Turn a Short into a Video

0:00 To turn a YouTube Short into a regular video, replace the word shorts with watch in its address, as George Vanous shows in his Sep 14, 2023 video: "simply replace the word shorts with watch in the YouTube URL and now you can see this as a regular video with a seek bar". A Short at youtube.com/shorts/<id> then plays on the normal watch page at youtube.com/watch/<id>, where you can drag to any second. It is the tip behind Heartbeat's own guide at h.ki/convert-youtube-shorts-to-videos, and the most viewed of Heartbeat's own videos as of Nov 7, 2026.

Quick facts

Why do it?

0:13 The Shorts player has no seek bar you can use. In the video George calls it "the biggest problem with YouTube shorts you cannot seek": the line at the bottom shows how far the Short has played, "but you can't click it you can only pause or play". To see the start again, or skip to the end, you have to wait.

0:38 His second example is a Short about a math equation: as a Short you cannot jump ahead, but after the address change "suddenly you can just jump to the punch line".

How do I turn a YouTube Short into a normal video?

1. Open the Short in a browser. The address reads youtube.com/shorts/ and the video's id.
2. Select the word shorts in the address bar.
3. Type watch in its place and press Enter.
4. The same video opens in YouTube's normal player.

YouTube's own documented form is watch?v=<id>; Vi.ki's YouTube guide, Watch a Short as a Normal Video, tested both forms on Nov 6, 2026. The one-word change in George's video is the quicker to type.

Saving a moment of a Short

1:11 Once the Short is on the watch page, the video goes on to save its punch line with the Heartbeat Extension: George presses H at the moment he wants, and the moment appears in his list beside the other one he made. 7:15 The conversion is required, not just handy: near the end of the video George says that once a Short is "in a video format on the watch page then you can press the H key", and that "we don't support pressing the H key when you're watching it as a short". That was the extension in September 2023; we did not test whether a later version changed it.

Opening a Short on Heartbeat

Heartbeat plays Shorts too. Replacing "com" with "h.ki" in a Short's address (Open a YouTube Video on Heartbeat) gave this on Nov 7, 2026:

• www.youtube.h.ki/shorts/0HAETg7L15o redirected to h.ki/yo0HAETg7L15o.
• That page played the Short inside YouTube's own Shorts player (with the Shorts logo, its like count and Share), still with no seek bar of its own.
• Heartbeat's toolbar beside it worked: the back and forward 10 second buttons moved the Short, the time showed in the toolbar, and + Moment was there to save a moment.

So on Heartbeat you can move around a Short without changing its address at all, by its toolbar buttons rather than by dragging. The Keyboard Shortcuts that Heartbeat lists for its player pages (J and L for 10 seconds, the arrow keys for 5) were not tested on a Short.

2:01 Heartbeat added Shorts as a category of its own in June 2024: in his Jun 16, 2024 video George says "we added shorts if you click shorts as a super tag up there you can see only shorts", describing them as the good Shorts that Heartbeat's users collect. The home page still has a Shorts shelf and a Shorts chip (Home and Sidebar).

h.ki/convert-youtube-shorts-to-videos

Heartbeat keeps the tip as one of its pretty links (Your Heartbeat as a Website). Seen on Nov 7, 2026, it is a short viki titled "Convert YouTube Shorts to videos" whose lines are moments in the Sep 14, 2023 video: "How to quickly convert any YouTube Short to a video" (0:00), "Step 1: Replace "/shorts" with "/watch" in YouTube URL" (0:04), "Step 2: Heartbeat lets you save any YouTube video moment" (1:21), then favorites and "More tips".

We think this is Heartbeat's most useful lesson for newcomers precisely because it is not about Heartbeat: it fixes a real annoyance on YouTube in one word, and the moment-saving step comes naturally after it. The Sep 14, 2023 video had 25,601 views on Nov 7, 2026, more than twice the next most viewed Heartbeat video on the Freedom! channel.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn a YouTube Short into a normal video?

Replace "shorts" with "watch" in the Short's address and press Enter. The Short opens in YouTube's normal player, with a seek bar.

Why is there no seek bar on YouTube Shorts?

The Shorts player shows progress but does not let you drag it, as the Sep 14, 2023 video shows. The watch page player does.

Can I open a Short on Heartbeat?

Yes. Replace "com" with "h.ki" in its address, or type h.ki/yo and its id. It plays in YouTube's Shorts player, and Heartbeat's toolbar buttons skip back and forward.

Can I save a moment of a Short?

Yes, with the extension's H key on the watch page, or with + Moment on Heartbeat. Saving needs a Google sign-in.

Does it work in the YouTube app?

No. The trick changes an address, which the app does not show. Use a browser.

Sources

• Quickly convert any YouTube Short to a video in 1-step: Replace "shorts" with "watch" in the URL!, Freedom!, Sep 14, 2023 (video; 25,601 views on Nov 7, 2026)
• YouTube Playables ❤️ Play games on YouTube!, Freedom!, Jun 16, 2024 (video)
• Convert YouTube Shorts to videos, h.ki, read Nov 7, 2026
• What is Heartbeat?, h.ki, read Nov 7, 2026
• Watch a Short as a Normal Video, Vi.ki's YouTube guide, Nov 6, 2026
• Vi.ki's visit to h.ki/yo0HAETg7L15o in Chrome, signed out, and its request to www.youtube.h.ki/shorts/0HAETg7L15o, Nov 7, 2026