How to post YouTube videos on TikTok

Only as a file you upload. TikTok plays videos posted to TikTok, so a YouTube link can't become a TikTok that plays. Posting a YouTube video there means uploading the video itself; sharing one means pointing people to YouTube. Here's what each way gets you:

For most channels the answer is the second and third together: post clips of the best moments, and keep the full video in your profile for the people they win over. The steps are below, starting with the file.

TikTok needs a video file, and the best one is the file you uploaded to YouTube in the first place: the export from your editor, or the footage from your camera. It has every pixel YouTube got. If you no longer have it, YouTube lets you download your own uploads:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left panel, select Content.
3. Find the video, open its Menu and select Download.

You get an MP4 at 720p or 360p, depending on the video's size, not the 1080p or 4K you may have uploaded. You can download each video up to 5 times a day, and not at all if it has a copyright or Community Guidelines strike, uses a preapproved audio track, or has been removed. To get every video you've uploaded at once, YouTube points to Google Takeout.

What you can't do is download someone else's video. YouTube's help says so plainly, and its Terms of Service don't allow downloading any content except where YouTube offers it, like the Download button in Studio, or with permission from YouTube and the rights holders. Saving a video offline with YouTube Premium is for watching it in the YouTube app, not a file to post.

TikTok takes longer videos than most people expect, but how long depends on where you post from:

• Pick the sound after, not before. If you choose a sound before you upload, TikTok sets the video's length to the sound's.
• On a computer, TikTok Studio lets you add the caption, pick a cover, choose who can watch, and run a copyright check on the sounds before you post.
• Too big? If a file is over 10 GB, or too big to send to your phone, the free video compressor makes it smaller, to a size you pick, without uploading it anywhere.

That TikTok takes a 60-minute video doesn't mean it's the best thing to post. The next two steps are about what works on a phone.

TikTok is watched on phones held upright, in a 9:16 frame. A YouTube video is usually 16:9: shown whole on that screen, it fills about 32% of it, with empty space above and below. A vertical version fills all of it. There are two ways to get there:

• Crop: keep a 9:16 slice of the frame, about a third of its width. Best for one person talking, or anything that happens in the middle.
• Fit: keep the whole frame, smaller, on a blurred copy of itself. Best for screens, slides and wide shots where the edges matter.

The free vertical video converter does either in your browser, up to 5 minutes at a time, and gives you a 1080 × 1920 MP4. Its crop stays where you put it, which works while the person stays put. When two people talk, or someone moves, the crop has to follow the speaker: by hand, keyframe by keyframe, in an editor, or automatically. More on both in how to convert horizontal video to vertical.

A 20-minute YouTube video asks someone mid-scroll for 20 minutes. A 40-second clip of its best moment asks for 40 seconds, and if it lands, they come looking for the rest. Clips also give you more posts: one video holds many moments, and each clip is another chance to reach someone new.

TikTok says its For You feed looks at things like what people like, share, comment on and search for, as well as what's trending. A moment people share does more for you there than a long video they leave after a minute. By hand, for each clip:

1. Pick a moment that stands on its own: a story, a tip, a strong opinion. Start it on its strongest line, not the setup before it.
2. Cut it with the free video trimmer.
3. Make it vertical, as in step 3.
4. Caption it, so it works with the sound off (more below).
5. Post it with a caption that says what it's about in the words people search for, and the full video's title.

Captions. TikTok can add them for you. When you post, tap More options, then Select video language, and eligible videos show auto-generated captions you can edit afterwards. Or, while editing, tap Captions on the side panel for creator captions you can restyle. For big, word-by-word captions burned into the video, the way clips usually have them, use add captions to video.

Getting paid for the views. TikTok's Creator Rewards Program pays for qualified views on videos that are at least 1 minute long, original, “filmed, designed, and produced entirely by yourself”, and uploaded after you join. Joining takes 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days. Clips of your own videos can qualify if they meet those rules; see how much TikTok pays.

The YouTube video to Shorts guide covers picking moments and cropping in detail; the same clips work on TikTok. For what TikTok rewards once they're up, see how to get more views on TikTok.

The slow part is the same every time: watching the whole video for moments, cutting each on a clean sentence, keeping the speaker in frame as it goes vertical, and typing or fixing every caption. Clyper does that part:

1. Paste the YouTube link, public or unlisted, of a video from 1 minute to 4 hours long. Or upload the original file (MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 4 GB) for the sharpest clips.
2. Choose how many clips, up to one for every 2 minutes of video and 30 in all, or leave it on Auto.
3. Clyper reads the transcript, picks the moments that stand on their own, cuts each on whole sentences and scores its hook, so you know which to post first.
4. It frames each clip 9:16 on whoever's talking, switching when the speaker changes, captions every word in 50+ languages, and exports 1080 × 1920 MP4s with no watermark.
5. Adjust any clip in the clip editor, download them and upload them to TikTok.

Clyper doesn't post to TikTok or schedule anything, and it doesn't write the text you post with each clip: you upload each clip and write its TikTok caption yourself. The same clips work as Shorts and Reels; see YouTube to Shorts.

TikTok's place for a website link is your profile, and it isn't open to every account: you can add one once you have at least 1,000 followers, or if you have a Verified Business Account. Then:

1. In the TikTok app, tap Profile at the bottom.
2. Tap Edit profile.
3. Next to Links, tap Add, and follow the steps to add the YouTube URL.

People who tap it get the page in TikTok's in-app browser. TikTok says it no longer supports links that open or log you into other social media apps, but you can still link to their websites, like a video's page on YouTube. To copy the link, click Share under the video on YouTube, then Copy; tick Start at first to open it at a particular moment. The free YouTube clip maker writes a link that starts where your clip came from.

Under 1,000 followers? Put the video's title on screen in the last seconds of each clip, and in its caption, so people can search for it on YouTube. Once the link is up, say where it is: “Full video: link in bio.”

Instagram has more ways to link out, like a link sticker in a story: see how to share a YouTube video on Instagram.

TikTok's Community Guidelines, updated in August 2026, say you should only post content you created or have the right to share, and that TikTok removes content that breaks someone else's copyright or trademark. Two more kinds of post stay up but aren't recommended in the For You feed:

• “Reused or unoriginal content posted without creative edits, such as clips that show someone else's watermark or logo.”
• “Low-quality or minimally edited content, such as short clips made from GIFs only.”

What that means for a YouTube video:

• Your own video: you made it, so you can post it. Upload the clean file, not a screen recording of YouTube's player.
• Someone else's video: you need their permission, from a clipping campaign or a clear yes in writing, and you can't download it from YouTube yourself. Even with permission, a clip with nothing new added won't be recommended, so make it yours: your own cut, framing and captions. See is clipping legal? before you post one.
• Watermarks: an editing app that stamps its logo on your exports puts someone else's logo on your clip. Post files with no watermark: Clyper's clips and the site's free tools add none.