Guide, updated October 21, 2026
How to make YouTube Shorts on PC from a screen recording
Shorts are made on phones, but tutorials are recorded on computers, and a wide screen squeezed into a vertical frame is unreadable. Here is how to cut a Short from a screen recording on Windows so the action stays big, the captions stay clear of YouTube's buttons, and the upload is a normal one from YouTube Studio.
In one glance
- What YouTube accepts from a computer: a video up to 3 minutes, square or vertical.
- From a long take: mark a stretch with I and O, press Create Short.
- Framing: the picture follows your clicks, or stays whole and dives in at each zoom.
- Captions: big words in the safe zone, and an .srt file with the export.
What YouTube accepts from a PC
According to YouTube's help, a Short uploaded from a computer is a video up to 3 minutes long with a square or vertical aspect ratio. You sign in to YouTube Studio, press Create, then Upload videos, and pick the file. Nothing else is special: the work is making a vertical video that reads well on a phone.
The problem with a wide recording
A screen recording is 16:9 and full of small text. Put it in a 9:16 frame and you get either a thin strip in the middle with empty bands, or a crop that loses the button you are talking about. A Short made from a tutorial needs the picture to move with the action, which is exactly the information a screen recorder has: where you clicked and where you typed.
Step by step in Ciakko
- Open the long take. Find the moment worth a Short: the result appearing, the trick, the before and after.
- Press I where it starts and O where it ends, or Shift+drag on the ruler.
- Press Create Short in the timeline toolbar. The Short opens in the editor, already 9:16, over the same recording.
- In Style, choose the Framing: Follow pans with the action, Whole keeps the full screen and dives in at each zoom. Turn on Safe zones.
- In Captions, pick Short: few big words.
- Export, then upload the file in YouTube Studio.
Shorts that work for tutorials
Keep one idea per Short and show the result in the first seconds. Cut the setup that the long video needs and the Short does not. Use the long video's chapter title as the Short's title, and point to the full video in the description. A tutorial channel that cuts one Short from every long video gets a second way to be found without recording anything more.
What Ciakko does not do
It does not pick the best moments for you or upload to YouTube; you choose the stretch and you publish. It makes Shorts from its own screen recordings, not from files recorded elsewhere, and it runs on Windows 10 and 11 only. For Shorts filmed with a phone camera, the phone apps are the faster path.
Questions about Shorts on PC
Can you make YouTube Shorts on a PC?
Yes. YouTube Studio on a computer accepts a Short as any video up to 3 minutes long with a square or vertical aspect ratio: Create, then Upload videos. What the PC needs is a way to make that vertical video, which is what this page is about.
How do I turn a long video into a Short on PC?
In Ciakko, mark the stretch with I and O on the timeline and press Create Short. A vertical take opens in the editor over the same recording, up to 3 minutes, ready to frame, caption and export.
How do I fit a wide screen recording into a vertical Short?
Choose the framing. Follow fills the height with the recording and pans with your clicks and typing. Whole keeps the full recording on the stage and dives in at each zoom. Both keep the action readable on a phone.
How do I keep captions away from YouTube's buttons?
Turn on Safe zones in the Style tab. The preview shows where YouTube puts its buttons and title, and captions, cards and texts stay inside the free area.
Which caption style works for Shorts?
The Short style: few big words in capitals, the spoken word highlighted, with an optional sentence line. It is made for a phone held at arm's length.
Does Ciakko upload to YouTube?
No. Ciakko exports the video and you upload it in YouTube Studio. Uploading stays with you.