Use YouTube's Video Editor

YouTube provides its own video editor with a suite of tools to modify your uploads. To use them, go to the YouTube Editor, then click and drag videos into the editing table where you can adjust length and add images, audio, effects, or text. The mobile app has a simplified set of editing features that can be utilized during the upload process.

Steps

Editing with the Mobile App

  1. Download and open the YouTube app. Go to the App Store or Play Store and search for YouTube. Press “Install” and “Open” when the process completes.
    • Most Android devices come with the YouTube app pre-installed.
  2. Tap the upload (up arrow icon) button. This button appears in the lower right corner of the app and will redirect you to your device’s video gallery.
    • Editing effects can only be added during the upload process when using the mobile app.
  3. Tap the video you wish to upload. Once selected, you will be taken to the “Add Details” page.
  4. Tap the “Music” icon. This button is located in the upper left corner of the video and will take you to a page of music made available by YouTube. You can tap “Play” to preview a song and “+” to add it to your video.
    • Tap and drag the audio bar below the timeline to change which part of the song plays during your video.
    • You can remove or change your song by tapping the “Music” icon again.
    • Only one song can be used per video when using the mobile app.
  5. Tap the “Filters” icon. This button is located in the upper right corner of the video and brings up a list of possible lens filter effects. These are color or artistic overlays for you video’s content. Tap the “Filters” icon again to minimize the list.
    • You can give a more cinematic feel using the "Docu" filter or brighten the color scheme with the "Glamour" filter. "8mm" or "Sepia" can give a more retro look.
  6. Tap and drag the bar on either side of the timeline. This will adjust the starting and stopping points of the video clip.
  7. Enter a Title and Description. Titles are limited to 100 characters.
  8. Tap the “Privacy” menu to change who can view your video. The menu has 3 settings: “Public” allows anyone to view the video, “Private” limits viewing to people you choose, and “Unlisted” can be viewed by anyone with the video’s link, but the video will not display in YouTube’s search results.
  9. Press “Send” to complete the upload. This button is located on the right of the top menu bar. A screen will display the upload progress and YouTube will send you an email when the upload is complete.
  10. Make changes to an uploaded video. Go to your account page (person icon) and press “My Videos”. Open the settings menu next to any uploaded video and select “Edit”. From here you can make changes to the title, description, privacy settings, or add tags.[1]

Using the YouTube.com Editor

  1. Navigate to the YouTube Editor. This page contains all of the different editing controls. A menu to the right of the playback area allows you to add videos, images, audio, full screen text, and transition effects.
    • Alternately, you can press “Upload” and then “Edit” under the “Video Editor” header in the lower right.
    • The YouTube Editor draws from the uploaded videos on your account.
  2. Click and drag videos to the timeline. Adding multiple videos to the timeline will merge them into a single video when finalizing the project.
    • Alternately, you can add videos to the timeline by pressing the “+” icon that displays in the top right corner of a clip while hovering the cursor.
    • You can reorder the videos by clicking and dragging them within the timeline.
    • Clicking the “x” in the upper right corner of a video in the timeline will remove it.
  3. Add a still image to the timeline. Press the camera icon to the right of the video playback area to open the images tab. Press “Add Photos” to upload or click and drag existing photos into your video timeline.
    • You can adjust the length of time the image will display by selecting it in the timeline and clicking and dragging the the bars on either side. The default length is 4 seconds.
  4. Add a transition effect. Press the arrow icon to open the transition tab. Click and drag the desired effect between two video clips on the timeline.
    • "Crossfade" or "Crossblur" will give a more standard video transition by removing an abrupt cut. You can also pick a transition shape, like the "Heart" to invoke a more specific feeling.
    • You can adjust the speed of a transition effect by selecting it in the timeline and clicking and dragging the bars on either side.
  5. Add a text title. Press the “a” icon to add a full screen text title to your video. Click and drag the desired title style into the video timeline. Select it in the timeline to edit the text, color, font, and formatting.
    • You can adjust how long the text title displays by selecting it in the timeline and clicking and dragging the bars on either side.
  6. Click on the “Scissor” icon to split video clips. This button appears wherever the playback cursor is in the timeline. Clicking the icon will split the video at the current timestamp.
    • Any of the media types (video, image, transition, text) can be clipped.
    • You can adjust the length of a video or clip by selecting it in the timeline and clicking and dragging the the bars on either side.
  7. Click and drag clips within the timeline to rearrange them. Use this to fine tune and organize your clips into a cohesive full video.
    • You can also remove unwanted clips by selecting them in the timeline and pressing ‘x” in the upper right corner of the clip.
  8. Add music to the audio timeline. Press the music icon to open the audio tab. Click and drag items from YouTube’s music library to the audio timeline located below the video timeline. [2]
    • If you want to use only the audio from one of your videos, you can do so by clicking and dragging the video to the audio timeline.
    • Just like the video timeline, audio clips can be rearranged, adjusted and removed.
    • You can select an audio clip to adjust its volume, balance, treble, and bass.
  9. Select a video clip on the timeline to make individual adjustments. Clicking on a video clip in the timeline changes the menu to the right of the playback area. The new options will only affect the selected video clip: “Quick Fixes”, “Filters”, “Text”, and “Audio”.
    • You can click the ‘x’ in the upper right corner of any tab to deselect the video and revert the menu to the right of the playback area to the project editing menu.
    • You can view the adjustments by selecting “Preview effects side-by-side with original video”.
  10. Press the “Quick Fixes” tab for general tweaks. In this tab you can have YouTube automatically adjust the lighting, color, contrast, zoom, or stabilization by clicking the checkbox next to the corresponding option. You can also enable slow motion by selecting a speed from the dropdown menu and rotate the video using the rotation buttons.
    • Brightness, contrast, and stabilize can also be adjusted using the sliders on the same tab.
  11. Press the “Filters” tab for lens filters and other artistic effects. You can apply multiple filters simultaneously. Click to toggle a filter on or off.
    • Looking for a vintage feel? Try the "Old Fashioned" or "Sepia" filters. To instill a more hand-drawn look, try the "Sketch" or "Cartoon" filters.
  12. Press the “Text” tab to add a text banner overlay. Enter your text into the text area and select “Enable text” in the tab to activate the overlay. You can adjust aspects like font, formatting, positioning, and opacity from this tab as well.
    • This text will appear on top of the selected video clip as it plays. The various position settings can determine where in the window it shows, while font, size, and color will affect how the text looks.
  13. Press the “Audio” tab for basic sound adjustments. Use the sliders to adjust the volume, balance, treble, and bass of the selected video. This will only affect the sound of the selected video clip, not the audio track created in the audio timeline.
  14. Press “Create Video”. This will compiles all of your edits and uploads the completed product.
    • You may want to playback and preview your edits in full before pressing the "Create Video" button. Once pressed the project will be uploaded to your account.



Tips

  • You can preview the edits that you have made at any time by playing the video.
  • You must be logged into your YouTube account to use either of these tools.

Things You'll Need

  • Video files to upload to YouTube
  • Internet Connection

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1753686?hl=en&ref_topic=3014750
  2. ↑ https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/183851?hl=en&ref_topic=3014750
Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Use_YouTube%27s_Video_Editor&oldid=364843"