Long-to-short

People who already have a podcast, a livestream replay, an interview, a course, or a long YouTube video use this path to ship vertical clips for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels. The export is a cut of source they have the right to distribute: a known segment, a 9:16 frame, captions, and a publish step.

Platforms: YouTube Shorts · TikTok · Reels

Prices were checked on 2026-10-16 on the CapCut tool page and on Opus Clip's pricing page and help center. This page does not estimate views or revenue, and it does not estimate how many posts one hour of source becomes. A Google Trends score and a TikTok topic index for this workflow were not observed.

Who it is for

You already hold the long file. The working assumption is about two to four hours of that source a week. The speaker is a real person in the recording, or the recording is otherwise yours to cut. A narrated channel with no footage yet is the faceless channel workflow. A stock actor reading a product script is UGC ads. This site lists no downloader. Bring a local file, or a download your own host already gives you. If you cannot name the file's rights, stop before the editor.

Recommended path

Four steps. The clickable tools on this path are on this site. A batch clipper sits after the path as a volume option, with vendor URLs, because this directory has no Opus Clip tool page.

1. Source

Use only a long video you have the right to distribute. A podcast you host, a livestream you ran, an interview you commissioned, a course you own, or a YouTube video on your channel are the usual files. Someone else's upload, including a public link, stays off this path. A misleading cut of a real conversation can still break a platform rule after the rights question is settled. This site does not list a downloader, so the file arrives from your own export or from a download the host already gives you. Keep the original audio attached. Most clips speak with the voice that was in the room.

2. Highlight and vertical cut · CapCut

CapCut is this step when you already know which stretch matters. Import the file, run the long-video-to-short control or mark the in and out by hand, set the frame to 9:16, turn on auto captions, and look at the right and bottom of the frame before you export. CapCut is the editor here because the timeline, the reframe, and the captions stay in one project. The tool page already files it under long-to-short.

A gap in the picture can spend Seedance credits that a paid CapCut plan already meters. The short itself should stay a cut of the source. What one press of the long-video-to-short control costs was not observed. Free export watermark, resolution, and caption quotas were not observed on 2026-10-16. The USD Pro card is one region. A CLP rendering the same day keeps the credit grants and changes the currency. A yen open the same day changes the currency and the credit grant. Pay the sticker checkout shows.

3. Polish · CapCut

Stay in the same CapCut project for the hook line, a brand mark, and the cover frame. Read the captions against the audio. A wrong name or a dropped negative changes what the speaker said. A measured safe-zone inset in pixels was not observed. Watch the right edge and the bottom, where player chrome usually sits. Deeper type, safe-zone, and cover rules continue on captions and covers. A second caption subscription is not part of this stack. The pricing page did not print a cover-design spec, so the cover is a frame from this timeline.

4. Publish

Upload to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Reels. This step has no subscription on this page. A plain crop of a real conversation is not a generative actor ad. If the source already contains a realistic generated shot, follow that platform's disclosure page before the short goes up. Copyright and a misleading edit still apply to a crop. The policy section is the record from 2026-10-16. It is not a clearance.

Volume option, off the default path

When the source is long and you want candidate verticals first, Opus Clip can cut candidates and captions, and CapCut still does the polish. Opus Clip is not listed on this site. Use https://www.opus.pro/ , https://www.opus.pro/pricing , and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits . There is no /tools/opus-clip page yet, so this workflow does not link one. Klap, Vizard, and Descript sit in the highlight stage only. Submagic is named there and again under captions, where it is not a default buy. Stickers for all four are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and they stay out of the sum. The default remains a segment you already know, finished on CapCut.

If the long file still has to be recorded, Riverside is the record-and-clip option upstream of this cut. Its stickers are on that tool page, checked 2026-10-17, and they are not in this sum.

Monthly starter cost

Checked 2026-10-16. Tax sits outside the quote. Assumption: about two to four hours of source a week, cut in CapCut, with Opus Clip only if you want a batch of candidates. The meter on Opus Clip, in the help center's words, is processing minutes: minutes of source you upload. This page does not convert that meter into a post count.

Two hours is 120 minutes. Four hours is 240 minutes. Uploading every minute of a week at the low end is already twice the Free grant of 60 processing minutes. A month at that pace can pass Starter's 150 and Pro's 300 if every source minute is uploaded. Upload the stretches you will actually cut.

Opus Clip

Figures below are from https://www.opus.pro/pricing and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits on 2026-10-16. Opus Clip is not a tool page on this directory.

Plan	Pricing-page sticker	Allowance recorded with the help center
Free	$0	60 processing minutes a month. The pricing table lists a watermark, a 3-day export limit, and a ceiling around 1080p.
Starter	$15/mo	150 processing minutes a month, no watermark, and publishing to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The help center says it is editable.
Pro	$29/mo	300 processing minutes a month. The help center states 3,600 minutes a year, 2 seats per pack up to 4, scheduling, and 100GB.
Business	Custom	Contact sales. A public dollar price was not observed.

An annual dollar sticker was not observed on the pricing page opened that day. This page does not copy a yearly dollar figure from other sites. Pro's monthly sticker is $29. The yearly minute line is the help center's 3,600. Checkout is the price.

CapCut

From the CapCut tool page, same date, plus the yen Pro line recorded for this workflow. The subscription sticker is region-rendered.

• Without Pro: cuts and captions. Free export rules were not observed.
• Pro, one USD rendering: USD 19.99 a month, 1,200 monthly AI credits, up to 240 seconds of Seedance 2.0 Mini at 720p or 600 seconds at 480p, premium templates, Pro features, and 1 TB of storage.
• The same USD rendering: Ultra USD 79 a month with 8,645 credits, up to 1,700 seconds at 720p or 4,300 seconds at 480p, and Teams USD 12.49 a month per seat with 1,200 credits per seat. Those rows are not in the default sum.
• A CLP rendering of the same URL: Pro CLP 29990 a month, Ultra CLP 71990 a month, Teams CLP 14995 a month per seat. Credit grants matched the USD card at 1,200 and 8,645. Do not add CLP to a USD total.
• A yen open recorded for this workflow on the same day: Pro JPY 2,700 a month with 800 monthly AI credits, not the 1,200 on the USD and CLP cards. Do not add yen to the USD total.

Seedance 2.5 on the Pro card starts at $0.12 a second in the first month. Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p starts at $0.007 a second in the first month. The rate after month one was not observed. Credits meter AI features. They do not pay the subscription. A long-to-short button quota was not observed. The Seedance 2.0 Mini second ceilings in the Pro bullet are a cutaway budget tied to the credit grant, not a separate monthly band, and not a price for that control. Seedance is a different bill outside this editor.

Bands

Band	What you pay for	Sticker
Trial	CapCut without Pro. Opus Clip Free is optional.	Opus Clip $0. CapCut free rules not observed.
Default on this site	CapCut Pro, USD card	$19.99 for that USD rendering only
Volume	Opus Clip Starter and CapCut without Pro	$15, plus a CapCut free export that was not observed
Volume and polish	Opus Clip Starter and CapCut Pro, USD	$15 + $19.99 = $34.99
Heavier scheduling	Opus Clip Pro and CapCut Pro, USD	$29 + $19.99 = $48.99

The default row is CapCut Pro when checkout shows the USD card in the table. The recommended path can stay on CapCut without Pro, and free export rules were not observed. The two combined lines in the table are arithmetic on those stickers, not a bundle. Klap, Vizard, Submagic, and Descript are not in this table. Their stickers are on those pages, checked 2026-10-17. Ultra at USD 79 is a step up when Pro's Seedance ceiling is the limit, not a requirement for cropping a conversation.

Staged alternatives

Move when the limit in the stage is the one you hit. Prices repeat the 2026-10-16 check.

Highlights

Leave manual marks when you no longer know where the short starts.

• CapCut. Default when the segment is known. One timeline for the mark, the 9:16 frame, and the captions. The control's quota was not observed. Free export rules were not observed.
• Opus Clip Starter or Pro. Not listed here. Use it when hours of source need candidate verticals. Starter is $15 for 150 processing minutes. Pro is $29 for 300 a month, with 3,600 a year on the help center. The annual dollar sticker was not observed. Vendor URLs only.
• Klap, Vizard, Submagic, or Descript. Stickers are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17. They stay out of the cost table.

Captions

• CapCut. Default finish. Hook text, brand, and the cover frame stay on the cut. Auto captions still need a read-through.
• Captions and covers. Open this when type, the safe zone, or the cover still fails. It is the next workflow, not a second subscription in the sum.
• Submagic. Not a default buy. The sticker is on that tool page, checked 2026-10-17. It stays out of the cost table.

Voice

• Source audio. Default. The long file already has the speaker. Captions follow that track.
• ElevenLabs. A new narration only. Continue on voice and publish. That plan is not in the starter sum. This page does not restate its sticker.
• No replacement speaker. A clipper's caption track is text on the source. It is not a new voice.

Where it fits

• A podcast, livestream, interview, course, or long YouTube video you have the right to cut.
• You can point at the segment, or you will upload a bounded stretch to a clipper and then polish in CapCut.
• Delivery is a vertical file for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Reels, from a 9:16 timeline.
• You will read the processing-minute grant before a batch, and you will pay the currency on the CapCut checkout.

Where it does not fit

• There is no footage yet. Use the faceless channel workflow.
• The job is a stock actor and a product claim. Use UGC ads.
• You want a view count, a revenue figure, or a formula that turns one episode into a month of posts.
• Only captions remain, on a short someone already framed. That is captions and covers.
• The file is a recording you found rather than one you can distribute.

Policy

This is not legal advice. It records the synthesis for this workflow on 2026-10-16.

Use source you have the right to distribute. A misleading edit of a real conversation can still violate a platform rule. A title, a cut, or a caption that makes the speaker say something they did not say is still a problem when the master is yours.

YouTube's AI disclosure page treats realistic generative AI as the required case. A plain crop follows that page. If the long file contains a realistic generated shot, or you add a realistic generated cutaway, handle disclosure on the platform page before upload. A crop plus burned-in captions of a real conversation is the ordinary case on this path.

TikTok still expects a label when AI changes are heavy. A rule that clippers are exempt was not observed. A plain crop of a real speaker is not the generative actor ad on the UGC ads page. Copyright, a misleading edit, and disclosure stay separate. A watermark-free export clears none of them.

Pitfalls

A file you cannot distribute. A public URL is not a license. Start from your own export.

Opus Clip Free treated as a clean master. Free is $0 for 60 processing minutes. The pricing table lists a watermark, a 3-day export limit, and a ceiling around 1080p. Starter, at $15 for 150 processing minutes, is the row with no watermark.

Processing minutes read as finished Shorts. The help center meters uploaded source. Sixty minutes is an hour of source, not sixty posts. The yearly Pro line is 3,600 minutes. The pricing page did not show an annual dollar sticker. Pro monthly remains $29 until checkout says otherwise.

A borrowed dollar. Klap, Vizard, Submagic, and Descript stickers are on those tool pages, checked 2026-10-17, and they are not copied into this sum. A yearly Opus figure from a comparison article is not the sticker. CapCut's USD 19.99 is one region. The CLP rendering keeps the 1,200-credit grant. The yen card at JPY 2,700 a month has 800 credits. Those are different checkouts.

A quota nobody printed. Free CapCut export rules were not observed. The long-video-to-short control's allowance was not observed. Seedance seconds on Pro are a cutaway ceiling, 240 seconds at 720p or 600 at 480p, not proof that the crop button spends credits. The renewal per-second rate was not observed.

Next workflow

Type, safe zones, and a cover that still fail go to captions and covers. A new narration, or the license line on a voice plan, goes to voice and publish and ElevenLabs. A channel that must invent the picture uses the faceless channel workflow. A product actor uses UGC ads.

FAQ

Why is there no Opus Clip tool page?

This directory has not listed Opus Clip yet. The recommended path stays on CapCut, which has a tool page and already names long-to-short. The volume option uses https://www.opus.pro/ , https://www.opus.pro/pricing , and https://help.opus.pro/docs/article/plans-and-credits . Prices below those links are from the vendor pages on 2026-10-16.

Does the free Opus Clip plan watermark the export?

The pricing table checked on 2026-10-16 lists a watermark on Free, plus a 3-day export limit and a ceiling around 1080p. The help center puts Free at 60 processing minutes a month. Starter, at $15 for 150 processing minutes, is the row that drops the watermark and names publishing to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The help center says it is editable.

Is CapCut enough without a clipper?

Yes, when you know the segment. Import, mark the range or use the long-video-to-short control, set 9:16, add captions, and polish in the same project. Add Opus Clip when you want candidates before that polish. CapCut's free export rules were not observed. The USD Pro rendering on the tool page is $19.99 with 1,200 monthly AI credits.

What is a processing minute?

Opus Clip's help center uses processing minutes for minutes of source you upload. Free is 60 a month, Starter is 150, and Pro is 300, with 3,600 a year on that help article. It is not a count of exported Shorts. The weekly assumption here is two to four hours of source, which is 120 to 240 minutes, before you decide what to upload. The annual dollar price beside the 3,600-minute line was not observed.

How is this different from a faceless channel?

The faceless channel workflow starts without camera footage: a script, a voice, and pictures you assemble or generate. Long-to-short starts with a long file you already have the right to cut, and it keeps that file's audio. The shared finish is CapCut, then captions and covers if type still fails. An actor reading a product script is UGC ads. A new narrator is voice and publish.