YouTube Video Clipper

Trim and crop YouTube videos into ready-to-share clips. Paste links, set timestamps, choose an aspect ratio, optionally add audio, GIF, or a transcript. Get back direct download URLs in your Apify storage.

🎬 What it does

Give it one or more YouTube links and the timestamps you want, and it will:

1. Trim each link into one clip (or many) using start and end times
2. Crop to a target aspect ratio for Shorts, TikTok, Reels, or square posts, or to a precise pixel rectangle
3. Download the result in MP4 or WebM at up to 4K source quality
4. Add a separate audio file for the same clip if you want it (optional)
5. Render an animated GIF of the clip (optional)
6. Extract a transcript of the clip in any of 7 formats (optional)
7. Save everything to your Apify storage with direct, shareable URLs

Works with regular YouTube videos, Shorts, and full playlists. Up to 1,000 URLs per run.

📋 How to use it

Step 1: Paste your links

Add YouTube URLs in the YouTube Video URLs field. The actor accepts:

• Full links: youtube.com/watch?v=...
• Short links: youtu.be/...
• Shorts: youtube.com/shorts/...
• Playlists: youtube.com/playlist?list=... (each video in the playlist is processed)

Step 2: Choose what to clip

Pick one of two trim modes:

• Single-clip mode. Fill in Start Time and End Time (use HH:MM:SS, MM:SS, or seconds). Every URL is trimmed to that same range.
• Multi-clip mode. Fill in the Clips field with an array. Every URL is cut into every clip in the list, so 3 URLs and 2 clips give you 6 output files.

{
    "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0"],
    "clips": [
        { "name": "intro",       "startTime": "00:00:30", "endTime": "00:00:45" },
        { "name": "drop",        "startTime": "01:42",     "endTime": "01:55" },
        { "name": "outro",       "startTime": "03:10",     "endTime": "03:25" }
    ]
}

Leave both Start Time and End Time empty (and Clips empty) to download the entire video without trimming.

Step 3: Choose a crop

Pick a target aspect ratio:

• Original: no crop, source ratio preserved
• 9:16: vertical clips for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok, Snapchat, Stories
• 2:3: portrait clips for Pinterest standard pins
• 4:5: portrait clips for Instagram Feed and Facebook Feed (current best practice for feed video)
• 1:1: square clips for legacy Instagram feed, Twitter / X, LinkedIn
• 4:3: classic TV ratio
• 16:9: widescreen for YouTube standard video, LinkedIn, Twitter landscape

The crop is auto-centered. If you need a specific framing, use the Manual Crop (advanced) field with { "x": 0, "y": 0, "width": 1080, "height": 1920 } in source pixels.

Step 4: Pick output quality and format

• Quality: best (up to 4K), 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p
• Format: MP4 (recommended, works everywhere) or WebM

Step 5: Pick add-ons (optional)

• Also export audio: writes a separate MP3, M4A, or WAV file alongside the clip video
• Render a GIF: generates an animated GIF of the clip. You choose the resolution and frame rate
• Include a transcript: extracts the spoken words of the clip in plain text, timestamped text, SRT, VTT, JSON, CSV, XML, or all formats at once
• Include subtitles: saves YouTube's existing subtitle tracks for the source video as SRT files

Step 6: Run it

Click Start and wait. Time depends on the source video length and the number of clips.

Step 7: Get your files

In the Output tab you'll see one row per (URL × clip). Each row includes direct download links to:

• videoFileUrl: the trimmed and cropped video
• audioFileUrl: separate audio file (when enabled)
• gifFileUrl: animated GIF (when enabled)
• transcriptFileUrl: transcript file (when enabled)
• thumbnailFileUrl: the source video thumbnail
• subtitleFileUrls: subtitle tracks per language (when enabled)

The status field tells you if the clip succeeded. If something went wrong, status explains what and what to try.

💰 Pricing

You only pay for clips that succeed. Failed clips are free.

Video clip (per minute of clip output, rounded up)

Quality	Per minute
360p	$0.008
480p	$0.012
720p	$0.016
1080p	$0.024
Best (up to 4K)	$0.040

A 30-second clip rounds up to 1 minute. A 90-second clip rounds up to 2 minutes.

Add-ons (flat, per clip)

Add-on	Price
Separate audio file	$0.02 per clip
Animated GIF	$0.05 per clip
Transcript	$0.05 per source video (transcripts cover the whole source so the cost is per video, not per clip)

Examples

• A 30-second clip at 720p: 1 min × $0.016 = $0.016
• A 60-second clip at 1080p with audio: 1 min × $0.024 + $0.02 = $0.044
• A 90-second clip at 360p with GIF and transcript (one video, one clip): 2 × $0.008 + $0.05 + $0.05 = $0.116

💡 Good to know

• Multi-clip behavior: every clip in the Clips list is cut from every URL. 3 URLs and 2 clips give you 6 output rows, each tagged with the clip's name so you can match rows back to (URL, clip).
• Aspect ratio is set once per run and applies to every clip.
• Manual crop uses raw source pixels and overrides the aspect ratio dropdown.
• GIF size: GIFs grow quickly. A 60-second GIF at 480p / 15 fps lands around 20 MB; the same clip at 720p / 24 fps is closer to 100 MB.
• Transcripts depend on whether YouTube has captions for the video. When captions exist, transcripts are sliced to the clip's time range. Music-only videos often lack captions.
• Age-restricted videos cannot be downloaded. They require a logged-in YouTube account, which the actor does not have.
• Private and removed videos cannot be downloaded.
• Playlists are expanded into individual videos.
• Storage: files at the URLs above are stored in your Apify storage. How long they're kept depends on your Apify plan.
• Source download is cached per clip: each clip downloads only its time range from YouTube (not the whole video), so large source files don't blow up your costs when you only want a short clip.

❓ FAQ

My clip is slightly off by a frame or two. Why?

YouTube videos are stored with a sparse set of keyframes. To trim accurately, the actor downloads a small extra window around your timestamps, then re-encodes the precise range. The output should be frame-accurate within a few milliseconds of the timestamps you provided.

Why is the output a different size than the source?

The actor re-encodes the video at the quality you select. Re-encoding lets us apply the aspect ratio crop and produces a file that plays everywhere. If you need the exact original encoding, choose Best quality and Original aspect ratio.

Can I use this from my backend?

Yes. The videoFileUrl, audioFileUrl, and gifFileUrl are Apify URLs that work from any IP and any server. Call the actor via the Apify API and read the dataset items.

Can I download a whole playlist?

Yes. Paste the playlist URL in YouTube Video URLs and the actor expands it for you.

Why did my clip fail?

Check the status field on that row. Common reasons:

• YouTube is blocking the request. The actor will retry automatically a few times; if every attempt is blocked, try again in a few minutes.
• The video is age-restricted.
• The video is private or has been removed by the creator.
• Your clip timestamps are past the end of the video.

Which quality should I pick?

720p is a great default for most use cases. Pick 1080p for higher quality. Pick 360p for the smallest files (good for GIFs). Pick Best for archival use.

How long are the files stored?

In your Apify storage. The retention period depends on your Apify plan.

🔗 Other tools you might like

• YouTube Video Downloader: download full YouTube videos and audio in any quality.
• YouTube to MP3 Audio Downloader: extract audio from YouTube videos in 8 formats.
• YouTube Transcript Download: bulk transcript extraction with rich format options.

⚖️ Disclaimer

This tool is intended for personal, research, and educational use. You are responsible for complying with YouTube's Terms of Service and applicable laws in your jurisdiction. The developer is not liable for misuse. Video availability depends on YouTube at run time.

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