Introduction
Shotcut is a powerful and free open-source video editor. Given the low cost, the software is ideal for YouTubers who are just getting started. A lot of people don’t think about the settings they will need to export their video for YouTube, until after they’ve edited their video together. Conveniently, Shotcut has a pre-built export setting you can use to easily export your video for YouTube. Additionally, all of those export settings can be modified so you can adjust them for your specific video.
Some of the images associated with the steps are included inline below. All images associated with these steps can be seen in the embedded YouTube video. Also, please note that you’re not able to leave a comment directly on this article. If you have a question or feedback, please leave it on the YouTube video.
Steps to Export Shotcut Video for YouTube
- Launch Shotcut, and then open the video file you want to export for YouTube.
- Make sure the Export tab is currently visible. If it is, you’ll see it on your screen. I’ve highlighted where the Export tab appears for me, but because the Shotcut interface is highly configurable, you may have it in a different location. If you don’t have the Export tab turned on, click “View” in the menu row along the top of the screen, and then click “Export.” The Export tab will be added to your interface.
- Click the “Export” tab in the interface. The Export window will appear.
- Click the drop-down arrow to the left of Stock in the Export window. A list of stock export options will appear.
- Scroll down the list of stock export options until you find YouTube, and then click “YouTube.” On the right side of the Export window you can cycle through the Video, Codec, Audio, and Other tabs to see the settings that will be applied to your exported video for YouTube. For example, to the right of Format, you can see that your video will be exported as an MP4 file. In the Video tab, you can see the video resolution will be adjusted to 720-by-480 with an aspect ratio of 4:3. In the Codec tab, you can see the codec that will be applied, and that the quality will be adjusted to 60%. In the Audio tab you can see that the sample rate is 48,000 Hertz and an AAC codec is applied.
- Review and adjust the settings accordingly for your video.
- Click “Export File” beneath any of the tabs on the right side of the Export window when you’re ready to export your video.
- A dialog box appears, prompting you to choose the location where you want to save your exported file, and give your file a name. Click “Save” after choosing your location and assigning a name to your exported video file. You’ll see an item appear in the Jobs window on the right side of the screen. This item will display the progress of exporting your video. When the video export is complete, a green box with a white check mark is displayed to the left of the item in the Jobs menu.
- Navigate to the location where you chose to save your file. You should now see your exported file in that saved location.
