How to make YouTube Shorts from a screen recording

YouTube Shorts are vertical, and tutorials, coding demos and software walkthroughs are some of the most useful things to put in them. The problem is that screen recordings are landscape. This guide shows how to turn a normal screen recording into a vertical YouTube Short with the camera following your cursor, zooms on clicks and captions, without learning a video editor.

Short answer: record with ClipDesk. It is a free, open-source screen recorder that crops to vertical 9:16 while you record, follows your cursor, zooms on clicks and adds captions, so you get a 1080×1920 MP4 ready for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok. Nothing is uploaded.

Step by step

Open ClipDesk. Use the Windows app to record any program, the Chrome/Edge extension for a browser tab, or the web app to try it with nothing installed.
Choose a template and layout. Pick a style such as coding tutorial or product demo. "Follow Cursor" crops a moving 9:16 window; "Blurred Backdrop" shows the full screen over a blurred background.
Record. Press record and do your demo. The vertical frame glides to where you work and zooms on each click, so small code and buttons stay readable on a phone.
Cut, caption and export. Remove mistakes with the cut editor (undo is always available), add on-device captions, and export a 1080×1920 MP4.
Upload to YouTube. Upload the MP4 from YouTube Studio or the YouTube app. YouTube classifies a vertical video of Shorts length as a Short.

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What are the YouTube Shorts dimensions?

Shorts use a 9:16 vertical frame; 1080×1920 is the recommended resolution and what ClipDesk produces. Check YouTube for the current maximum Short length; the Free plan's 90-second limit fits inside it.

Coding and software tutorials as Shorts

Developers, teachers and founders can turn a longer tutorial into several Shorts by recording one tip at a time. The cursor-follow camera keeps the code under your cursor large enough to read, which is the main reason landscape screen recordings fail as Shorts.

Repurpose one recording as Reels, Shorts and TikTok

The same 1080×1920 MP4 works for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok, so you record once and post everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert a 16:9 screen recording to YouTube Shorts?

Record it in ClipDesk instead of converting afterwards. It crops to 9:16 live while following your cursor, so there is no manual cropping or keyframing.

Is there a free YouTube Shorts maker for screen recordings?

Yes. ClipDesk is free and open source (GPL-3.0). The Free plan covers recordings up to 90 seconds with a watermark; Pro removes both limits.

Does it add captions to Shorts?

Yes. Word-by-word captions are generated on your device with Whisper, with no API key. You can also import or export .srt and .vtt files.