframes video to vertical formats (9:16), with speaker tracking, zooms and camera splits | reframe it to a vertical view |
| Watermark on free plan | no watermark on any recording or export | Yes | No | Yes |
| Downloads | Paid plans only | Free plan (watermarked, 3-day expiry) | Paid plan for full features | Free plan (watermarked) |
| Paid plan | $19/month annual | $15 to $29/month | $19/month | $14.09/month annual |
Sources, checked 2026-09-12: screenapp.io/help/free-account-download-limits, ScreenApp pricing, opus.pro/pricing, choppity.com/tools/free-ai-clip-maker/, spikes.studio/pricing
- vs Opus Clip: Opus Clip auto-generates vertical shorts from spoken words and exports 9:16 only even on its free plan, with watermarked, up to 1080p, expires after 3 days. ScreenApp finds the highlight and lets you trim it, but does not crop or export vertical formats.
- vs Choppity: Choppity’s free plan gives you 1 hour/month, no watermark of upload and reframes clips to vertical automatically. ScreenApp’s free plan is 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each, with the highlights and trim tool but no automatic reframing.
- vs Spikes Studio: Spikes Studio’s free plan covers 30 minutes/month with a watermark, and its paid $14.09 plan removes it and adds vertical reframing. ScreenApp never puts a watermark on a recording (no watermark on any recording or export), but downloading the finished clip needs a paid plan.
Who Uses an AI YouTube Shorts Maker
Content creators paste a link to their own long-form video and use the highlights to find the moment worth pulling out, instead of watching the whole upload back.
Marketing teams turn a YouTube demo or webinar recording into a short clip for a landing page or an email, trimmed to the one point that matters.
Podcasters with a YouTube upload search the transcript for the exchange they remember and trim it into a clip to post alongside the full episode.
Educators pull the explanation a student asked about out of a longer lecture video, instead of re-recording the whole thing.
Social media managers review a channel’s back catalog for lines worth reposting, using the transcript search instead of relistening to every video.
