Clipping glossary

Terms

Clip

A short, self-contained piece of a longer stream or video, cut so it makes sense on its own. For TikTok, Shorts and Reels a clip is vertical (9:16), usually 15 to 60 seconds, with captions burned in because most people watch without sound.

VOD

Video on demand: the saved recording of a live stream. On Twitch it's a past broadcast, kept about 7 days on most channels. Clipping from the VOD gives a clean cut; clips made by viewers during the stream are often cut a little late.

Clipper

Someone who cuts streams or long videos into short clips and posts them, either for the creator or on their own accounts. Many clippers are paid per view through clipping campaigns.

Clipping campaign

A paid program where a creator or brand pays clippers per view for posting clips of their content, usually with rules on hooks, overlays and #ad disclosure. Campaigns are run on platforms like Whop.

Chat spike

A moment when a stream's chat suddenly moves faster than its usual pace. Spikes mark where viewers reacted, which makes them a reliable signal for where a clip should be. Crowdcut measures spikes against each channel's own recent pace.

Chat replay

The stream's chat, saved and replayed alongside the VOD. Twitch and YouTube keep it for past streams, so it can be read after the stream to find the moments chat reacted to.

Hook

The short line on the first seconds of a clip that tells a viewer why to keep watching. Hooks should be written fresh for each clip: a templated line repeated across videos can get an account limited.

Facecam layout

A vertical layout for gaming clips with the streamer's webcam stacked over zoomed gameplay, so both fit in a 9:16 frame. Crowdcut's Gaming Stack style finds the camera automatically.

Burned-in captions

Captions drawn into the video image, so they show everywhere the clip is posted. Word-by-word captions highlight each word as it's spoken.

9:16

The vertical aspect ratio used by TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, usually 1080×1920 pixels. A 16:9 stream has to be reframed to fit it.

Live clipping

Cutting clips while a stream is still live, instead of from the VOD afterwards. Crowdcut does this on Twitch in beta by following chat and cutting from the in-progress broadcast.

Highlight

On Twitch, a longer saved section of a past broadcast that doesn't expire like the VOD. Saving a highlight is how to keep footage past the VOD window.

Export pack

A download with the finished clip and everything to paste into an upload form: title, description or caption, and tags. Crowdcut's YouTube path uses export packs.