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If you have a podcast, interview, webinar, YouTube video, or recorded stream, AI Shorts finds the best moments and turns them into short clips automatically. No manual scrubbing required. This guide covers the full workflow, from uploading your source video to exporting finished clips.

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Step 1: Get your source video ready

AI Shorts works with two types of input:
  • A video file: upload directly from your device
  • A YouTube URL: paste a public or unlisted YouTube link
YouTube links must be Public or Unlisted. Private videos won’t work. If the URL contains “live”, click the link first and copy the redirected URL instead.

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Step 2: Generate clips

1

Open AI Shorts

On iOS, tap AI Shorts from the Captions home screen. On Web, select AI Shorts from the project options.
2

Upload your video or paste a URL

Tap Upload and choose your file, or tap the link icon and paste your YouTube URL.
3

Wait for processing

AI Shorts analyzes your video to find the most engaging segments, looking for moments with strong hooks, clear points, or high energy. This can take up to an hour for longer videos.
You don’t need to keep the app open. Captions will notify you when your clips are ready.
4

Review your clips

Once processing is done, you’ll see a set of generated clips. Tap to preview any clip before deciding what to keep.

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Step 3: Edit and refine

Before exporting, review each clip:
  • Trim the start or end if the clip needs a tighter hook or a cleaner ending
  • Add captions by going to the caption editor and generating captions for the clip. Bold captions significantly increase watch time on short-form content.
  • Adjust the style to apply a caption style that fits your brand
→ Add Captions to Boost Engagement

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Step 4: Export

Tap Export on each clip you want to keep. Clips export as individual vertical videos ready to post.

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Tips for better clips

  • Podcasts and interviews are the best source material. They’re full of quotable moments and the language is already conversational.
  • Look for contrast. Clips that shift from a problem to a solution, or from a question to an answer, tend to perform best.
  • The hook matters most. The first 3 seconds determines whether someone keeps watching. If a clip doesn’t start strong, trim to a better moment.
  • Add captions before posting. Shorts without captions lose a large portion of their potential audience.

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Supported languages

iOS: Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish Web: Arabic, Chinese (simplified + traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hinglish, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian

Add Captions to Boost Engagement

Style captions on your clips before posting.

AI Shorts reference

Full feature documentation.
Last modified on April 20, 2026