YouTube is updating Shorts with TikTok-like editing features

YouTube is adding new features to Shorts that aim to make it easier for creators to edit short-form videos. There are five new tools “coming this spring” according to YouTube’s announcement, including a revamped video editor that provides similar editing features to those already found on competing platforms like TikTok and Reels.

The new video editor allows adjustments like cutting and rearranging clips, zooming into footage, and overlaying text and music to be made from an editing timeline view. Creators can preview the edited short on this timeline view, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the Shorts editor. YouTube says these new capabilities are the “first of more improvements” lined up to help streamline the Shorts editing process.

YouTube is making it easier to add music to Shorts, allowing creators to pick a song and have their video clips automatically synchronize to the rhythm instead of manually aligning them to a beat. Effects like video filters and overlays will also be available in Shorts templates, making it quicker to jump on viral trends.

The ability to add image stickers from your gallery directly into Shorts will be available “later this spring” according to YouTube, alongside text-to-image AI-generated sticker creation. Users can describe the sticker they want to add to their video, giving creators more personalization options.

This isn’t the first batch of TikTok-style updates that have rolled out to YouTube Shorts, which has already introduced robotic voiceovers and started counting views from the point a video is played. While these new features aren’t available to Shorts creators yet, the timing of YouTube’s announcement probably isn’t a coincidence. The Saturday deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer or risk being banned in the country is fast approaching, and the new Shorts features will make it more familiar and appealing to creators who may soon be looking for a new platform.