X

How to Use AI to Edit Videos Into Short Clips for Social Media

If you're looking to save time and money on video editing, OpusClip is a supportive artificial intelligence tool.

Headshot of Carly Quellman
Headshot of Carly Quellman
Carly Quellman Contributor
Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
Carly Quellman
3 min read
A photo of a woman editing a video on a desktop computer gettyimages-1437464445
Songsak rohprasit/Getty Images

I recently covered an event alongside a videographer I had hired to capture raw footage, not taking into account that I would need that raw footage edited.

I also needed a bigger budget for that. This challenged me to find a creative solution for turning interviews into clips for my reel and social posts, and turned to artificial intelligence in hopes of a solution.

The video editing platform OpusClip got my attention as soon as I landed on its site -- I recognized its subtitles from content I'd seen online. Plus, I was particularly interested in its ClipAnything feature. (Why yes, actually clip everything for me!)

What is OpusClip?

OpusClip's goal is to help you transform long-form videos into short clips for social media. 

AI Atlas

It can also streamline the content repurposing process with capabilities like "Virality Score," which aims to identify which created clips are most likely to perform well on social media -- aka, go viral.

OpusClip's editing features' competitors are Descript, and its AI-powered long-to-short content capabilities compete with Pictory. However, its key differentiators is its virality scoring system plus its multi-platform compatibility across Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

OpusClip has a free plan and paid subscriptions cost between $15 and $29 a month. I was solely looking for a free option because of budget constraints but with 60 credits per month, AI caption and autoreframe capability, I felt confident in what I could achieve with its library of tools. (I was stuck with watermarks, though.)

How to use OpusClip to create social media content

A screenshot of OpusClip AI video clipping
OpusClip / Screenshot by CNET

It takes five steps and about 30 minutes of your time, depending on the length of your video.

  1. Head to OpusClip's platform and create an account for a free plan or upgrade to a paid subscription. 
  2. Once logged in, you'll land on the dashboard with two tabs -- ClipBasic and ClipsAnything -- up top. I particularly appreciate the breakdown below each, explaining which version will work best for your video. (It turns out I needed ClipBasic because my content featured interviews.)
  3. Upload your long-form video, drop a Zoom or Rumble link, and wait about three minutes for your video to upload. 
  4. To generate clips, click the Generate button and OpusClip will start to create clips from your video. This will prompt a screen to describe your role for using OpusClip, the size of your organization, current social media reach (eye roll) and what kind of content you intend to create.
  5. Time to wait. My long-form video was more than two minutes long; it took five minutes for the platform to finish creating my clips so expect a longer wait if your video is longer. 
  6. Underneath each video lies an AI Analysis -- this identifies and assigns scores for virality. (Introducing myself to an event attendee earned a virality score of 85%.) Each clip is assigned a title, which can be swapped out depending on tone. Of course, you can also title the video clip yourself.
  7. You can toggle between all generated clips to refine your selections, compare virality scores and use basic editing tools like Edit Frame and Enhance Speech to create the clip you want. 
  8. Once complete, there's an auto-post feature to your chosen social media platform. You can also choose to upgrade here if you'd like clips without an OpusClip watermark. 

For more extensive work, I'd use my guide as well as OpusClip's learning center, which shares how to complete various tasks like uploading and overlaying a logo or using a prompt to clip video moments. 

Should you use OpusClip AI to edit videos?

A screenshot of OpusClip AI video caption service
OpusClip / Screenshot by CNET

OpusClip is ultimately designed for content creators, businesses and social media managers who need to turn long videos into quick, shareable clips without all the editing stress -- or the obligation of learning yet another digital tool. 

I'd also say this video editing platform is ideal for anyone who's either A) drowning in the demands of creating content for multiple platforms, or B) highly aware that social media content creation is not one of their gifts. 

Like most tools, the free version has its limits -- like using up your credits quickly or a word limit per video, which constrains your use a bit. I'd definitely advise upgrading if you continually post content.

So if you're looking to get your content out there with less hassle, at the very least OpusClip deserves a trial, especially if you're on a tight budget or schedule.