OpusClip

What it is

OpusClip takes a long video, a podcast episode, a webinar, an interview, and finds the moments worth cutting out. It produces vertical short clips with animated captions, ready for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts, which is the format that carries reach and the format nobody has time to produce by hand.

The free tier clips based on speech alone. Paid tiers add clipping based on visual objects, sound and emotion, plus text and timeline editing, AI voice-overs, speech cleanup and upscaling, and posting directly to social accounts.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

It fits anyone already producing long-form video or audio and publishing none of it in short form: podcasters, course creators, consultants who run webinars. The economics are obvious when the raw material already exists and the only barrier is editing time.

It is a weaker fit if you are not making long content in the first place, since there is nothing to clip. It is also the wrong tool when the short video is the primary creative work rather than a derivative, where a real editor such as Descript gives you control that automatic clipping deliberately does not.

Pricing

OpusClip is freemium. Free is $0 with exports stored for 3 days, output up to 1080p, watermarks on animated caption templates, speech-based clipping only, and imports from local video up to 10GB per file or from YouTube. Starter is $15 per month and adds watermark-free exports, 30-day storage, clipping on visual objects, sound and emotion, text and timeline based editing, AI voice-overs with a daily limit, speech cleanup and upscaling, and posting to YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Pro is $29 per month. Business is custom priced and adds team features.

The watermark is the real free-tier limit, not the storage. Free is for judging whether the clip selection is any good on your material; publishing starts at $15.

Set it up

Official guide: Introduction to OpusClip

1. Create an OpusClip account on the Free plan, which costs $0. Free clips by speech only, stores your exports for 3 days and puts a watermark on animated caption templates. Have a long video you already published ready, as a public link or as a file. Your account is now ready.
2. Add your video. Paste a YouTube link, or upload a file of up to 10GB from your computer. Private videos cannot be opened by OpusClip. You now see your video listed in the project.
3. Leave the settings as they are and click "Get clips with one click". When OpusClip is done, you see a results page with your clips.
4. Watch the clips before changing anything. Each one shows a "Virality Score", which is OpusClip's own guess of how well a clip could do, so treat it as a hint. Dislike the clips you do not want, because disliked clips are hidden. Note the two best. You now see only the clips you did not dislike.
5. Pick your best clip and download the HD version of the clip. Free stores exports for only 3 days, so download it now, and expect the watermark if the clip uses an animated caption template. You now have the clip as a video file on your computer.

When this works, one long recording has become short clips, and your best clip is saved as a video file.

On Starter ($15/mo): exports without a watermark, 30 days of storage, text and timeline editing, and social posting. With text editing you fix a wrong caption word by clicking it in the Captions Editor, clicking "Edit" and typing the correction, and the "Captions" tab changes font and color. You trim a clip by selecting transcript sentences and clicking "Delete", or by dragging the start edge of the segment in the timeline editor. To post, open the "Social accounts" tab, pick a platform and follow the on-screen steps to link your account, then open "Calendar" in the left navigation bar, select a date and choose the clip and platform. A scheduled clip goes out publicly on your own account, and OpusClip writes the description and hashtags for you, so read and change them before it posts.

Strengths and limitations

The strength is leverage on work you already did. Turning one hour of existing video into ten publishable clips is a genuine multiplier, and the automatic captioning removes the other tedious step.

The limitations are taste and sameness. Automatic selection picks moments that look like moments, which is not always the same as moments that matter, and clips that begin mid-thought are a common output worth fixing by hand. Everyone using the same tool also produces a recognizable house style, so the clips that perform are usually the ones someone edited afterwards. And the free tier's watermark means it is an evaluation rather than a working plan.