# Is there a free AI clip maker for long videos?

Canonical page: https://remixviral.ai/en/solutions/free-ai-clip-maker | Last updated: 2026-11-13 | By RemixViral (https://remixviral.ai)

Partly. YouTube Studio can turn moments of your own uploaded videos into Shorts, ffmpeg is free software, and OpusClip and Klap each describe a way to try their tools on their own pages. RemixViral has no free plan that renews, but the first clip project is free within limits. Free routes usually make you choose and check the moments yourself, or limit what you can export.

## Why this happens

Clip makers charge because three of the expensive steps run on their servers: transcribing hours of audio, analysing the whole recording to rank moments, and rendering each clip with captions and a vertical reframe. A product that does all three for a two-hour video at no charge has to be paid for some other way, usually with caps, watermarks, short storage or a limit on exporting.

That is why "free" means different things on different pages. It can mean a tool that is free to use but does only part of the job, a plan that is free with limits, or an offer to try the product on one video. Which one you need depends on whether the work is a one-off or something you will do every week.

We should be clear about our own position: RemixViral has no free plan that renews, but the first clip project is free within the limits on the [pricing page](https://remixviral.ai/en/pricing), and billing details change, so check it for current terms. The routes below are the ones that exist today, described only from each vendor's own page as read on 2026-11-13.

## How to do it for free by hand

This route costs time instead of money. It works for one or two videos and gets tiresome at volume. Use videos you own.

1. **Decide where the video lives.** If the long video is already uploaded to your YouTube channel, use YouTube Studio's own tool (next step). If it is a file on your computer, skip to the ffmpeg step.

2. **YouTube Studio's Clips and Shorts tool.** YouTube Help says to open YouTube Studio, go to Content > Videos, click the video, choose Clips and Shorts, then Create clip or Short and pick Short. You select the part to extract from the transcript or by timestamps, preview the Short, and click Create Draft to finish the standard upload. Where available, captions are added automatically and you can restyle or switch them off. Help also says AI-powered suggestions are available only in select countries and languages, so you may have to pick moments yourself.

3. **Find the moments in a transcript you bring.** If you have an SRT or WebVTT transcript, paste it into the [Clip Moment Finder](https://remixviral.ai/en/tools/clip-moment-finder). It is a rule-based tool that runs in your browser, uploads nothing and needs no account; it ranks candidate windows with a reason for each. It does not transcribe and it does not cut, so you still need a transcript and a cutter. The [guide to finding timestamps in a transcript](https://remixviral.ai/en/blog/how-to-find-clip-timestamps-in-a-transcript) shows the manual method.

4. **Cut the clip with ffmpeg.** ffmpeg is open-source software; its legal page says it is licensed under the LGPL version 2.1 or later, with some optional parts under the GPL. Put `-ss` before `-i` so it seeks quickly, and re-encode so the cut lands exactly where you asked.

   ```
   ffmpeg -ss 00:12:03.4 -i episode.mp4 -t 47.6 -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac clip01.mp4
   ```

5. **Reframe to vertical.** Crop a vertical strip from the middle of the frame and scale it to 1080x1920. A fixed crop does not follow a speaker who moves, so check the result and adjust the x offset by hand if the speaker sits off-centre. The [ffmpeg commands for horizontal to vertical](https://remixviral.ai/en/blog/ffmpeg-commands-horizontal-to-vertical-shorts) covers split-screen layouts.

   ```
   ffmpeg -i clip01.mp4 \
     -vf "crop=ih*9/16:ih:(iw-ih*9/16)/2:0,scale=1080:1920,setsar=1" \
     -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac clip01_vertical.mp4
   ```

6. **Burn in captions.** Trim your corrected transcript to the clip, shift the times so the clip starts at zero, and burn the captions in so they show on every platform. Keep to two lines and lift them off the bottom edge.

   ```
   ffmpeg -i clip01_vertical.mp4 \
     -vf "subtitles=clip01.srt:force_style='Fontsize=18,Alignment=2,MarginV=300'" \
     -c:a copy clip01_captioned.mp4
   ```

7. **Review every clip, then upload.** Watch each clip once with sound as someone who has not seen the episode. Upload from YouTube Studio or the app. YouTube treats square or vertical videos up to three minutes as Shorts, so the format limit is rarely the issue.

## When paying is the better use of your time

The by-hand route is a fair choice for a handful of clips. It stops being sensible when you publish a long recording every week, because finding the moments is where the hours go, and a fixed crop will not follow a speaker who moves. A paid clipper earns its price when it saves the same hours you would otherwise spend scrubbing, cutting and captioning.

Before you pay, run your own video through a try-first offer where the vendor has one, and use the [fair comparison method](https://remixviral.ai/en/solutions/klap-vs-opusclip) to count the clips you would actually post. Read what is locked on the free side: watermark, export limits, storage that expires, and whether you can download at all.

### Free and try-first routes, and what each one does not do

| Route | What the vendor's page says | What it does not do for you |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube Studio: Clips and Shorts | Cut segments from your own long videos on YouTube and publish them as clips or Shorts, choosing by transcript or timestamps; AI suggestions only in select countries and languages | Needs the video on YouTube first; you choose and check each moment; no bulk run across a whole video |
| YouTube app: Edit into a Short | From the watch page, Remix then Edit into a Short, up to 60 seconds of a public video you uploaded | Not for private or unlisted videos or ones with third-party copyright claims; Audio Library sounds are not allowed on these Shorts |
| ffmpeg | Licensed under the LGPL 2.1 or later, with some parts under the GPL (ffmpeg.org legal page) | No moment finding, no transcript, no interface; every clip is a command you write |
| Clip Moment Finder (RemixViral tool) | Paste an SRT, WebVTT or timestamped transcript; ranks clip windows with reasons in your browser, nothing uploaded, no account | Does not transcribe, cut, reframe or caption |
| OpusClip Free plan | OpusClip's pricing page lists a Free plan with regular processing speed and YouTube link import; its caption templates carry a watermark and a watermark-free export is not listed | OpusClip's pricing page lists no social posting, scheduler, API or MCP connector on its Free plan; exports are listed with a 3-day limit |
| Klap, one video | Klap's pricing page says you can try Klap on 1 video without entering a card and preview and edit the clips | Klap says downloading and posting clips needs a paid plan |
| CapCut Free plan | CapCut's pricing page lists a Free plan with free templates and basic editing tools | That page does not say CapCut finds moments in a long video for you; we have not tested it for that |
| RemixViral | One free clip project, then credits; see the pricing page for current terms | Not a free route; the free tools on this site cover only moment finding and calculators |

Read from YouTube Help, ffmpeg.org, opus.pro/pricing, klap.app/pricing and capcut.com/pricing on 2026-11-13. Offers change; check the vendor page before you rely on one.

## When to use RemixViral

RemixViral is a paid AI clip maker built for AI agents to operate over MCP. You upload a long video you own (MP4, MOV, MKV or WebM, up to 120 minutes); it transcribes it, ranks candidate moments with a reason and a score, and cuts the chosen ones to 9:16 with captions burned in. You review and export in the dashboard. The free parts are the no-account browser tools.

Use it when:

- You publish long recordings regularly and want the finding, cutting and captioning done for you, with a reason next to each pick
- You want to find moments for free first: paste a transcript into the Clip Moment Finder, then decide whether automation is worth paying for
- You want an assistant to read ranked clips over MCP (`list_clip_jobs`, `get_clip_job`) without giving it a publish tool

It is not the right tool when:

- You want to cut a long video without paying anything: use YouTube Studio's Clips and Shorts tool for videos on your channel, or ffmpeg for local files
- You want to try on a link: OpusClip and Klap both list link import and a try-first offer on their own pages (read 2026-11-13). RemixViral takes uploads only, and its free clip project has limits on source length (see the pricing page)
- You need frame-accurate edits: use an editor such as CapCut or DaVinci Resolve; RemixViral has no timeline editor

## Ask your AI assistant to do it

If you have already paid for RemixViral and want to know what is left before you run another job, an assistant can read your balance and recent jobs without spending anything.

```text
Assign to RemixViral: call get_credit_balance and report my balance, monthly allocation and plan, then use list_clip_jobs to list my recent jobs with their status. Do not call create_video or anything that spends credits. Show me what you did so I can approve whether to start another job.
```

Connection steps and the full tool list: https://remixviral.ai/en/mcp

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I use RemixViral without paying?

Once. Your first clip project is free within the limits on the pricing page; after that credits are bought once, and there is no free plan that renews. Its no-account browser tools, including the Clip Moment Finder and the video calculators, are free to use but do not cut or caption video.

### Can YouTube turn my long video into Shorts for me?

Partly. YouTube Help describes a Clips and Shorts tool in YouTube Studio that cuts segments of your own videos, with AI suggestions in select countries and languages, and an app route (Remix, then Edit into a Short) of up to 60 seconds. You still choose and review the moments.

### Is ffmpeg really free for this?

ffmpeg's legal page says it is licensed under the LGPL 2.1 or later, with some optional parts under the GPL, so you can use it at no charge. It is a command-line tool: it cuts, crops and burns captions, but it does not find the moments.

### What do OpusClip and Klap offer without paying?

OpusClip's pricing page lists a Free plan with limits, including a watermark on caption templates. Klap's pricing page says you can try it on one video and that downloading and posting need a paid plan. Check each page for the current limits.

## Sources

- [YouTube Help: Video Clips & Shorts in YouTube Studio](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15824265) (read 2026-11-13)
- [YouTube Help: Create YouTube Shorts from your videos](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12836917) (read 2026-11-13)
- [YouTube Help: Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877) (read 2026-11-13)
- [FFmpeg: legal information](https://ffmpeg.org/legal.html) (read 2026-11-13)
- [OpusClip pricing page](https://www.opus.pro/pricing) (read 2026-11-13)
- [Klap pricing page](https://klap.app/pricing) (read 2026-11-13)
- [CapCut pricing page](https://www.capcut.com/pricing) (read 2026-11-13)

## Related

- [Free Clip Moment Finder](https://remixviral.ai/en/tools/clip-moment-finder)
- [ffmpeg commands for vertical Shorts](https://remixviral.ai/en/blog/ffmpeg-commands-horizontal-to-vertical-shorts)
- [RemixViral pricing](https://remixviral.ai/en/pricing)
- [Klap or OpusClip: which AI clip maker fits my videos?](https://remixviral.ai/en/solutions/klap-vs-opusclip)
- [How do I turn a long video into YouTube Shorts with AI?](https://remixviral.ai/en/solutions/long-video-to-youtube-shorts)

All problems and solutions: https://remixviral.ai/en/solutions | machine-readable list: https://remixviral.ai/solutions.json