Zencastr Clips is a paid feature that transforms longer-form content into several shorter video clips optimized for a variety of social media platforms. Clips supports content in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. With AI Clipping, Zencastr’s AI selects the best moments for you, while Manual Clipping lets you choose segments yourself.
In this article:
Understanding the Clipping Workflow
Clipping allows you to create shorter, shareable segments from a Zencastr recording or uploaded content. Because clips are generated from the full-length video, their appearance is customized as part of the editing process in Zencastr Editing.
For Zencastr recordings, you can edit the full-length video and customize clips at the same time, for a cohesive look.
For uploaded content, you can apply select visual enhancements before generating clips.
There are two ways to create clips:
Manual Clipping – Available on all paid plans, lets you select transcript sections to clip.
AI Clipping – Available on the Grow plan and higher, uses AI to automatically select the best moments to clip.
Clips Pricing
Manual Clipping is available to users on all paid plans, while AI Clipping is available on the Grow plan and above. Both features operate using postproduction credits. All of Zencastr’s paid subscription plans include a monthly allowance of postproduction credits. See this article for complete information about the credits allowance, calculations, and purchases.
Customizing Your Clip Settings
What Are Clip Settings?
Clip settings define how your content is presented. Zencastr’s AI uses these settings as part of its process for determining which moments to highlight and how to format them. By default, your settings pull from your show information. Customizing them helps our AI select clips that match your focus.
Customizing your Clip Settings
To customize your clip settings:
On your Dashboard, click on the Clips tab on the left sidebar menu.
In the upper right corner, select Settings.
Enter or change any details in the ‘Title’, ‘Description’, ‘Topics’, ‘Optimize Your Clips For’, ‘Post Roll Link’, or ‘Post-Roll Image’ fields.
Click the Save button.
Clip Settings Fields
Title
Enter a title that describes what podcast or content your clips are for.
Example if you have a podcast:
Show name and clips description, e.g. “Magnificent Animals Podcast: Conservation Clips”
Example if you’re a video creator:
Video series name and clips description, e.g. “Food Tours: Best Things I Ate Clips”
Description
Describe what you are creating and who it is for, highlighting what makes it unique.
Example of a bad description:
“A podcast about animals to raise awareness about threats to global biodiversity”
Example of a good description:
"Magnificent Animals is a podcast dedicated to exploring the awe-inspiring diversity of the world's wildlife. We aim to shed light on the profound significance of every living creature within our intricate global ecosystem and to highlight the pressing challenges they and we all confront due to climate change. This podcast is designed to be inclusive, welcoming nature enthusiasts, wildlife advocates, and anyone with even a passing interest. Our objectives are to inform, inspire, and cultivate support for essential conservation and sustainability initiatives."
Topics
Select which topics you want to optimize your clips for.
Optimize Clips For
Select which social platforms you want your clips to be optimized for and posted on.*
*Which platforms you can connect to your Zencastr account depends on your plan.
Post-Roll Link
The post-roll link is a clickable link that appears at the end of each clip. Set one to direct your audience to discover more about your podcast, brand, or content in another site.
None: No link appears in the post-roll
Link In Bio: Links to your Zencastr profile page, e.g.
https://zencastr.com/@[YOUR USERNAME]
Custom: Any link added by you
Post-Roll Image
An image that appears at the end of each clip.
Must be a JPG, JPEG, or PNG file.
Minimum resolution: 1400 x 1400 pixels.
Recommended resolution: 3000 x 3000 pixels.
Creating Manual Clips
Manual clipping lets you select specific segments from your content to clip.
To create manual clips:
On your Dashboard, click on the Sessions tab in the left sidebar menu.
Under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session that contains the recording you want to clip.
Locate the recording and click the Preview button next to its name.
Click the Edit button in the top right.
In the Editor, on the Audio & Video tab, configure settings that define how your clips will look.
See this article for customization options for Zencastr recordings.
See this article for customization options for uploaded content.
Click the Content & Clips tab.
Highlight a transcript segment to define the clip.
The transcript segment must be at least 30 seconds long.
On the menu ribbon, select Create Clip.
If you are using captions, click any misspelled word in the highlighted segment and select Correct Word to ensure accurate text appears in the final clip captions.
Click the Apply button in the top right.
Click the Next button.
Note: If you aren’t hosting a podcast on Zencastr, skip filling out the Episode Info section on the right, as it is for publishing an episode to a podcast.
On the Review and Confirm insert, review the summary of what you are getting and the credits cost.
Click Run Now to start the postproduction and clipping.
Result: The postproduction and clipping will begin to run, and the necessary amount of credits will be deducted from your credits balance when they complete. Once clips are generated, they will appear on the Clips tab of your dashboard.
Creating AI Clips
AI Clipping automatically selects the best moments from your content to clip.
To create AI clips:
On your Dashboard, click on the Sessions tab in the left sidebar menu.
Under the ‘My Sessions’ list, click the name of the session that contains the recording you want to clip.
Locate the recording and click the Preview button next to its name.
Click the Edit button in the top right.
In the Editor, on the Audio & Video tab, configure settings that define how your clips will look.
See this article for customization options for Zencastr recordings.
See this article for customization options for uploaded content.
Click the Content & Clips tab.
In the top menu, hover over Create Clips.
On the Create Your Clips insert, slide the Enable ZenAI toggle on.
On the Create Your Clips insert, under “Select Clip Frame,” ensure the correct aspect ratio video is selected for the respective social platforms.
If you are clipping two videos with different aspect ratios, ensure both versions have been customized as needed.
If you are using captions, click any misspelled word in the transcript and select Correct Word to ensure accurate text appears in the final clip captions.
Click the Apply button in the top right.
Click the Next button.
Note: If you aren’t hosting a podcast on Zencastr, skip filling out the Episode Info section on the right, as it is for publishing an episode to a podcast.
On the Review and Confirm insert, review the summary of what you are getting and the credits cost.
Click Run Now to start the postproduction and clipping.
Result: The postproduction and clipping will begin to run, and the necessary amount of credits will be deducted from your credits balance when they complete. Once clips are generated, they will appear on the Clips tab of your dashboard.
Getting and Downloading Clips
Once the clips are generating, you can close the Preview Page. The clips will process in the background and you will receive an email when they are ready. Once clips are generated, they will appear on the Clips tab of your dashboard.
To view your clips:
On your Dashboard, click on the Clips tab in the left sidebar menu.
Click the image of the clip grouping the clip is in.
Locate the clip you want to view.
Hover on the clip image and click the play button to watch it.
To download your clips:
On your Dashboard, click on the Clips tab in the left sidebar menu.
Click the image of the clip grouping the clip is in.
Locate the clip you want to download and click the Download button below it.
Result: Your clip files will be zipped and then a zip file will download to your computer.
After Clipping - What’s Next?
Edit select elements of your clips as necessary before sharing.
Post your clips to social media right from your Clips tab.
Embed your clips on your website.