Guide for podcasters
YouTube Shorts for podcasters, audio-only shows included
The full episode is where people listen on YouTube. Shorts are how they find it. This is the Shorts half: what YouTube counts as one, how to tie each one to the episode, and the rule about music that catches longer clips.
The short answer
Cut three or four moments from each episode as square or vertical clips of three minutes or less, with big captions (and, for an audio-only show, your cover or your faces). Upload them in YouTube Studio, then set the full episode as each Short’s related video, so a tap under your channel name takes people to it. Keep claimed music out of anything over a minute.
What YouTube counts as a Short
Shape and length, nothing else. On YouTube’s help page, any video uploaded with a square or vertical aspect ratio up to three minutes in length will be categorized as Shorts on YouTube.
There is no separate Shorts upload: a vertical clip of two minutes uploaded the normal way becomes a Short.
| YouTube Shorts | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Square or vertical. 9:16 fills the screen. Anything wider than square (such as 16:9) is not a Short. |
| Length | Up to 3 minutes, recorded or uploaded. No minimum. |
| Title and description | Title 100 characters. Description 5,000 characters. More than 60 hashtags and YouTube ignores all of them. |
| Custom thumbnail | Custom Shorts thumbnail: 2160×3840 (9:16), at least 640 px high, JPG or PNG, up to 50 MB. Only in YouTube Studio on a computer, on a verified account. |
The full table for every app is in our social video specs. Before uploading, check where your captions sit with the free YouTube Shorts safe zone checker.
Shorts from an audio-only podcast
YouTube needs a picture, not a camera. The words on screen carry the clip, and the cover art or the hosts’ faces say whose show it is. Here is a real one, cut by Slice from an openly licensed episode and drawn with the default template:
Slice made it from the audio alone. Slice Audio: video clips for audio-only podcasts, part of Shorts by Slice. Upload the episode’s audio, and it lists the moments that stand on their own and draws each as a captioned vertical clip, with your cover, colours and, if you like, your hosts’ and guests’ photos. Have video too? Shorts by Slice crops to whoever is talking.
One limit to plan around: Shorts created to support your podcast will not appear in YouTube Music
. That is fine: Shorts do their work on YouTube itself, pointing people to the episode. Getting the full episodes onto YouTube in the first place is its own guide: should you put an audio-only podcast on YouTube?
The one-minute rule for music
Shorts can run to three minutes, but longer ones are stricter about music:
“Any Short that is over one minute in duration with an active Content ID claim of any type, including manual claims, will be blocked globally on YouTube.”
A talk clip usually has no music in it. If yours has an intro bed or a stinger, leave it out of the clip, or keep that clip under a minute.
What podcasters report from Shorts
Views first, listeners slowly, and Shorts do better at the second than the other apps, by these accounts:
“TikTok gave me tons of views and almost zero full episode listens while YouTube Shorts actually moved a few people over to the long stuff.”
“Lately we’ve seen more success focusing on YouTube shorts. When those do well, we see a slight uptick on the YouTube views for that full episode.”
“honestly I’ve found that shorts are my best advertising.”
On how many:
“I’ve found three to four clips an episode can get the algorithm going fast.”
“From an 70-90 minute episode I pull 6-9 clips to use as YouTube Shorts. Our goal is to post a clip a day.”
Which moments, and how to tell, is in how to pick the best moments from a podcast; a posting plan for the week is in one episode, a week of posts.
How to post YouTube Shorts from a podcast, step by step
- Put the full episode on YouTube first
A Short can only point to a video on your own channel, so the episode has to be there: through your RSS feed in YouTube Studio, or uploaded with a still image or an audiogram.
- Pick three or four moments that stand on their own
Choose stretches that make sense to someone who has heard nothing else: a story with a turn, an opinion with a reason, a clear answer. Start on the line that matters, not the lead-up.
- Make each one a vertical clip with captions
Square or vertical and three minutes or less, or YouTube will not treat it as a Short. Put the words on screen in big captions, and give an audio-only clip a picture: your cover art or the hosts’ faces. Leave music out of anything over a minute.
- Upload it in YouTube Studio
In YouTube Studio, click Create, then Upload videos, and choose the clip. Give it a title that says what the moment is about, within 100 characters.
- Add the full episode as the related video
In YouTube Studio, open Content, click the Short, choose the full episode as its Related video and save. Viewers then see a link to the episode under your channel handle. It needs advanced feature access.
YouTube’s help pages quoted here were read on 8 October 2026.
Get the Slice Weekly
One free email every Friday: tools for creators and the best advice we found from people who make things.
Questions
Can you make YouTube Shorts from an audio-only podcast?
Yes. A Short is a square or vertical video of three minutes or less, and the picture can be made from the audio: captions of the words, your cover art, or photos of the hosts and guests. YouTube does not require a camera.
How do I link a YouTube Short to the full podcast episode?
Use a related video. In YouTube Studio, open Content, click the Short, select the full episode as its Related video and save. YouTube shows viewers a clickable link below your channel handle. The episode has to be public or unlisted on your channel, and the feature needs advanced feature access.
How long can a podcast Short be?
Up to three minutes, square or vertical. But YouTube blocks any Short over one minute that has an active Content ID claim, so keep music out of longer ones. From YouTube’s help pages, read 8 October 2026.
Do podcast Shorts appear in YouTube Music?
No. YouTube says Shorts created to support your podcast will not appear in YouTube Music. They appear on YouTube, where the related-video link sends people to the episode.
How many Shorts should a podcast post per episode?
Podcasters in r/podcasting describe three or four an episode, and some post one a day from a long episode. Pick a number you can keep every week; a steady three is better than a burst of ten and then nothing.
Do Shorts bring listeners to the full episode?
Some, slowly. Podcasters report more views than listens, and YouTube Shorts doing better than TikTok at moving people to the long version. YouTube’s own advice is to link each Short to the episode and make the first seconds of the episode deliver what the Short promised.
More for podcasters
- Should you put an audio-only podcast on YouTube?: the full episodes.
- How to share a podcast on Instagram: Stories, the link sticker and Reels.
- Spotify Clips for podcasters: what they are, the specs, how to upload: the same clip on your Spotify show page.
- Slice Audio: clips for audio-only podcasts.