YouTube Studio: How To Edit Your Videos To Perfection
For aspiring video content creators, YouTube is arguably one of the best avenues for you to share your work and gain an audience. However, uploading footage is only the first step of the process. Like most video posts that you see on popular media-sharing platforms, you’ll need to have a bit of video-editing knowledge to ensure that your clips are captivating enough so the viewer watches them all the way through and maybe even posts a comment afterward. If you happen to be new to editing videos, getting started should be fairly easy on YouTube as it has a user-friendly editing suite built into the app.
How to upload a video to edit on YouTube Studio
As previously mentioned, you can upload a video in the following ways:
You have the option of uploading videos as-is and then editing them later on, editing videos previously uploaded on YouTube, or uploading new videos and going straight into the editing process via YouTube Studio. For the purposes of this tutorial, let’s assume that you’re starting from scratch. Here’s how you may start using YouTube Studio, YouTube’s built-in video editor:
At this point, your video upload should begin processing. While waiting, you may type in details such as the title, description, and thumbnail to use for your final video. You can also add your video to a playlist you may already have on your YouTube channel and mark whether your video is appropriate for kids or not. Once you’re satisfied, keep clicking Next until you get to the Visibility page (we’ll talk about “Video elements” later). Since we plan on editing the video further, for now, select Private under Save or Publish and hit Save.
How to use YouTube Studio’s video editor to trim the beginning and end of your video
Once your video upload completes, it should land in YouTube Studio’s Content tab located in the left-side panel. This is also where you may go to edit videos you’ve previously uploaded to YouTube — it won’t change the video’s current URL, play count, and comments. Note, however, that you can only edit already-existing videos as long as they’re shorter than six hours. In addition, if the video already has over 100,000 views, you may not be able to apply certain editing features.
To open YouTube Studio’s video editor, do the following:
To begin trimming portions of your video, continue with the steps below:
How to remove sections from the middle of your video through YouTube Studio’s video editor
While you’re still in the Trim and cut section of YouTube Studio’s video editing process:
Alternatively, you may enter the start and end timestamps of the portion you want to eliminate in the boxes on the cut entry. You can also keep adding new cuts if there are several portions that you’d like to remove. Just drag the time marker to the spot you’d like to make a new cut, hit New Cut, and follow the same steps above.
To make any changes to existing cuts, hit the pencil icon next to an entry and position the active red slider handles appropriately before hitting the checkmark again to save. You can also delete a cut by clicking the garbage icon next to the entry and confirming the action.
Every time you add a cut, make sure you hit Preview to double-check if your trim placements are accurate. Before saving, preview your entire video one last time. When you’re satisfied with the trim job and are ready to move on to the next editing phase, click Save. Take note of the reminders that will pop up onscreen and click Save again to finalize.
The video will need time to process the trim changes. Once it’s done, you’re able to hop back into the same video through the Content tab to continue editing further.
How does the blur feature in YouTube Studio’s video editor work?
The blur function is useful for editing videos that include people you don’t want to show or don’t have permission to show, like children or people who didn’t give explicit permission to be filmed. There are two ways to blur parts of your video; the first is by auto-blurring faces:
Based on testing, the facial auto-blur feature may not detect every face, and the placement of the blur may be wonky. For better control, opt for custom blur instead:
Again, time is needed to process the blur changes and resume further editing.
How to add background music to your video on YouTube Studio
You can certainly add an audio track to your video, but bear in mind that only licensed songs from YouTube’s Audio Library are allowed. However, this feature is only accessible for videos shorter than six hours. Furthermore, if the video you’re editing has over 100,000 views, you may not be able to save changes to your videos.
Here’s how you can add background music to your video:
When you’re ready to review your audio track placement, drag the time marker to the beginning of the timeline and hit play on the video. Once you’re satisfied, click Save. Again, note the reminders and hit Save again to confirm changes. You’ll have to wait for some time for the new edits to process before you may add more modifications.
What else you should do before finalizing your video edits on YouTube Studio
If you’re not using a template, you can choose up to four of the other options above. Type or make the necessary selections and then hit Save. End screen elements won’t display until you take your video off private mode.
The second thing you can add is Info cards, which are designed to make your videos more interactive. Info cards can feature one of your videos, a public playlist for viewers to watch, or a channel you’d like to acknowledge or recommend, among other things. Up to five info cards can be added to a single video. Once published, viewers can see info cards on the right-hand side of the video on a computer and below the video on mobile. If multiple cards are added, viewers can scroll through them while the video plays.
Unlike the previous editing features, “End screen” and “Info cards” won’t require hours to process. They may not appear until you publish your video for public view, though. In addition, cards and end screens can’t be added to videos set as made for kids.
Some reminders on editing videos through YouTube Studio
Now that you’ve gone through all the available features in YouTube Studio’s built-in video editor, it may be worth pointing out some things you ought to be aware of when you’re editing a video:
