Quick answer. YouTube retired its built-in Clip button in April 2026, so you can no longer create clips inside YouTube itself. Existing clips still play, but new ones can’t be made. In 2026 you have three ways to clip a YouTube video: share a link that starts at a timestamp, screen record the section you need, or, if the video is yours or you hold the rights, download the master and clip it properly with an editor or an AI tool. This guide covers all three, with the honest pros and cons of each.
What happened to YouTube’s Clip button?
From 2021 to early 2026, many YouTube videos carried a “Clip” button that let you select up to 60 seconds and share it as a clip. In April 2026 YouTube removed the ability to create new clips. Clips people already made remain viewable, but the button is gone. In its place, YouTube rolled out “share at timestamp” on phones and tablets: a toggle in the share pop-up that makes your shared link start playing at the exact moment you choose. YouTube has said it will focus on clipping tools for creators instead, including clip suggestions inside Shorts.
Option 1: Share a link at a timestamp
If all you want is to send someone straight to a moment, this is the built-in way. On desktop, pause the video where you want it to start, click Share, and tick “Start at” with the current time filled in. On mobile, tap Share and use the timestamp toggle in the top-right of the share pop-up. The person who opens your link lands on the full video at your chosen second.
The limits are the same ones the old Clip button had, only more so. Nothing is downloaded, nothing is trimmed, there is no end point, and your viewer is on YouTube with the whole video and every distraction around it. For sharing a moment with a friend it is perfect. For social content it is not a clip at all.
Option 2: Screen record the section you need
The do-it-yourself route still works the way it always has. On a Mac, QuickTime records your screen, with a helper like BlackHole needed to capture system audio. On Windows, the built-in Game Bar or any number of free recorders will do it. Both Android and iPhone have built-in screen recording with audio. You get an actual video file you can keep and edit.
The trade-offs: your recording is capped at your screen’s resolution, mobile recordings capture your notifications and battery level along with the video, and trimming on a phone is slow. And one thing to be clear about, because it matters more than the mechanics: recording someone else’s video without permission is a copyright question. For commentary or criticism you may have a fair use argument. For reposting someone’s content as your own, you do not.
Option 3: Clip from the source file, the professional route
If the video is yours, or your team holds the rights to it, do not clip from YouTube at all. YouTube serves compressed viewing copies. Your master file is better in every way. Creators can download their own uploads from YouTube Studio (Content, select the video, Download), and media teams usually have the masters in storage already.
From there, a traditional editor like Premiere Pro gives you full control, including AI auto-reframe for turning 16:9 video into vertical. And if the real problem is finding the moments in the first place, across hours of footage or a whole library, this is the job an AI video search platform does. Imaginario AI indexes your files across visuals, speech, sound and people, so you search “the part where she explains pricing” instead of scrubbing a timeline, then clip, reframe to 9:16 or 1:1, add captions, and export the clip or send the timeline to Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. Teams at Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal Pictures cut their search and clipping time by 50 to 80 percent this way.
Editing your clip for social
Most YouTube video is horizontal 16:9, and most social feeds want vertical 9:16, so whichever way you captured your clip, reframing is usually the next step. Premiere Pro handles it with auto-reframe if you know your way around it. Free consumer editors like iMovie or CapCut cover basic cutting and music. Dedicated clipping tools, Imaginario’s Clip Studio included, are built for exactly this job: trim on scene boundaries, reframe with the speaker tracked, add animated captions, export per platform.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still make clips on YouTube?
No. YouTube removed the ability to create new clips in April 2026. Existing clips remain viewable. The built-in replacement is sharing a link that starts at a timestamp, which points to a moment but does not create a separate clip.
How do I share a specific moment of a YouTube video?
On desktop, pause at the moment, click Share and tick the Start at box. On phones and tablets, tap Share and use the timestamp toggle in the top-right of the share pop-up. The link opens the full video at that second.
How do I clip a YouTube video I own?
Download your original upload from YouTube Studio (or use your master file), then clip from that. An AI video platform like Imaginario AI can find the moment by describing it, then trim, reframe for vertical, caption and export it, or hand the timeline to Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Avid Media Composer.
Is it legal to clip someone else’s YouTube video?
Downloading or re-recording someone else’s video without permission generally breaches YouTube’s terms and can infringe copyright. Commentary and criticism may qualify as fair use in some places, but reposting someone’s content as your own does not. When in doubt, ask the creator or license the content.
If your team is sitting on hours of its own footage and the bottleneck is finding the moments worth clipping, that is exactly what Imaginario AI was built for. Get a demo or explore AI video search.