YouTube Shorts is catching up to TikTok as the most popular short-form video platform, but Google’s service is emphasizing Shorts’ connection with the rest of the YouTube ecosystem as a key selling feature. Shorts producers may now sample audio from YouTube videos, and the company says it’s looking at methods to provide fast links from Shorts to YouTube videos from which they’ve collected samples. The new app debuted in September 2020, with 15-second videos, the same time limit as TikTok, though TikTok later increased the maximum video length to one minute, then three minutes. Other features of the app, which is available on both iOS and Android, include the ability to combine numerous video clips into one, speed settings, and a timer and countdown to help artists capture the perfect moment. Automatically inserted captions, importing clips from the phone’s gallery into the Shorts camera, and the option to apply filters and effects will all be available soon. TikTok is experimenting with forms that are more similar to what YouTube is known for. It recently increased the maximum video duration for all users to three minutes and has begun to roll out app for TV platforms such as Android TV and Fire TV.
