Upload your footage in one go and edit it: 30 files, 180 minutes, 20GB, ordering and manual editing (November 2026)

Pressing Create first opens a credit notice. It shows credits charged now, credits charged later (such as narration render) and what remains, and you confirm. If credits are short you see a top-up prompt, and viewer-role members cannot create; editor access or above is required.

1. On the home page choose “My video files” in the input box, or open “Upload your videos” on the Create screen. You can also drag files in.
2. One video shows a preview and title; several show a list. Reorder them, add more with “Add more videos to make one”, or remove one.
3. Count, total length and upload size are shown before you upload, so you can see in advance if you are over a limit.
4. Pick a category to select scenes with guidance suited to the footage, or leave it and the AI decides after watching.
5. Choose what to make (Short or long-form) and how, then press Create.

Phone 4K footage is large even at one minute. When the browser supports it, Shortsmith shrinks the video to 1080p with the device’s hardware encoder before uploading. Because the finished video is 1080p, this saves upload time and server disk. The shrunk file sits in browser storage briefly and is deleted after upload.

If the browser does not support this (an old browser, for example), the original is uploaded as is and the server adapts it. When the server has no room you see a notice to wait, and while the window stays open it checks every 30 seconds and continues.

Since October 15, 2024 YouTube classifies new vertical videos of 1 to 3 minutes as Shorts. Aim for a Short with the Short option and make horizontal longer videos as long-form.

• Short: a vertical video of about a minute. Scenes are picked, and captions and narration added, with the same process as when you make one from a YouTube link.
• Long-form: a horizontal 16:9 video. Choose a length from 3 to 30 minutes with the slider; it is split into chapters and joined in story order. The editor preview is 16:9 too.
• For long-form over 10 minutes the script is not written in one go but in the order outline, chapters, then opening and closing.

• Turning horizontal video into vertical Shorts
• Using Shorts to grow long-form views

With manual editing the AI does not analyze the video and the editor opens right after upload. It suits people who already know which scenes to use. With AI, you choose the production options, caption style template and narration voice on the same screen.

When several videos are joined, a timeline can make it hard to tell which stretch is which file. Shortsmith assigns each video a color and uses the same color in the settings list, the editor timeline and the relink screen. Five colors cycle. The editor also shows a strip with the remaining source storage time.

• Upload only footage you own or have permission to use. Other people’s music in it can trigger a Content ID claim on YouTube.
• If other people appear clearly, or names and contact details are visible, confirm permission before uploading.
• With many clips the order becomes the story’s skeleton, so sort them by time or topic first. That is our suggestion.

• Handling a Content ID claim
• When people appear in your video

Start from “Upload your videos” on the Create screen or “My video files” in the home input box. On a phone you can pick videos straight from your photo library. Uploaded sources are kept only for 24 hours after the last action, so to continue later see the project file guide in the next article.

• Shorts subtitles guide