Can Reelsaw download any YouTube video?

It uses yt-dlp, which fetches public videos. Clip only content you own or have permission to use; YouTube's terms apply to downloading.

Does it upload the Shorts to YouTube for me?

Not directly. Export all includes a YouTube Data API v3 videos.insert body per clip, set to private, so a script or an agent on the MCP server can upload with your credentials.

How long does a one-hour video take?

It depends on the models. Cloud transcription of an hour takes a few minutes; fully local on a CPU with faster-whisper-small runs roughly in real time. Rendering is a few seconds per clip. Every stage checkpoints, so a restart resumes rather than starts over.

Guide

YouTube to Shorts converter you can run on your own machine

A YouTube link is the most common input to a clipping tool, and the first thing hosted services charge for is the minutes in it. Reelsaw takes the same link and does the whole job on your hardware: fetch, transcribe, pick moments, reframe to 9:16, caption, and hand back clips with upload metadata.

Use it on your own videos or ones you have the rights to clip.

What happens after you paste the link

Ingest: yt-dlp fetches the video, ffprobe reads it, and the source is stored once so every later step can resume from it.
Transcribe: audio is split into chunks and transcribed in parallel with word timestamps, then names are fixed from your vocabulary and fillers are cut with verified jump cuts.
Pick: the transcript is chunked at long pauses, every standalone moment is scored on hook, value, flow and shareability, and the top picks are compared head-to-head. Optional focus: 'Find clips about pricing'.
Reframe: a face detector picks face, split, stack or fit per segment; the crop follows whoever is speaking.
Render: ffmpeg burns in karaoke captions and the hook, plus your intro and outro, in one encode. Clips stream into the workspace as they finish.

What you get back

Every clip as a 9:16 MP4 with its score, layout and a hook overlay.
A paste-ready title, description, hashtags and caption per clip. Descriptions carry a timestamped link to the exact moment in the parent video.
A YouTube Data API v3 videos.insert body per clip (private by default) and a TikTok Content Posting API body, so a script or agent can upload.
A manifest and a CSV for the whole batch. The same through the MCP server, so an agent can run the loop end to end.

How it compares to hosted converters

How it compares to hosted converters
	Reelsaw	Hosted converters (Opus Clip, Vizard, 2short, quso)
Price	$0 software; your hardware or your model keys	Free tiers with watermarks, 720p or expiring exports; paid from about $10 to $29 a month
Source length	No limit beyond your disk	Metered per minute or per credit; some cap export length
Where the video goes	Stays on your machine	Uploaded to the vendor
Automation	MCP server and CLI on every install	API or MCP on higher plans, where offered
Publishing	Export with API bodies; no built-in posting	Built-in scheduling on most paid plans

Common questions

Can Reelsaw download any YouTube video?: It uses yt-dlp, which fetches public videos. Clip only content you own or have permission to use; YouTube's terms apply to downloading.
Does it upload the Shorts to YouTube for me?: Not directly. Export all includes a YouTube Data API v3 videos.insert body per clip, set to private, so a script or an agent on the MCP server can upload with your credentials.
How long does a one-hour video take?: It depends on the models. Cloud transcription of an hour takes a few minutes; fully local on a CPU with faster-whisper-small runs roughly in real time. Rendering is a few seconds per clip. Every stage checkpoints, so a restart resumes rather than starts over.

Sources

Reelsaw README: pipeline, export formats and MCP tools

Last updated 2026-10-18.