YouTube has officially rolled out its new Shorts video format to all creators in the United States, after a limited expansion in March this year. In a blog post, Google confirmed that Shorts will be available for anybody in the U.S to create videos.
It has also announced major improvements to Shorts, including a dedicated Shorts tab in the YouTube app on iOS and Android. This replaces the Explore tab, which has been moved to the top of the page, and sits aside the recently added create button, which lets eligble creators share a new video, story or create Shorts.
Following what TikTok currently offers, the duration of a short has been expanded from 15 seconds to 60 seconds, although using music from the YouTube library will limit the length of the video to 15 seconds. YouTube is also rolling out new filters and editing screens, and is experimenting with the option to use audio from videos on the platform.
Users in other countries can still upload Shorts by including the hashtag “#shorts” in the title of the video. It is not clear if the new format will be made available to users in other countries.
