# YouTube Clips is gone: what replaced it, and how to share a moment with a start and an end

> Is YouTube Clips going away, and what replaces it?

Source: https://fastclips.app/learn/youtube-clips-removed · Updated 2026-10-08 · Published by FastClip (fastclips.app)

## Short answer

Yes. On April 16, 2026, TeamYouTube announced that “Share at Timestamp” will become the main way to share a moment in a video, “replacing the Clips feature”. You can no longer make a new Clip; existing Clips “will still be viewable”. Share at Timestamp only sets a start: YouTube says the end time and the custom description are gone. To share a moment that also stops, use an embed link with a start and an end. To keep a moment as its own video with captions, cut it into a video file, but only from a video you are allowed to reuse. For creators, YouTube points to the Clips and Shorts tool in YouTube Studio, which works on their own videos only.

## What YouTube announced on April 16, 2026

YouTube Clips let a signed-in viewer pick 5 to 60 seconds of a video, give it a title of up to 140 characters, and share a link. The Clip played on a loop on the original video’s watch page. It was a link, not a video file.

On April 16, 2026, Dave from TeamYouTube posted “Updating how you share video moments” in the YouTube Help Community. The post makes four points:

- **Share at Timestamp comes to the mobile app.** It was a desktop feature; the post brings it to the YouTube app on phones and tablets.
- **It replaces Clips.** Share at Timestamp “will become the main way to share specific moments in videos, replacing the Clips feature.”
- **Old Clips stay.** “Existing Clips will still be viewable.”
- **Two things are lost.** “The ability to set an end time or include a custom description when sharing will no longer be available.”

The post gives YouTube’s reason in one sentence: “a number of third-party tools with advanced clipping features and authorized creator programs” now do this across video platforms. It also promises more clipping tools for creators in 2026 (see below). 9to5Google, Tubefilter and Android Authority reported the change on April 17, Social Media Today on April 19 and Android Headlines on April 20.

## What is known and what is not

YouTube’s post is short, and its own Help Center has not caught up. This table separates what a source states from what nobody has stated.

| Question | What we know | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Can I make a new Clip? | No. On October 8, 2026, the “More actions” menu under two videos on youtube.com, signed in, showed no Clip item, and the Share panel offered only “Start at”. | TeamYouTube post; our check |
| On which date did the Clip button disappear? | Not stated. The post says Clips are being replaced but gives no date. News from April 17 to 20 describes the change as happening then. The rollout date for each country and app is not known. | TeamYouTube post; news coverage |
| Do my old Clips still play? | YouTube says existing Clips “will still be viewable”. It does not say for how long. | TeamYouTube post |
| Can an old Clip still disappear? | Yes. YouTube Help says a Clip is removed if the original video is deleted, set to private, or breaks the Community Guidelines. Clips of unlisted videos stay. | YouTube Help: Learn about managing Clips |
| Is the Help Center up to date? | No. On October 8, 2026, the page “Learn about managing Clips” still listed the steps to create a Clip. | YouTube Help, read October 8, 2026 |
| Did the announcement change after April? | The post shows “Last edited Jun 11, 2026”. What changed is not shown. | TeamYouTube post |

When the Help Center and the announcement disagree, trust the announcement and the app you see. The help page describes a button that we could not find.

## Share at Timestamp: what it does and what it lost

Share at Timestamp makes a normal link to the full video that starts playing at a chosen second. YouTube Help gives these steps:

- **On a computer:** under the video, click **Share**, check **Start at**, type the time (for example “2:30”), then copy the link.
- **On a phone or tablet:** go to the moment in the video, tap **Share**, and turn on the toggle that shows the current time (for example “2:30”). Then copy the link or pick an app.

Android Authority notes that the app uses the current playback position; you cannot type another time there. To change the start by hand, add “?t=” and a number of seconds to the link, for example youtu.be/VIDEO_ID?t=150 for 2:30.

Compared with a Clip, three things are missing. There is no end: the video plays on after your moment. There is no text field: YouTube names the custom description, and in our check the Share panel had no place for a title either. And there is no separate Clip page: the link is the whole video with a start time.

## How to share a moment that has an end time

YouTube’s own sharing no longer sets an end. Three options remain, from simplest to most complete:

1. **Write the end in your message.** Send the Share at Timestamp link and add “watch until 3:10”. It is crude, but it works everywhere.
2. **Use an embed link with a start and an end.** YouTube’s embedded player accepts “start” and “end” in seconds, both counted from the beginning of the video. For a moment from 2:30 to 3:10, the link is youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?start=150&end=190. The player starts at 2:30 and stops at 3:10. Our free [YouTube clip link maker](https://fastclips.app/youtube-clip-link) builds this link and its embed code from any YouTube link and two times. It is still the creator’s video, played in YouTube’s player. Most third-party sites cannot play age-restricted videos in an embed; YouTube sends the viewer back to YouTube.
3. **Make a video file of the moment.** This is the only option that gives the moment its own start, end, captions and title. It is a copy, so it needs permission: see the next sections.

The embed link is the closest replacement for a Clip when you only want to point someone at a moment. Its limits: no title and no captions of your own.

## What YouTube gives creators instead

Clipping did not disappear for creators. It moved to YouTube Studio and to the creator’s own videos. The April post says that “Video Clips is available in Studio today” for clips from longer videos and archived live streams, and that “later this year” YouTube would roll out Video Clips to Shorts and auto-suggestions for “clippable” moments.

On October 8, 2026, the YouTube Help page “Video Clips & Shorts in YouTube Studio” already describes a **Clips and Shorts** tool. A creator opens one of their videos in Studio and creates either a video clip or a Short:

- **Pick the part** by selecting words in the transcript or by typing start and end times on the timeline.
- **Or take an AI suggestion**, where available. YouTube Help lists Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, in English, French, German, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
- **For a Short,** YouTube adds automatic captions where available and links the source video as the Short’s related video.
- **For a video clip,** the result is a new upload on the creator’s channel; YouTube suggests linking the source video in the description.

We have not checked when each part reached each channel; the help page is the evidence that the tools exist. The important limit: this tool works only on videos you uploaded. A viewer who wants to keep someone else’s moment gets nothing from it.

## What the change means for clippers

Some coverage tied the end of Clips to paid clipping. Android Authority wrote that the change also “culls side hustles” such as paid clipping on Whop. That mixes two different things.

A YouTube Clip played on the creator’s own watch page, so its views were the creator’s views. A clipping campaign pays for views on clips that a clipper posts as videos on their own TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or X account. Those clips are video files, and YouTube Clips never made them. See [how clipping campaigns work](https://fastclips.app/learn/clipping-campaigns).

This is our reading; YouTube has not said it. The post points viewers to “authorized creator programs” and to third-party tools, and it moves YouTube’s own clipping tools to the creator. That fits the rest of YouTube’s 2026 direction: on October 1, 2026, it said it will reduce Shorts reach for content “re-uploaded from other creators” (see [first-party and third-party clip channels](https://fastclips.app/learn/youtube-first-party-clip-channels)). For clippers, permission from the creator, through a campaign or a creator program, matters more than ever. The end of Clips does not change copyright: see [copyright and permission](https://fastclips.app/learn/copyright-and-fair-use).

## Keep a moment with a start, an end and captions

If a link is enough, use Share at Timestamp or the embed link above. If you want the moment itself, as a video that plays on its own, has captions and can be posted on another platform, you need a clip file. Make one only from your own video or one you have permission to reuse: a creator’s clipping program, a clipping campaign, or written permission. A public link is not permission.

The steps are the same in any clip maker: paste the video’s link, set the start and the end, check the captions, and export a video file. Our guide [how to clip a YouTube video](https://fastclips.app/learn/how-to-clip-a-youtube-video) compares the ways.

## Where FastClip fits (our product)

FastClip is our clip maker, so read this section as ours. It does not create a YouTube Clip and it does not replace a link inside YouTube. It makes a separate video of a moment from a YouTube video you are allowed to reuse:

- Paste the YouTube link into the [YouTube clip maker](https://fastclips.app/youtube-clip-maker), in a phone or desktop browser. It opens on the part viewers replay most.
- Set the start and the end on the timeline, or select words in the transcript. A clip can be up to five minutes long.
- Your Draft gets word-timed captions; fix any wrong word before you finish it. Optionally crop to 9:16.
- Download the Finished clip as an MP4, or post it to a connected Instagram or X account. There is no FastClip watermark.

If you only want a friend to see 40 seconds of a video, a link is faster and keeps the viewer on the creator’s own video. FastClip is for the moment you want to keep or post as its own video.

## Questions

### Is YouTube Clips going away?

It already has, for new Clips. On April 16, 2026, YouTube announced that Share at Timestamp replaces the Clips feature. On October 8, 2026, we found no Clip button under videos on youtube.com.

### Can I still watch Clips I made before?

YouTube says existing Clips “will still be viewable”. It has not said for how long. A Clip still disappears if its original video is deleted, made private or removed for breaking the Community Guidelines.

### How do I share part of a YouTube video with an end time now?

Share at Timestamp cannot set an end. Use an embed link with both times in seconds, for example youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID?start=150&end=190, or write the end time in your message.

### What replaces YouTube Clips?

For viewers, Share at Timestamp, which sets only a start. For creators, the Clips and Shorts tool in YouTube Studio, which turns part of their own video into a video clip or a Short.

### Why did YouTube remove Clips?

YouTube said the two tools are “very similar” and that third-party clipping tools and authorized creator programs now do this job. It gave no other reason. Other explanations in the press are guesses.

### Can I still clip a YouTube video on my phone?

Not with YouTube’s Clip button. In the YouTube app you can share a link that starts at the current moment. To get a clip file with captions, use a clip maker in your phone’s browser, with a video you are allowed to reuse.

### Will YouTube bring Clips back?

YouTube has not said so. Replies in its announcement thread ask for Clips back; the post itself asks only for feedback on Share at Timestamp.

## Sources

1. [YouTube Help Community: Updating how you share video moments (TeamYouTube, April 16, 2026; read October 8, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/425735532/updating-how-you-share-video-moments)
2. [YouTube Help: Learn about managing Clips (read October 8, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10332730)
3. [YouTube Help: Share videos and channels, computer, iPhone and Android steps (read October 8, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57741)
4. [YouTube Help: Video Clips & Shorts in YouTube Studio (read October 8, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15824265)
5. [YouTube Help: Embed videos & playlists (read October 8, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780)
6. [YouTube for Developers: YouTube embedded players and player parameters (start, end; last updated September 16, 2026)](https://developers.google.com/youtube/player_parameters)
7. [YouTube Help Community: Prioritizing original content on Shorts (October 1, 2026)](https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/470890423)
8. [9to5Google: YouTube is ditching ‘Clips,’ officially brings ‘share at timestamp’ to phones (April 17, 2026)](https://9to5google.com/2026/04/17/youtube-clips-share-at-time-changes/)
9. [Tubefilter: YouTube reshuffles clipping by removing viewer options while bringing Clips to Shorts (April 17, 2026)](https://www.tubefilter.com/2026/04/17/youtube-clipping-tool-viewer-clips-shorts/)
10. [Android Authority: YouTube is killing a video sharing feature (April 17, 2026)](https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-video-sharing-clips-killed-3658479/)
11. [Social Media Today: YouTube adds custom timestamp sharing for mobile (April 19, 2026)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/youtube-adds-custom-timestamp-sharing-for-mobile/817902/)
12. [Android Headlines: YouTube is killing its Clips feature and replacing it with timestamp sharing on mobile (April 20, 2026)](https://www.androidheadlines.com/2026/04/youtube-is-killing-its-clips-feature-and-replacing-it-with-timestamp-sharing-on-mobile.html)