# Free YouTube Shorts templates

> Vertical templates that turn a clip or an idea into a Short in minutes. Edit the text, add your footage and export straight to 1080p.

- Page: https://cutluma.com/templates/for/youtube-shorts
- 417 templates; each opens in the editor with a free account and exports as MP4.

Shorts are vertical 9:16 videos up to a few minutes long, and they are watched in the same swipe-through feed as TikTok but by a YouTube audience that often arrives from a longer video. The templates here are sized at 1080 × 1920 and lean towards what works on Shorts: kinetic hooks, 3-2-1 countdowns, quiz and myth-versus-fact cards, chapter titles that cut a long tutorial into a bite, and subscribe or “part 2” outros that send people to your channel.

Many Shorts start life as a clip from a longer video. Open a template, drop the clip in as the background, keep the animated heading and trim to the moment that matters. If you are making a Short from scratch, the lists, tips and “did you know?” designs give you a structure to type into. Add your voice track or a music bed, export as MP4 and upload with #Shorts from YouTube Studio or the phone app.

## Templates (first 40 of 417; the full list is at https://cutluma.com/templates.md)

- [Text conversation](https://cutluma.com/templates/text-convo) — 9:16, 12 s, Trending formats: A dark-mode chat that plays out message by message, with typing dots before each reply. Rewrite the messages — it is the story-time format everyone stops scrolling for.
- [Notes app list](https://cutluma.com/templates/notes-list) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: The “things I’m doing this year” notes-app screenshot, brought to life: the title writes itself, items tick in one by one and a highlighter marks the best one.
- [Search bar hook](https://cutluma.com/templates/search-hook) — 9:16, 7 s, Trending formats: Open with the question your audience is typing. The query types itself into a search bar on cobalt graph paper, then your answer lands.
- [Photo dump](https://cutluma.com/templates/photo-dump) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Polaroids drop onto warm paper with handwritten captions. Put your photos on a track under the frames — or keep the colour blocks for a moodboard.
- [Receipt list](https://cutluma.com/templates/receipt) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Your month, week or launch as a till receipt sliding up on cherry red — line items, dotted leaders, a total and a barcode. Great for recaps and price lists.
- [This or that](https://cutluma.com/templates/this-or-that) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: Pink-and-red colour clash with a tilting split and a bouncing “or”. Ask your audience to pick a side — the comments do the rest.
- [Top 5 ranking](https://cutluma.com/templates/top-5) — 9:16, 11 s, Trending formats: A countdown list on butter and espresso: big outlined numbers, items revealed from five to one, and number one in cherry red.
- [Loading era](https://cutluma.com/templates/loading) — 9:16, 6 s, Trending formats: “Loading my 2026 era…” on a frosted-glass card over liquid lilac, with a lime progress bar that fills as the video plays. Short, loopable, made for Reels.
- [Lock screen](https://cutluma.com/templates/lock-screen) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: An iPhone-style lock screen on a warm aura: big 9:41 clock, then notifications stack in — 1M views, Mom, a payout, a brand call. Rewrite the alerts to tell your win in four pings.
- [Tier list](https://cutluma.com/templates/tier-list) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: The S-to-D tier list on a charcoal board: coloured tier labels slide in, then items drop into their rows one by one. Swap the emoji and captions to rank anything.
- [Expectation vs reality](https://cutluma.com/templates/expect-reality) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Two taped panels: a calm matcha “expectation” with a tidy routine, then a tomato-red “reality” slams in with shaking, crooked stickers. Rewrite both halves for any plan-vs-truth joke.
- [Incoming call](https://cutluma.com/templates/facetime) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: An incoming video call from “Future You”: pulsing rings, decline and a pulsing accept — then it connects, a timer runs and captions deliver the message. Rename the caller for any reveal.
- [POV caption](https://cutluma.com/templates/pov-caption) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: The classic TikTok text look: white rounded boxes with bold black text, popping in line by line. Drop your clip underneath and rewrite the POV.
- [Summer in letters](https://cutluma.com/templates/summer-letters) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: A summer recap where your photo or video fills giant SUM/MER letters on warm paper, with a serif title and a date stamp. Drop your best beach clip onto the word.
- [Wrapped story](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-wrapped-story) — 9:16, 12 s, Trending formats: A three-scene wrapped-style year story: ON REPEAT on lime with an equaliser, then cobalt with your #1 song and its album art, then pink with minutes listened and a top-0.5% card. Story bars tick along the top; swap in your own stats.
- [DM request](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-dm-request) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A message request playing out like a screenshot: typing dots, the “were we on the same flight?” opener, a finger tapping Accept and your reply bubble. Rewrite the messages for any story-time video.
- [Boarding pass recap](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-ticket-recap) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A boarding pass that recaps a chapter instead of a flight: FROM burnout TO Lisbon, seat 14A window, baggage “emotional, 23 kg”, status HEALED, a barcode stub and a NO RETURN stamp. Drop a trip photo in the top frame.
- [Swipe card](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-swipe-card) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: A dating-app card for whatever you’re selling: full-height photo frame, name and distance, a two-line bio, chips, then a LIKE stamp as the card swipes right and IT’S A MATCH bursts over the next card. Drop two photos.
- [AI chat](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-ai-chat) — 9:16, 11 s, Trending formats: A dark glass chat window where you prompt an AI and it types a too-honest answer: thinking state, a four-line bio, copy and regenerate buttons and your “funnier.” follow-up. Rewrite both sides for any “I asked AI to…” video.
- [Mood chart](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-mood-chart) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A trading-app screen for $MOOD: the price rolls up, a green line draws itself across the week with a “skipped gym” dip and a “payday” spike, range tabs and Sell / Buy more buttons. Rename the ticker and the annotations.
- [Song identified](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-song-found) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: A song-identifying app mid-listen: pulsing white rings on blue, Listening… then Identifying… decode, and a result card slides up with album art, title and Open in Music. Name the song everyone asks you about.
- [App Store me](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-app-listing) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: Yourself as an app-store listing: icon, GET button, 4.9-star ratings row, three screenshot frames and a “What’s New” changelog of your personal updates. Swap the name, the notes and the review from Mom.
- [Screen time report](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-screen-time) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A dark-mode weekly screen-time report: the daily average rolls up, stacked bars rise for every day and a Most Used list fills with app icons and usage bars. Confess your real numbers or fake better ones.
- [On this day](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-on-this-day) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A memories-app flashback on espresso: “1 year ago” in italic serif over a big cream-bordered photo, hearts floating in, then a small “now” polaroid tilting in over it. Drop the photo from a year ago and one from today.
- [Thread](https://cutluma.com/templates/thread-post) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A dark-mode social thread: three posts joined by a thread line, words appearing as if typed, like and repost counts rolling up and a reply being written. Put your hot take in it.
- [Poll sticker](https://cutluma.com/templates/poll-sticker) — 9:16, 8 s, Social posts: A story poll sticker on a pink-and-orange checker: a finger taps, the bars fill and the percentages count up. Change the question and both answers.
- [Ask me anything](https://cutluma.com/templates/ask-me) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A question-box sticker on lilac — “ask me anything” header, the follower’s question — then your answer lands big underneath with a lime highlight. Perfect for Q&A replies.
- [Red flag / green flag](https://cutluma.com/templates/red-flags) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: Cherry over sage: red flags and green flags pop in turn by turn, with swinging flags behind them. Edit the six chips for dating, hiring, brands or creators.
- [We’re hiring](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-hiring) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A Swiss-style hiring post: giant cobalt WE’RE HIRING, a job card with role, location and salary, perk chips popping in and a spinning stamp. Edit the role and perks, link your application form in bio.
- [Behind the scenes](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-bts-film) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A film strip creeping through the gate: serif “Behind the scenes” title, three photo frames with edge codes, sticky-note captions and a REC counter. Drop your set photos and candid clips.
- [Follower milestone](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-follower-count) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A bubblegum thank-you post: your profile pic, 10,000 rolling up in chunky 3D type, a “we did it” seal and a card of new-follower notifications. Change the number for any milestone.
- [Giveaway rules](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-giveaway) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: Tomato-red giveaway post: GIVE / AWAY slams in, a big prize photo frame, a “worth $180” sticker and a sky-blue how-to-enter checklist that ticks itself off. Swap the prize and the rules.
- [Link in bio](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-link-in-bio) — 9:16, 8 s, Social posts: A story overlay that points everyone to your profile: hand-drawn and sticker arrows aim at your avatar, LINK IN BIO lands in big butter type and a link sticker pulses. Drop your video underneath.
- [Reply to comment](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-reply-comment) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: The reply-to-comment video: a white comment card drops in with the follower’s question and a beating heart, then your answer slams in on lime and white boxes. Drop your reply clip underneath and paste in the real comment.
- [New post on the grid](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-grid-tease) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A profile page fills in — avatar, stats counting up, bio, Follow button — then the grid loads tile by tile and the newest post zooms in with a lime ring and a NEW seal. Drop your nine photos and the new post.
- [Community poll](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-yt-poll) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A dark-mode YouTube community poll: channel header, the question, four options whose bars fill and percentages count up, a check on the winner and the like / comment / share row. Change the options and the numbers.
- [Pinterest pin](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-pin-save) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A Pinterest-style pin: a tall photo frame with an italic title overlay, the creator row, a pulsing red Save pill that a finger taps, then “Saved to balcony ideas” slides up. Swap the photo, title and board name.
- [BeReal moment](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-bereal) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: The dual-camera post: a “Time to BeReal” alert, the back-camera frame pops in, the selfie flips into the corner with a “late by 14 min” tag, then friends’ RealMojis pile up. Drop both shots.
- [This week’s posts](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-week-schedule) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A content calendar on a cream card: “this week on the account”, Mon–Sun rows with day tags, a lime highlight on the live Q&A, a check on what is already posted and a taped “subject to chaos” note. Rewrite your week.
- [Caption this](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-caption-this) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: An engagement post on butter yellow: CAPTION THIS slams in, a tilted photo frame, then three white comment bubbles with funny captions pop over it and a “best one gets pinned” sticker. Drop the photo.

## Tips

- **Cut a Short from the long video first** — Pick the 30 seconds with the clearest payoff, drop it under a hook template and add a text layer that names the full video. A Short that points somewhere keeps new viewers on the channel.
- **Use chapter titles for repurposed tutorials** — The chapter and lesson title templates make a long how-to feel designed for Shorts. Open with the step number, show the step, and end with the next one to tease the series.
- **End with a reason to subscribe** — The subscribe bell and “part 2” outro designs are short and loop well. Give the viewer one sentence about what the next Short covers rather than a generic ask.

## FAQ

**What is the right size for a YouTube Short?**

Shorts are 9:16, which is 1080 × 1920 pixels. All templates on this page are built vertical at that size.

**Are the Shorts templates free to use?**

Yes. Open and edit any template with a free account and export a 1080p MP4 with a small watermark. Paid plans export clean, and Pro can export 4K.

**Can I make a Short from my existing YouTube video?**

Yes. Import the long MP4, trim the part you want, place it under a vertical template and drag to reframe. Nothing is uploaded to an installer or desktop app; it all runs in the browser.

**Do I need to install anything?**

No. CutLuma runs in desktop Chrome, Edge and Firefox. You sign up for a free account and start editing in the tab.
