Turn YouTube videos to TikTok clips with easy-to-use editing tools. Apply preset sizes from (16:9) to (9:16), then add subtitles and background music—online and free.
Figuring out what to resize video to can be a hassle. Speed up your workflow with Kapwing's YouTube Video to TikTok Converter. With an instant, easy-to-use TikTok converter, you'll get to upload YouTube videos to TikTok without worrying about size or aspect ratio.
Start a new project. Then, upload your YouTube video by using the drag-and-drop feature or pasting the YouTube video URL in the input box.
Resize video to fit the TikTok format (9:16) aspect ratio by clicking "Resize canvas" in the right-hand sidebar. Apply the preset size for vertical videos, then continue editing your own YouTube videos; add subtitles, sound effects, and background music to finish.
Once you're finished in the editor, click "Export project" and select "MP4" as the format. Adjust your resolution settings accordingly, then download a video file to upload directly to TikTok.
Posting content to TikTok requires a few optimizations to ensure that your video hits the For You Page. Import the video from YouTube by pasting the URL. First, you’ll want to resize your video content to a vertical aspect ratio, 9:16. Social media experts recommend 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels. You can transform a landscape YouTube video into a TikTok in four ways: crop out a 9:16 frame of content, put a blurred background using the Canvas Blur feature, use a solid white or colored background, or rotating the video 90 degrees to take up the whole frame. You can also make splits through the video to resize to different areas at different times. Using Kapwing gives you much more control over what content appears in the frame.
Then, clip the video to the section that you want. Repurposing YouTube videos can help you turn a single long video into many different TikTok posts. Using these shorter highlights - or microcontent - can increase the frequency of your TikTok posts. TikTok now supports videos up to 10 minutes long, but most popular sounds are 60 seconds or less with a hook in the first three seconds. Use the trimmer to shorten your YouTube video or the AI-powered “Find scenes” feature to locate split points in your YouTube video.
Finally, add any other text, overlays, emojis, or decorations to hook viewers into your video. For TikTok, add white or yellow subtitles directly into the MP4 with the Montserrat font. Kapwing supports multiple video layers, picture in picture, and side by side collages. To ensure your content fits in the TikTok frame, use the “Safe Zones” button to overlay the native buttons (like the profile details and actions) and position everything in the frame.
Once you’re done, click “Export” and find the Share to TikTok button on Kapwing’s final video page. Kapwing has a partnership with TikTok that enables creators to publish directly from their computer instead of sending the video to their phone. Post your YouTube videos on TikTok to streamline your workflow.
If you use an outside video editor to make your TikToks, you have full creative control and customization over your video. You can import files from YouTube and other hosting websites from just the URL, make collages with multiple picture-in-picture video layers and tracks, customize the audio track with multiple music layers, and precisely split and combine tracks together to time out the TikTok. Kapwing’s smart tools - like clean audio, waveform generator, and automatic captioning - speed up your workflow in creating optimal TikTok content for any video.
Generally, videos with subtitles perform better than videos without because people often use social media with the sound turned off. But the viewer needs to be able to read the subtitle text to get value from it. Make sure that your font is white or yellow with a black outline or black background. Position the subtitles in an area without too many colors or too much texture. Green text can accentuate positive moments in the dialogue whereas red text can emphasize negativity.
If you want to create a TikTok that responds to or remixes a YouTube video, you need to make that video outside of the TikTok app. Start by opening a 9:16 canvas in Kapwing, then copy the YouTube URL and paste it on Kapwing to import that YouTube video. Clip it down to the section you want to duet. Then, upload your own original recording where you respond to or duet the YouTube video. Export to share the new duet on TikTok.
If a sound is not available in the TikTok sound library, you can still use it by importing the soundtrack from a YouTube video. To get that original YouTube audio or music on TikTok, copy the YouTube video URL, upload your video to Kapwing, and paste the URL through the “Audio” tool in the sidebar. This audio track will be imported as a music layer in Kapwing. Playing the video preview in Kapwing, trim down the soundtrack to the part that you want to use on TikTok and export the video to burn the new sound from YouTube into the MP4. Finally, publish the video draft to TikTok, sharing that you want to use the original soundtrack instead of adding a new sound. Other creators on TikTok will be able to reuse your sound that you’ve clipped from YouTube.
Kapwing is free to use for teams of any size. We also offer paid plans with additional features, storage, and support.