How to clip your favorite YouTube streamers & videos

While the Clip feature is currently in alpha form and it limited to a small, select group of people, some users and creators can finally snip sections of YouTube videos to be shared online. Here’s how you can do it for yourself.

For years, fans have been clamoring for YouTube to add in a Clip feature to allow users to grab small sections of longer videos that can be shared online. Given the fact that Twitch has had it for a while, it didn’t seem like a huge leap but nothing of note was made available for the longest time.

Now, on January 28, 2021, YouTube finally decided to appease these fans and announced that a Clips feature was in development and that it was, at least partially, available now. While the company is currently restricting the feature to certain users and platforms, the steps you need to follow to actually clip something are pretty straight forward.

Restrictions on clipping as of January 28, 2021

Currently, the clipping feature is in alpha, meaning it’s a bit restricted. Right now, it is only available for select creators, meaning only certain videos can clipped as of the time of writing. If you click on a video and there isn’t an option to clip, then the video isn’t clippable.

In addition, there are going to be some general restrictions on what can be clipped, outside of the above limited release. According to YouTube, videos made for kids, live streams without DVR or over 8 hours long, and premieres that are still live can’t be clipped.

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As for the alpha, there’s no telling when YouTube will allow more people to jump into the program, although the company says they are hoping to make it available to everyone “soon”.

Official YouTube clipping steps

If you do end up finding a video that you can clip out, the steps in order to clip something are a bit tedious but easy to follow if you follow the instructions. Here’s what you need to do, right from YouTube’s official support page:

1. Find an eligible video and start watching it (YouTube’s own video on Clips currently has the featured enabled)
2. Click on the “Clip” button, located in between the “Dislike” and “Share” buttons
3. Drag the small box on the timeline found on the right side of menu to a section of the video you want and adjust the sides of it to make it longer
4. Alternatively to step 3, you can just type in the time codes of the clip you want into the boxes in the menu
5. Make a title for the clip
6. Select the “Share Clip” button
7. Select which platform you’d like to share the clip to or copy the link provided

Remember, you can only make a five-to-60 second clip as of the time of this writing. That restriction might change in the future, or even by the time of feature’s full release depending on feedback.

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Here’s hoping that more videos and creators get access to the clipping feature soon, as fans have waited a long time for it.