YouTube allows creators to edit long videos into Shorts

With an aim to enhance user experience, Google-owned streaming platform YouTube has announced that users can now turn their longer videos into Shorts by adding a new "Edit into a Short" tool to its iOS and Android app.

With this new update, which is now rolling out across iOS and Android devices, users can now convert up to 60 seconds from their own existing long-form YouTube videos and turn them into Shorts.

YouTube Shorts is now being watched by over 1.5 billion signed-in users every month with more than 30 billion daily views.

"To make it easier to create even more new content, you can now convert up to 60 seconds from your own existing long-form YouTube videos and turn them into Shorts using all the same editing tools that you know and love (text, timeline editor, filters, etc.)," the company said in a developer update.

The company said that this update will allow users to bring fresh life to their classic content and give them a new way to engage their audience.

If users select a part of their video that is less than 60 seconds, they can shoot additional videos with the Shorts camera as well as upload more videos from their gallery to make 60 seconds Shorts if needed.

The company mentioned that only the original creator will be able to import their long-form videos into Shorts as this tool is not available for other creators to use in their content.

Shorts created from VODs will link back to the original long-form videos so that people watching their Short can see the original video too.

Google has seen encouraging results in its early monetisating efforts on the short-video making platform YouTube Shorts.

Philipp Schindler, Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer at Alphabet (Google's parent company), said this week that consumers are increasing and consuming short-form videos obviously and they are seeing this across multiple platforms, including YouTube.

"We're continuing to see good user engagement on YouTube. Early results in Shorts' monetisation are also encouraging, and we're excited about the opportunities here," Schindler said during an earnings call with analysts.