Cut a 180-second Short into three 60-second trims for $0.06 on Sume

Three Sume video trim jobs, each with duration: 60, split a 180-second master into 60-second parts for $0.06 in total (3 x $0.02). That keeps every upload at one minute, which matters because YouTube says a Short over one minute with an active copyright claim is blocked globally.

YouTube's Shorts help page (read 2026-10-09) says Shorts can now run up to three minutes, and that any Short over one minute with an active claim, including manual ones, will not be playable or recommended and is not eligible for monetization. A part of exactly 60 seconds is not over one minute. This does not remove a claim; it only keeps the part under the length rule.

The three requests

Each trim reads one media.sume.com clip of your workspace and returns a new MP4; the source never changes. start is required, and you send only one of end or duration. Use a distinct Idempotency-Key per part so a retry cannot queue a second job.

[
  {"video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/master.mp4", "start": 0,   "duration": 60},
  {"video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/master.mp4", "start": 60,  "duration": 60},
  {"video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/master.mp4", "start": 120, "duration": 60}
]

Cost and limits

The public rate is $0.02 per trim job, with no provider inference. Limits per the video trim docs: source up to 1800 s, output between 0.2 and 900 s.

Exact or keyframe

The default precision: exact re-encodes frame-accurately, so the three parts butt together without a repeated frame. keyframe is a stream copy that can start a GOP early; if you choose it, re-base your times with the actual_start_seconds field in each result.

A trim that ends past the source is clamped and reports the warning trim_clamped_to_source, which is how the last part behaves if the master is 179.4 s long.

Why not one three-minute upload

Shorts can run to three minutes, so splitting is a choice and not a requirement. It is useful when a master contains music or clips that may draw a claim: a claim on one part then affects one 60-second upload and not the whole three minutes. You can re-upload only that part with new audio. Three separate uploads also give you three sets of retention numbers in YouTube's own analytics, which one three-minute video cannot. You can also swap a single claimed part for a version with replaced audio, using the audio detach and timeline audio routes.

• Audio detach is $0.01 per job and timeline audio is $0.01 per job, so pulling out and re-joining a track adds about $0.02.
• Claims are decided by YouTube; a trim does not change what a rights holder claims.
• Keep a part under 60.0 seconds if you want a margin: a 59-second cut is cheaper in risk than an exact 60.