YouTube Shorts vs TikTok Highlights: Best Way to Repurpose Long Videos
5/25/2025
|Team CapsAI
When turning your in-depth content into bite-sized clips, both YouTube Shorts and TikTok Highlights offer massive reach - but each platform has its own nuances. Below is a side-by-side guide to help you choose the right repurposing strategy, accelerated by CapsAI’s Smart Clips for lightning-fast clip generation.
1. Aspect & Format Differences
- YouTube Shorts
- Aspect: 9:16 vertical (1080×1920)
- Length: Up to 60 s
- Format: MP4 (H.264), AAC audio
- TikTok Highlights
- Aspect: 9:16 vertical, but allows 1:1 for in-feed posts
- Length: Up to 10 min (but best engagement at 15–60 s)
- Format: MP4/MOV, AAC or MP3 audio
CapsAI Tip: Upload your long video to CapsAI once and export simultaneous 9:16 and 1:1 Smart Clips - ready to drop on both platforms without re-editing.
2. Algorithm & Discovery
- YouTube Shorts
- Rewards high watch-through rates and replays.
- Leverages your existing channel subscribers.
- Has a dedicated “Shorts Shelf” for discovery.
- TikTok Highlights
- Favors engagement loops (likes, shares, comments).
- Leverages trending sounds & hashtags heavily.
- Puts new creators in front of wide audiences via the For You Page.
Optimization Tip: After exporting your CapsAI Smart Clips, upload the same clip to both platforms, but on TikTok add a trending audio track and on YouTube Shorts use a custom text-based hook layer to match each algorithm’s strengths.
3. Cross-Posting Workflow
- Generate Smart Clips: Use CapsAI to extract 15–45 s highlights with captions baked in.
- Platform-Specific Edits:
- For YouTube Shorts: Add a custom end-screen prompt (“▶️ Watch full video”) and #Shorts tag.
- For TikTok: Swap in a trending sound, add interactive stickers, and include 3–5 relevant hashtags (#LifeHack, #DIY).
- Upload & Schedule:
- Stagger releases: Post on TikTok at peak local times, then on YouTube later to avoid cannibalizing views.
- Monitor analytics to see where each clip performs best.
4. Measuring Success
- YouTube Analytics: Track Average View Duration, Shorts Views, and Subscriber Growth.
- TikTok Insights: Monitor Video Views, Completion Rate, and Share Rate.
CapsAI Feedback Loop: Use performance data to retrain your Smart Clips settings - perhaps narrowing clip length or emphasizing certain content types - to continuously refine your repurposed shorts for each platform.
Conclusion
Both YouTube Shorts and TikTok Highlights offer unique advantages for repurposing long-form videos. By leveraging CapsAI’s Smart Clips to automate your clip selection and export in multiple formats, you can maximize efficiency and tailor each Short to the platform’s best practices - boosting engagement and reach across both ecosystems.
When turning your in-depth content into bite-sized clips, both YouTube Shorts and TikTok Highlights offer massive reach - but each platform has its own nuances. Below is a side-by-side guide to help you choose the right repurposing strategy, accelerated by CapsAI’s Smart Clips for lightning-fast clip generation.
1. Aspect & Format Differences
- YouTube Shorts
- Aspect: 9:16 vertical (1080×1920)
- Length: Up to 60 s
- Format: MP4 (H.264), AAC audio
- TikTok Highlights
- Aspect: 9:16 vertical, but allows 1:1 for in-feed posts
- Length: Up to 10 min (but best engagement at 15–60 s)
- Format: MP4/MOV, AAC or MP3 audio
CapsAI Tip: Upload your long video to CapsAI once and export simultaneous 9:16 and 1:1 Smart Clips - ready to drop on both platforms without re-editing.
2. Algorithm & Discovery
- YouTube Shorts
- Rewards high watch-through rates and replays.
- Leverages your existing channel subscribers.
- Has a dedicated “Shorts Shelf” for discovery.
- TikTok Highlights
- Favors engagement loops (likes, shares, comments).
- Leverages trending sounds & hashtags heavily.
- Puts new creators in front of wide audiences via the For You Page.
Optimization Tip: After exporting your CapsAI Smart Clips, upload the same clip to both platforms, but on TikTok add a trending audio track and on YouTube Shorts use a custom text-based hook layer to match each algorithm’s strengths.
3. Cross-Posting Workflow
- Generate Smart Clips: Use CapsAI to extract 15–45 s highlights with captions baked in.
- Platform-Specific Edits:
- For YouTube Shorts: Add a custom end-screen prompt (“▶️ Watch full video”) and #Shorts tag.
- For TikTok: Swap in a trending sound, add interactive stickers, and include 3–5 relevant hashtags (#LifeHack, #DIY).
- Upload & Schedule:
- Stagger releases: Post on TikTok at peak local times, then on YouTube later to avoid cannibalizing views.
- Monitor analytics to see where each clip performs best.
4. Measuring Success
- YouTube Analytics: Track Average View Duration, Shorts Views, and Subscriber Growth.
- TikTok Insights: Monitor Video Views, Completion Rate, and Share Rate.
CapsAI Feedback Loop: Use performance data to retrain your Smart Clips settings - perhaps narrowing clip length or emphasizing certain content types - to continuously refine your repurposed shorts for each platform.
Conclusion
Both YouTube Shorts and TikTok Highlights offer unique advantages for repurposing long-form videos. By leveraging CapsAI’s Smart Clips to automate your clip selection and export in multiple formats, you can maximize efficiency and tailor each Short to the platform’s best practices - boosting engagement and reach across both ecosystems.