Woven

How to make a YouTube video

Last updated 2026-10-20

To make a video for YouTube, pick one idea and a title that promises it, outline the points, and record in landscape with clear sound. Edit out dead air, add B-roll, captions and quiet music. Export an MP4 at 1080p or 1440p, make a 16:9 thumbnail, and upload it from YouTube Studio with Create, then Upload videos.

Pick the idea, title and outline

Start with one promise. Finish this sentence: after this video, the viewer can do or understand one thing. If the sentence needs an "and", you have two videos.

Write the title next, in plain words that say what the video delivers. YouTube allows up to 100 characters, but shorter titles are easier to take in.

Then outline in three parts: a hook that shows what the viewer gets, the points in the order you will make them, and an ending that says what to watch next. Script the hook and the ending word for word. Speak the middle from bullet points so it sounds like you.

Record in landscape with usable sound

Film in landscape for a regular video. YouTube files a square or vertical video of up to three minutes as a Short.

Sound matters more than the camera. Put a microphone close to you, record ten seconds, and listen on headphones before the full take.

Keep the frame rate you shot at. YouTube says to upload at the frame rate you recorded, so there is no reason to convert 30 fps footage to 60.

Film cutaway shots while the set is still up: the product, the screen, the room. Woven does not record, so use the camera app or recorder you already have and bring the files in.

Edit with cuts, B-roll, captions and music

Work in passes. Cut the recording down to what you will keep, then add pictures, then sound, then captions, and play it through once at the end.

  • Cuts. Remove false starts, long pauses and repeated takes.
  • B-roll. Show each thing you name while your voice keeps playing, and return to your face for opinions.
  • Music. Keep it low under the voice and fade it out at the end. Bring a licensed file of your own, since Woven has no music library.
  • Captions. Add them after the cut is final, so the timing matches what you kept.

Thumbnail basics

The thumbnail is the picture viewers see before they choose your video. YouTube recommends a 16:9 image as a JPG or PNG, 3840 by 2160 pixels, with a minimum width of 640 pixels. The size limit is 2 MB on mobile and 50 MB on desktop. Your account must be verified to upload a custom thumbnail.

Design for a small screen: one clear subject, a face if you have one, and at most three words. Let the thumbnail and the title each add something instead of repeating each other.

Woven exports video only, so make the thumbnail as an image elsewhere. Its agent can generate an image from a prompt, and it lands in your workspace as a file.

Export settings and upload

Export an MP4 with H.264 video. The table sets the settings YouTube recommends next to what Woven writes. At 24 to 30 fps, Woven's bitrate is higher than YouTube's recommendation, and Woven offers 1080p or 1440p with no 4K.

  • Open Studio. Sign in to YouTube Studio, click Create, then Upload videos, and select your file.
  • Add details. Enter a title of up to 100 characters and a description of up to 5,000.
  • Set the audience. Say whether the video is made for kids.
  • Choose visibility. Pick Private, Unlisted or Public, or schedule it, then click Save.
YouTube's recommended upload settings and Woven's export
SettingYouTube recommendsWoven exports
ContainerMP4MP4
Video codecH.264, progressive scanH.264, High profile
Frame rateSame as recorded24, 25, 30, 50, 60 or 120 fps
Video bitrate, 1080p at 24 to 30 fps8 Mbps24 Mbps average
Video bitrate, 1440p at 24 to 30 fps16 Mbps24 Mbps average

Edit your YouTube video in Woven

Woven is a Mac app with an AI agent and a timeline, and it needs macOS 15 or later. Set the canvas to 16:9, edit by hand or by chat, and export an MP4. The Export button offers 1080p or 1440p. An export requested in chat always renders at 1080p. Woven does not record video or voice, does not export caption files, and has no stock footage.

Ask in chat

  • Remove the long pauses and false starts, using the transcript.
  • Use the clips in my media folder as cutaways each time I mention the app.
  • Add captions and keep them at the bottom.
  • Put my music file under the whole video at a low volume and fade it out at the end.

Or do it by hand

  1. 1Import and set the canvas. Drop your main recording on the timeline, or use Add, then Video. Then pick Horizontal 1920x1080 from the toolbar's Format menu.
  2. 2Cut. Put the playhead where a cut starts and press ⌘B, trim by dragging clip edges, and press Delete on what you do not need. Delete leaves a gap, so drag later clips left.
  3. 3Add B-roll. Drag each cutaway from Finder onto the Picture track at the moment it belongs, so it sits on a row above your recording. Select one and press M if its own sound gets in the way.
  4. 4Captions and music. Generate captions sits in the Add menu; after it runs, choose a look in the Style tab's Caption style. Bring music in with Add, then Audio, and lower it with Volume.
  5. 5Export. Open the Export menu, choose 1080p or 1440p, and find the MP4 in your workspace's exports folder.

Common questions

Sources

Try Woven free for 3 days

Then $25/mo billed yearly ($299/yr) or $39/month. Native Mac app for short-form video.

Download for Mac

Paste into Claude Code to install and connect Woven.

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