YouTube Shorts and Content ID: the September 24, 2026 change

Starting September 24, 2026, YouTube says Shorts longer than one minute and shorter than three minutes that receive Content ID claims are no longer automatically blocked and may remain playable. Before that date, a claim on a Short of that length could block it.

The same help page restates the three-minute Shorts rule. Facts below are from YouTube's page as read on 2026-09-29.

What does YouTube's page say?

Videos uploaded after October 15, 2024 with a square or vertical aspect ratio and up to three minutes qualify as Shorts (Official Artist Channels: after December 8, 2025). Earlier uploads remain long-form videos.

How do I make a Short between 1 and 3 minutes with Sume?

Models generate 15 to 30 seconds at most, so build the Short from clips. Timeline 1.0 takes an audio spine of 1 to 1800 seconds and up to 200 video[] slots, and outputs MP4 at output sizes up to 2160 per edge. A vertical 1080x1920 output is the default.

Sound comes from the audio spine plus an optional soundtrack.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/timeline-1.0/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: short-001" \
  -d '{
    "audio": {
      "url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/voice.wav",
      "duration_seconds": 24
    },
    "video": [
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/a.mp4", "start": 0, "duration": 12 },
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/b.mp4", "start": 12, "duration": 12 }
    ],
    "output": { "width": 1080, "height": 1920, "fps": 30 }
  }'

Does a Sume-made track avoid claims?

Sume's music docs describe Music 1.0 running Lyria 3.5, but they do not say a generated track is safe from Content ID. Do not assume it is. YouTube's page says claimed Shorts of this length may stay playable, not that claims disappear.

What are the limits of this answer?

This is YouTube's policy as stated on one help page; monetization, revenue splits and claim outcomes are not covered there. Sume does not manage claims or uploads.