Updated March 2026 • 5 min read
YouTube Shorts are 60-second vertical videos that compete with TikTok. Unlike TikTok, YouTube doesn't make downloading Shorts easy. This guide shows you how to save any YouTube Short for offline viewing, editing, or sharing.
YouTube Shorts are short-form vertical videos (up to 60 seconds) launched in 2021. They appear in a dedicated Shorts feed and are designed for mobile viewing.
Shorts URLs come in several formats:
youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_IDyoutu.be/VIDEO_IDyoutube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_IDYouTube Shorts are typically uploaded at 1080p or 720p. Available quality options:
On iPhone and Android, you can download Shorts directly to your camera roll. Use Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android), paste the Short URL, and the video will save to your Photos/Gallery app.
Want to download multiple Shorts from a channel? Use the playlist feature. Create a YouTube playlist of your favorite Shorts, then paste the playlist URL to download them all at once as a ZIP file.
No, YouTube Shorts don't have watermarks. Downloads are clean by default.
No, private videos require channel access. Only public Shorts can be downloaded.
Yes, audio is included. You can also extract just the audio as MP3.