Create & Share Time-Lapse Video Clips

Create shareable time-lapse video clips from your webcam footage. Mark the best moments, render high-quality videos, and share them on social media or your website.

Overview

What Are Clips?

Clips are custom time-lapse videos you create from your webcam footage:

Clip features
Feature Description
Custom selection Choose any start and end point from your footage
Rendered videos MP4 and WebM formats available
Permanent links Clip URLs don’t expire
Shareable Share on social media or embed on websites
YouTube export Auto-upload to your YouTube channel

Clips vs Daily Videos

Daily videos vs clips
Daily Videos Clips
Created Automatically at midnight Manually by you
Duration Full day Up to 1 day (custom)
Selection No choice You choose in/out points
Permanence Rolling storage Kept indefinitely (up to 50)
Sharing Download only Shareable page + download

Creating a Clip

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Go to your webcam page
    • Dashboard → Webcams → Select camera → Show
  2. Navigate to the footage
    • Use the time-lapse player controls
    • Select the day/time range you want
  3. Pause playback
    • Click the pause button or press spacebar
  4. Mark the start point (In)
    • Navigate to where you want the clip to begin
    • Click the Mark In button
  5. Mark the end point (Out)
    • Navigate to where you want the clip to end
    • Click the Mark Out button
  6. Create the clip
    • Click Create Clip
    • Enter a name for your clip
    • Click Save
  7. Wait for rendering
    • Video rendering takes a few minutes
    • Reload the clip page to check status

Clip Settings

Naming Your Clip

Choose a descriptive name that includes:

  • Location or subject
  • Date or event
  • What makes it special

Good examples:

  • “Sunrise over the Alps - Jan 15, 2025”
  • “Construction Progress Week 12”
  • “Storm Rolling In - Dec 2024”

Frame Rate (FPS)

Control how fast your time-lapse plays:

Frame rate options
FPS Speed Best For
5 Slow Detail viewing
10 Medium General time-lapse
15 Normal Recommended default
20 Fast Long periods
25 Very fast Full day in seconds

Tip: You can change the FPS after creation — the video will be re-rendered.

Maximum Duration

Clips can be up to 1 day (24 hours) long.

For longer periods:

  • Create multiple clips
  • Use the daily video feature
  • Create clips from the week/month view

Downloading Clips

Available Formats

After rendering, download your clip in multiple formats:

Download formats
Format Extension Best For
MP4 .mp4 Universal playback, sharing
WebM .webm Web embedding, smaller size

How to Download

  1. Go to your clip page
  2. Wait for rendering to complete (reload if needed)
  3. Click the download link for your preferred format

Video Quality

Clip quality depends on your captured images:

  • Resolution matches your source images
  • H.264 encoding for MP4
  • VP8/VP9 encoding for WebM

Sharing Clips

Social Media Sharing

The clip page is optimized for social sharing:

  • Works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
  • Direct link sharing

Embedding on Your Website

Use the video URL directly in an HTML5 video player:

<video controls width="640" height="480">
  <source src="https://webcam.io/clips/CLIP-ID/video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <source src="https://webcam.io/clips/CLIP-ID/video.webm" type="video/webm">
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

YouTube Export

Automatic Upload

If you have YouTube integration enabled, clips can be automatically uploaded:

  1. Enable YouTube integration
    • Dashboard → Integrations → YouTube → Authorize
  2. Enable clip upload for webcam
    • Dashboard → Webcams → Edit → Exports section
    • Check “Upload clips to YouTube”
  3. Create clip
    • New clips are automatically uploaded

Manual YouTube Upload

If auto-upload isn’t enabled: 1. Download the MP4 file 2. Upload manually to YouTube Studio 3. Add title, description, and tags

Managing Clips

Clip Limits

Clip limits
Limit Value
Maximum clips per webcam 50
Maximum duration 1 day
Storage Permanent (within limit)

When you exceed 50 clips, the oldest clips are automatically deleted.

Editing Clips

After creation, you can change:

  • Name — Update the clip title
  • Frame rate — Change FPS (triggers re-render)

You cannot change:

  • In/Out points (create a new clip instead)
  • Source footage

Deleting Clips

  1. Go to the clip page
  2. Click Delete (if you’re the owner)
  3. Confirm deletion
Warning

Deletion is permanent — the clip cannot be recovered.

Use Cases

Construction Progress

Create weekly or monthly clips showing project advancement:

  1. Set capture interval to 5-15 minutes
  2. At end of each week, create a clip
  3. Share with stakeholders or clients
  4. Build a collection showing full project timeline

Weather Events

Capture storms, sunsets, or unusual weather:

  1. Notice interesting weather approaching
  2. After the event, navigate to that time
  3. Create clip of the event
  4. Share on social media

Seasonal Highlights

Document seasonal changes:

  • Spring: Flowers blooming
  • Summer: Peak activity
  • Fall: Foliage changes
  • Winter: Snow accumulation

Best Moments Collection

Create a highlights reel:

  1. Review your footage regularly
  2. Clip the best moments (sunrises, wildlife, etc.)
  3. Name clips descriptively
  4. Share your best clips on your website

Troubleshooting

Video not rendering

Symptoms: “Rendering” status doesn’t change

Solutions:

  • Wait longer (complex clips take more time)
  • Reload the page
  • Check that source footage exists for the selected range

Poor video quality

Causes:

  • Low-resolution source images
  • High compression on source

Solutions:

  • Increase camera resolution
  • Increase JPEG quality in camera settings
  • Use shorter clips for better quality

Clip appears too fast/slow

Solution: Change the FPS setting:

  1. Go to clip page
  2. Click Edit
  3. Adjust frame rate
  4. Save (video re-renders)

Can’t create clip

Possible issues:

  • Not logged in
  • Not the webcam owner
  • Selected range has no images

Tips for Great Clips

Choosing Good Moments

Look for:

  • Weather changes — Clouds, storms, clearing skies
  • Lighting transitions — Sunrise, sunset, golden hour
  • Activity — People, vehicles, wildlife
  • Seasonal changes — Snow, leaves, growth
  • Unusual events — Rare occurrences worth preserving

Optimal Settings

Recommended clip settings
Scenario Recommended FPS Clip Length
Sunrise/sunset 15-20 30-60 min footage
Full day overview 25 Full day
Construction weekly 15 1 week of footage
Weather event 10-15 Duration of event
Detailed activity 5-10 Short period

Naming Convention

Use consistent naming for easy organization:

[Location] - [Subject] - [Date]

Examples:
"Mountain View - Sunrise - 2025-01-15"
"Site A - Week 12 Progress - Mar 2025"
"Beach Cam - Storm - 2025-01-10"

Next Steps

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