YouTube retired Clips: what was lost, and what to use instead
On 17 April 2026 YouTube retired the viewer Clips button and replaced it with Share at Timestamp. The replacement does less, in one specific way, and that way is the whole point.
What Clips did
Clips let any viewer, not only the uploader, take a short section out of a video and share it as its own object with a start, an end and a description. The person receiving it saw that section and nothing else. It was the only native way to send someone a moment rather than a video with a suggestion about where to look.
What replaced it
Share at Timestamp. It sets a start time and drops you into the full video from there. YouTube said so directly in the announcement thread:
“the ability to set an end time or include a custom description will no longer be available”
In the same post, YouTube pointed people outward, to “a number of third-party tools with advanced clipping features”. Existing Clips still play; you simply cannot make new ones.
Worth knowing if you were considering a workaround: YouTube playlists once accepted a start and end per item. Those API fields are now documented as deprecated, and their values are ignored. A playlist chains whole videos, not moments.
So what was actually lost
Three things, and they are separable. An end point, so the thing stops where the moment stops. A description, so you could say what to watch for. And a dedicated object, so what arrived was the moment rather than the whole video.
| What you want to do | Share at Timestamp | Playback |
|---|---|---|
| Start at a chosen time | Yes | Yes |
| Stop at a chosen time | No | Yes |
| Repeat just that passage | No | Yes |
| Slow it down | No | Yes, 0.25x to 2x |
| Attach your own note or title | No | Yes |
| Send several moments as one link | No | Yes, with a Cut |
| Set two moments side by side | No | Yes, with Compare |
| Re-upload the video anywhere | No | No |
Which tool does which job
- You want a start and an endLoop is the direct replacement. Press once where it starts, once where it ends, and share the link. Add a note if it needs one.
- You want to say what to watch forA Playback carries a title and your take, and comments pin to the exact frame they are about. This is the description Clips used to have, with more room.
- You want several moments in one linkA Cut holds up to twelve moments from as many as six videos, in an order you choose. Clips never did this.
- You want two of them at onceCompare holds two moments side by side on one timeline.
Paste a YouTube link to make the first one. Nothing to install, no account.
Your old Clips still work here
Existing youtube.com/clip links still play on YouTube, and Playback reads them. Paste one into Loop or Cut and the start and end come across with it, so a clip you made years ago becomes something you can extend, slow down, annotate or chain to others.
A fair word about the replacement
Share at Timestamp is not a bad feature. It is fast, it is native, it works on mobile, and for “look at this bit” it is genuinely enough. If that is all you need, use it. The gap is narrow and specific: the moment has no end, so what you actually send is the whole video with a hint.
Questions
- When exactly did YouTube retire Clips?
- The viewer-side Clips button was retired on 17 April 2026, announced in YouTube's own community thread. Clips created before then remain viewable.
- Can I still watch Clips people already made?
- Yes. Existing youtube.com/clip links still play. You just cannot create new ones on YouTube.
- Does Playback download or re-upload the video?
- No. Nothing is downloaded, copied or re-encoded. The video plays from YouTube's own player, so the view counts for whoever made it. Playback stores a pointer: the video ID, a start, an end, a speed and your words.
- Do I need an account?
- No. You can make and share a loop, a Playback, a Cut or a Compare without signing in.
Make one with an end time
The direct replacement for what Clips did. Free, no account.
Make one with an end time →Read next
- ComparisonShare at Timestamp alternative: get an end time backYouTube's Share at Timestamp sets a start but never an end, so the video keeps playing. Playback gives you a start and an end, a loop, a speed and a note, in one link and without an account.
- GuideHow to share part of a YouTube video, with a start and an endThree ways to send someone one section of a YouTube video instead of the whole thing: the native start-only link, the embed parameters, and a link that starts and stops where you say.
- BlogPlayback.tv is back, and it does one thing: work with a momentPlayback.tv has relaunched as four tools for working with a moment in a YouTube video: loop it, explain it, chain several into one link, or set two side by side.