YouTube Shorts Green Screen feature: What is it and how does it work? All you need to know

YouTube has added a new feature for creators who make Shorts on the platform. The feature is called Green Screen and it will allow users to use videos on the platform as backgrounds for their Shorts. In the official announcement, Google mentions that "any video that is created with Green Screen will be attributed back to the original creator's source video with a link within the Shorts player, which provides a new way for your content to be discovered." If creators don't want their videos to be used by others, they can opt-out of the feature in YouTube Studio. 

How does YouTube Green Screen work?

As and when the feature is rolled out for users, they will be able to use an eligible YouTube video or Shorts as a background for their Shorts video. It is just like how a green screen functions - helps to add a different background to videos. The idea here is to simulate the results of a green screen with the help of artificial intelligence and edge-detection technology. Coming back to the YouTube Green Screen feature, creators will be able to make videos using both the audio + video or video-only (using the audio from the original video).

To use the new Green Screen feature, users should open a Short and tap on the 'Create' icon beside 'Share.' Thereafter, select 'Green Screen' from the menu that appears and start recording an original video over. Using the image processing capability of the smartphone, the Green Screen feature separates the creator's original background from the recorded video and replaces it with the video selected. "The max length you can create with is 60 seconds." 

YouTube Shorts green screen feature release date

The announcement for the feature came out on May 11. As mentioned on the official support page. the YouTube Green Screen feature is rolling out for the YouTube app on iOS. Google also mentions that the feature will be available for all iOS users over the next couple of weeks, so all users might see it yet. IN the coming months, the feature will be released to Android users as well.