Short over 60 seconds with a copyright claim: cut it to 59 s for $0.02

A YouTube Short that runs longer than one minute and has an active copyright claim of any type is blocked globally, so the practical fix is to publish the claimed version at 60 seconds or less, or to replace the claimed audio. On Sume you can cut a 140-second clip to 59 seconds with one video trim job at $0.02. The claim check itself is YouTube's, so Sume cannot promise a trim clears a claim; it only gets the length under the line where the block rule applies.

What YouTube's rule says

YouTube's help page for longer Shorts says creators can now make Shorts up to three minutes, that square or vertical uploads of up to three minutes are categorized as Shorts, and that any Short over one minute with an active copyright claim, including manual claims, will be blocked globally (read 2026-10-09). The block is tied to length, so a 59-second cut sits outside it.

A claim on the audio can still limit monetization or reach on a short cut. Treat the trim as a way to stay publishable while you dispute or replace the music, not as a substitute for rights.

Cut to 59 seconds

Video trim takes one clip that already lives on media.sume.com, a start, and either an end or a duration. Duration accepts 0.2 to 900 seconds, the source can be up to 1,800 seconds, and the job costs $0.02 flat. The default precision is exact, a frame-accurate re-encode, so the cut starts where you asked.

For a 140-second clip where the best 59 seconds start at 38 seconds, send start 38 and duration 59. The result is a new MP4 and the source is untouched.

When to replace the audio

If the claim is on the music, trimming alone leaves the same audio in the shorter clip. Detach the voice with audio detach ($0.01, wav by default), generate a new bed with Music 1.0 ($0.125 flat per generation), and assemble with Timeline 1.0, which bills $0.10 per output minute, rounded up. A 59-second render is one billed minute.

Timeline soundtrack accepts a bed URL with gain and a duck_db value of 0 to 20, but ducking needs a real audio spine, which the detached voice supplies. Import every file to your workspace first, because the media jobs reject off-host URLs.

Write the music brief for the scene: emotion, genre, tempo as a number, and key. Music 1.0 has no duration parameter, so listen to the result and trim the bed in the render if needed.

• Trim: $0.02 per job, exact precision by default.
• Detach: $0.01 per job, source up to 1,800 seconds.
• Music 1.0: $0.125 flat, a generated track is not a guarantee against claims.
• Timeline: $0.10 per ceil output minute.

What to check before upload

Probe the final file with video inspect (probe and stills are free) to confirm the duration is under 60 seconds and the frame is square or vertical. Then upload and read YouTube's own copyright status in Studio. A clean status is YouTube's decision, not something a render can assert.

A practical note

Keep the original too. Store the uncut clip in your workspace and name the trimmed file with its start and duration, such as start 38 and duration 59, so you can recreate a different cut later without re-importing. If you plan to publish both a 59-second Short and a longer cut to the main channel, trim once for each and compare the claim results separately in Studio. A short cut costs two cents, so there is little reason to guess which version a claim affects.

Before you scale

Every price in this post is a Sume list price read from the public catalog on 2026-10-09, and the arithmetic is shown so you can redo it with your own counts. Rates can change, so re-read the catalog before a large batch and run a small test first. Sume bills the job's captured amount, and the job result tells you what was used, so compare the first run's receipt with your estimate before you scale the work to the full set.