Find the Highlights for a Short-Form Video
A short-form video editor should save you from scrubbing a long recording to find the part worth posting. Upload a video or paste a link and ScreenApp’s AI highlights and automatic bookmarks, so you can jump to the moments worth clipping instead of watching the whole thing back.
From there, you trim recordings to the exact start and end point, then download the clip or share a link to it. If the clip needs to be cropped to vertical for TikTok, Reels, or Shorts, run it through the vertical video converter afterwards, which crops to 9:16, 1:1, or 4:5.
What you get:
- AI highlights and automatic bookmarks, so you do not have to scrub the whole recording
- 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 Edit a Short-Form Video
- Upload or import the video: Add 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, or paste a YouTube, Vimeo or YouTube, Vimeo and direct media links link. Processing starts once the video is in your library.
- Let AI find the highlights: AI highlights and automatic bookmarks across the recording, so you can open a bookmark instead of dragging the playhead back and forth.
- Trim, then crop for the platform: Use the trim tool to set the exact start and end point, then download the clip on a paid plan or share the link. Send the trimmed clip through the vertical video converter if you need it cropped to a vertical frame.
Accuracy of the transcript and the highlights depends on the audio: a clean single-speaker recording works better than a noisy room with several people talking over each other. See how we measure accuracy.
Short-Form Video Editor 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 |
| Vertical (9:16) export | 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 pricing, screenapp.io/help/free-account-download-limits, opus.pro/pricing, choppity.com/tools/free-ai-clip-maker/, spikes.studio/pricing
- vs Opus Clip: Opus Clip auto-generates vertical clips 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 crops to vertical in a separate tool rather than as part of the same export.
- 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 a Short-Form Video Editor
Content creators upload a long stream or interview and use the highlights to find the moments worth pulling into TikToks, Reels, and Shorts, instead of watching the whole recording back to spot them.
Marketing teams turn a webinar or product demo into a short clip for a landing page or a social post, trimmed to the one point that matters.
Podcasters with video episodes 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 recording, instead of re-recording the whole thing.
Small businesses cut a promotional clip or a customer story out of longer footage to post on social media, without hiring a video editor.
