--- title: "YouTube link import: start an edit from a published video" canonical: "https://blitzreels.com/changelog/start-with-a-youtube-link" --- # YouTube link import: start an edit from a published video Milestone: 2025-10-21 Article published: 2026-09-26 Status: Product update Paste a YouTube link and BlitzReels reads the title, channel and length, then imports the video into your media library, ready to edit or clip. ![A published YouTube episode thumbnail next to a vertical clip from it, ready to edit.](https://blitzreels.com/images/changelog/start-with-a-youtube-link.jpg) ## Your channel is full of source material If you’ve been posting for a while, your channel holds plenty of recordings you could cut into something new: a tutorial that still holds up, a podcast answer people keep asking about, a livestream with one great ten-minute stretch. Before this update, getting one of them into BlitzReels meant downloading the file from YouTube, finding it on your computer and uploading it again. In October 2025 we connected YouTube links to the BlitzReels media library. You paste the link and the video arrives in your workspace as source footage. From there you edit it like any file you uploaded yourself. ## What happens after you paste the link Before anything downloads, BlitzReels reads the video’s details and shows them to you: title, channel, duration and thumbnail. It’s a quick check that you picked the right episode, which helps when a channel has dozens of similar titles. Then you choose a quality and start the import. At launch the choices were 720p, 1080p, 1440p and 4K, with 1080p selected by default. The download runs in the background and the video appears in your media library with its processing progress, so you can keep editing something else while it finishes. Pick the quality with the final clip in mind. A vertical crop keeps only part of the width, so a higher source quality leaves more detail when you crop tight on one person or plan a 4K export. For a quick Short, 1080p is usually enough. ## How to import a YouTube video today Today the shortest path is the “Clip a long video” page, which takes a YouTube link directly: 1. Copy the link of a public YouTube video. 2. Paste it into the link field. BlitzReels reads the title, length and thumbnail. 3. Pick the quality. If the video has dubbed audio tracks, choose the one to keep. 4. Generate clips. The video also stays in your media library, so you can use it in any project in the [online video editor](https://blitzreels.com/editor). The same field accepts TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook links, and [shared Google Drive files](https://blitzreels.com/changelog/from-google-drive-to-your-next-clip) since June 2026. If you paste a link you’ve already imported, BlitzReels reuses the copy in your library instead of downloading it again. ## Ideas for your back catalogue Podcasters can revisit older episodes and turn the strongest answers into [YouTube Shorts](https://blitzreels.com/use-cases/youtube-shorts). Teachers and coaches can split one long lesson into a handful of short explainers. If you post every week, pasting last week’s link is a fast way to start planning this week’s clips. About a week after this update we added [AI clip suggestions](https://blitzreels.com/changelog/long-videos-short-stories), which read the transcript of an imported video and point you to moments that can stand on their own. Your published video isn’t touched. BlitzReels works on its own copy in your workspace, so you can rework it as much as you like. ## Limits and access - YouTube videos can be up to five hours long. - You can start up to 10 link imports per hour. - During a trial, imports stay at 720p and you work with up to 60 minutes of a longer video. Paid plans import up to 4K. - Imports and clip generation use AI credits. [Pricing](https://blitzreels.com/pricing) shows what each plan includes. - From the terminal, blitzreels media import-youtube does the same import. The [CLI documentation](https://blitzreels.com/docs/cli) covers setup. ## Questions ### Can I import a YouTube video into BlitzReels without downloading it first? Yes. Paste the YouTube link on the “Clip a long video” page and BlitzReels downloads the video into your workspace for you. You never need to save the file on your computer. ### How long can an imported YouTube video be? Up to five hours. During a trial you work with up to 60 minutes of a longer video, and paid plans import the whole thing. ### What quality does a YouTube import use? 1080p by default. Paid plans can choose up to 4K when the video exists in that quality, and trial imports stay at 720p. ### Which other video links can BlitzReels import? The same link field accepts TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook videos, plus Google Drive files shared with anyone who has the link. ### What happens if I paste a YouTube link I already imported? BlitzReels finds the video already in your media library and reuses it, so you don’t end up with duplicate copies. ## Give an older video a second run Paste a YouTube link on the clip page and see which moments it turns into vertical clips. [Clip a YouTube video](https://blitzreels.com/clipping) We wrote this story later, looking back at our product history. The date at the top marks the work described here; features and access may have changed since then.