YouTube is testing a new clipping tool that lets users make short, sharable clips of live streams and long-form videos. Currently in limited alpha, only a handful of channels have the feature turned on.
“We’ve heard a lot of feedback from creators and viewers who have wanted an easy way to capture short segments of content and share moments from videos or streams,” according to a YouTube blog announcement. “We’re excited to begin our testing of a clipping feature on YouTube … with a small group of creators while we start gathering feedback.”
Clips on YouTube lets you select five- to 60-second segments of a creator’s content to share across platforms. Simply look for the scissors icon under the video of participating channels and tap to open an editing box. Add the required title, then drag the blue square to your preferred section, click and pull the timeline, or enter exact timestamps.
Once you’re happy with your selection, snip and share the clip, which will play on loop directly from the original video’s watch page. The function is currently available only on desktop and Android devices, though iOS accessibility is coming soon.
“We’re continuing to test this feature and will be making updates based on your feedback, so please share your thoughts with us,” the blog said “We’ll update this post when we have new information to share on the availability of clips as we know it’s a highly requested feature you’re all eager to test out.”
Twitch introduced a similar ability in 2016, letting users take quick snapshots of others’ streams. Tapping the Clips button prompts Twitch to save the previous 25 seconds of whatever you’re watching, as well as the next five seconds.
