How to Turn a GTA 6 Console Clip Into a Vertical Short
Save the moment on your console, move the file to your phone or computer and open it in ClipCut's Crop Video. Set the start and end, pick 9:16 in the Format row, drag the bright frame onto the action (or pick Fit, blurred edges to keep everything), then press Crop video and download.
From console capture to a clip people will watch
GTA 6 is the kind of game where the best moments happen without warning: a chase that ends in the perfect crash, a stunt that lands, a mission that goes wrong in a funny way. Your console can save those moments after they happen, but the file it gives you is a wide, often long recording that is not ready for a phone feed.
A vertical Short needs three things: only the part worth watching, a 9:16 shape that fills a phone screen, and a file small enough to post or send. This guide does all three with ClipCut in your browser. The file stays on your device and is not uploaded.
The steps work for any game capture. They are written with GTA 6 in mind because its open world, third person camera and wide scenes make the vertical crop a real decision, not just a button press.
Step 1: Save the moment on your console
On PS5, the console keeps recording your recent gameplay in the background. Press the Create button and save recent gameplay right after something good happens. PlayStation's support pages say you can save anywhere from the last 15 seconds up to 1 hour, and that you can change the file type and resolution for video clips in the capture settings (checked November 2026).
On Xbox Series X|S, use the Xbox button and the capture options to record what happened. The available lengths depend on your capture settings, so check Settings on the console for the current choices.
Saving a slightly longer clip than you need is fine. It is easier to cut a minute down to ten seconds than to miss the start of the moment. Console menus and options change with updates, so if a menu name differs on your console, go by what you see there.
Step 2: Get the file onto your phone or computer
ClipCut needs the video file itself on the device you are using. Common routes are the console maker's phone app, a USB drive plugged into the console, or a cloud upload from the console that you then download. Each of these is set up on the console or in the maker's app, and the options can change, so follow the current instructions there.
PS5 clips may arrive as WebM or MP4, depending on your capture settings. ClipCut opens both. If you have a choice, a 1080p clip is quicker to edit in a browser than a 4K one, and it is plenty for a phone screen.
Step 3: Cut it to the good part
1. Open ClipCut's Crop Video and drop in the clip.
2. Press ▶ Play and press ⇤ Start here a moment before the action starts. Press End here ⇥ just after the payoff. You can also drag the handles on the timeline.
3. Tap the Start or End time to choose which point moves, then use −1 s, −0.1, +0.1 and +1 s to fine tune it. The Length readout shows how long the clip will be.
As a suggestion, short game clips often work best when the action begins in the first second or two and the clip ends soon after the payoff. Watch it back and cut anything you would skip yourself. Shorts and Reels both allow clips up to 3 minutes (checked October 2026 on YouTube's and Instagram's help pages), but limits change, so check before posting something long.
Step 4: Make it vertical without losing the action
4. In the Format row, pick 9:16. On a phone, the Format row is under the Shape tab.
5. Choose how to fill the shape. Crop to fill cuts a tall slice out of the middle of the picture. Drag the bright frame sideways onto your character or the car, and the shaded area shows what will be cut off. On a 1920 by 1080 clip, that slice is about 608 pixels wide.
6. Play the whole section with the frame in place. The frame stays in one position for the whole clip, so if the action moves from one side of the screen to the other, part of it will leave the frame.
For wide moments, such as a chase across the screen or a view of the city, pick Fit, blurred edges instead. It keeps the whole picture and fills the space above and below with a blurred copy. Fit, black bars does the same with plain black.
7. Optional: type a short line in the Text box, such as what is about to happen, and pick Top, Mid or Bottom and White, Lemon or Box. Box is easiest to read over a busy game scene. The text is one line and stays for the whole clip.
8. Press Crop video. Use Before and After to compare, then press Download. The file size is on the button. Press Keep editing to move the frame and export again.
Step 5: Shrink it to send
A short cropped clip is often small enough to post. If you want to send it in a chat app, open Compress Video and pick a Target size: Auto (720p), 8, 10, 20, 25, 50 MB or Custom. Discord's help pages give free accounts 20 MB per file and Gmail allows 25 MB of attachments (both checked October 2026). These limits change, so check each service's own help pages.
ClipCut tells you whether the result fits the size you picked, and it refuses a target that is too small for the clip's length. Fast game footage loses detail first at small sizes, so a shorter clip at a sensible size usually looks better than a long clip squeezed small.
Limits and what to do if it fails
The crop frame does not move during the clip and cannot follow your character. If the action travels across the screen, use a Fit option, or export two short sections with the frame placed differently.
Cropping, Fit, Speed and Text re-encode the video to an H.264 MP4. That takes longer than a plain trim, and long or 4K clips are slow in a browser, especially on phones. If ClipCut says your browser ran out of memory, close other tabs, export a shorter section, or use a laptop or desktop in a modern browser.
If you only want to trim and keep the wide shape, pick Original and add no speed or text. ClipCut then copies the video data without re-encoding, so quality is identical. MP4 starts right on time; a WebM clip can start a moment early unless you turn on Exact cut (slower).
If ClipCut notes that the clip uses a codec it cannot decode yet (AV1), plain trims still work but cropping will not. Change the capture file type on the console for future clips, or convert this one to MP4 first.
HDR captures can look duller after a re-encode. ClipCut shows a note when it detects HDR.
Post clips from your own play. Game publishers have their own rules about sharing footage, so check them if you plan to monetize your clips.
Try it on your clip
Free in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and the file is wiped from the page when you close the editor.
Open the Crop Video →