Turn long videos into short-form clips
Get from one long recording to a week of captioned vertical clips, without spending your evenings in a timeline editor.
Not hands-on tested yet. The picks below are based on vendor documentation and pricing we verified on 19 Oct 2026. Test results will appear here once we've run our standard task. We don't publish made-up test results.
OpusClip
Built specifically for clipping. It does AI clip selection with a virality score, auto captions, reframing to 9:16 and social posting, and Pro adds a scheduler and bulk export.
source, checked 19 Oct 2026
Descript (Hobbyist)
A text-based editor that can also create clips, remove filler words and clean up audio, so one tool covers both editing the long video and cutting the shorts.
source, checked 19 Oct 2026
OpusClip Free, for clips you'll actually post
Free plan exports are watermarked, captions come with a watermark, and exports are only available for 3 days with media expiring after 3 days. Use it to judge the clip quality, not for publishing.
The full stack
- Record: Your usual setup
Capture the long-form video or podcast. - Clean the long version: Descript
Remove filler words, fix audio, edit by editing the transcript. - Clip: OpusClip
Auto-select moments, caption, reframe to 9:16. - Schedule: OpusClip scheduler (Pro) or your social scheduler
Queue a week of clips across platforms.
Test notes
Pending hands-on test
Pending hands-on test. Planned standard task: feed the same 30-minute interview into each tool, ask for 5 vertical clips under 60 seconds, and score clip selection (would a human pick these?), caption accuracy, reframing and total hands-on time.
Who this is for
Podcasters, streamers and YouTubers who want a steady flow of shorts without hiring an editor.
How to choose
- Clipping is the whole job: OpusClip.
- You also edit the long version: Descript covers both, and its Hobbyist plan is cheaper over a year.