Shorts
On this page
Shorts are short, upright videos watched one a screen: swipe or scroll to the next, the way people know from YouTube Shorts, Reels and TikTok. The plugin gives them their own full-screen player, a shelf on the home page, a place in the main menu, a tab on channel pages and in the Studio, and advertisements between and before them.
Switching it on
Shorts is sold as a premium plugin on license.faruk.bd (addon code shorts). Make sure your licence includes it: buy it there, then press Check again now on Admin → License; the addon then shows in the Addons row of that page. After that, switch it on at Admin → Plugins.
Switching it off keeps the list of which videos are Shorts; they simply show as ordinary videos until it is on again.
How a video becomes a Short
The upload wizard, the member's edit page and the admin's video editor all get a Shorts choice:
| Choice | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Decide for me | Offered on new uploads. An upright video no longer than the limit goes to Shorts by itself; any other stays a video. |
| Video | In the ordinary lists, the channel page and search, as usual. |
| Short | Only in the Shorts player. |
| Video and Short | In both places. Views, likes and comments are one set. |
"Upright" means taller than wide. With FFmpeg set up, FFmpeg reads the size; without it, the size is read from the MP4 file's own header, so only MP4 uploads are recognised (Video conversion). A video imported from another site becomes a Short when its link is a Short, Reel or TikTok, or when it came upright, up to three minutes long.
Where Shorts appear
- The Shorts player at
/plugins/shorts/feed(one Short:/plugins/shorts/feed?v=ID). Each Short plays full screen and loops, with like, dislike, comments, share, sound and the channel's subscribe button. Arrow keys (orj/k) move between Shorts on a computer. - Shorts in the main menu, beside Home and Trending, and in the phone tab bar.
- A Shorts shelf on the home page: the newest Shorts as upright cards. Place or move it as the Shorts block on Admin → Settings → Home page.
- A Shorts tab on channel pages, beside Videos, on every channel that has Shorts (the owner always sees it).
- A Shorts tab in the member's Studio (Studio); Shorts-only videos are kept out of the Videos tab.
- Mobile API routes
shortsandshorts/{uid}for apps (Mobile API).
Old PlayTube links to /shorts/... lead to the Shorts player after a PlayTube Migration, and PlayTube Shorts stay Shorts when they come across.
The admin page
Admin → Shorts (admin/plugin.php?code=shorts) shows how many Shorts there are, the views on them, the time limit, and whether upright videos are recognised by FFmpeg or the File header.
How Shorts work
- Longest a Short may run (seconds) - default 60; YouTube allows up to 180 now.
- Shorts on the home page shelf - 4 to 30, default 10.
- Recognise Shorts by themselves - an upright upload within the limit becomes a Short without anybody ticking the box.
- Keep Shorts out of the normal video lists - as YouTube does. A Video and Short stays in the ordinary lists too.
- A Shorts tab on channel pages, Shorts shelf on the home page, Shorts in the main menu.
The player and the advertisements
- Play Shorts in the AIO Player - every Short in the feed becomes an AIO Player, with the same advertisements, watermark, gestures and settings menu as the watch page, and a small gear in the corner instead of the bar of buttons. It needs the Player plugin; off, the feed plays plain video elements.
- An advertisement between Shorts every … Shorts - default 4. An item of its own in the feed, from the Between Shorts placement of Advertising & Monetization. 0 = never.
- A promoted Short every … Shorts - default 5. A Short its owner is promoting (Admin → Promotions), marked Promoted. 0 = never.
- An advertisement before a Short every … Shorts - default 3. A skippable pre-roll inside the player, from the Before the video advertisements and promoted videos. Needs the AIO Player. 0 = never.
Open the Shorts player shows the result.
Tools
- Find Shorts among existing videos → Scan now looks at up to 500 videos stored on this server that are not Shorts yet and makes every upright one within the limit a Short, newest first.
- Make one video a Short - paste a video link, ID or number; tick Keep it among the ordinary videos too for Video and Short.
- The Shorts list shows each Short with its channel, length, views and where it shows (Shorts only or Video and Short, recognised or chosen), with Also as a video / Shorts only and Make ordinary.
A typical set-up
- Switch the plugin on and set FFmpeg up, so any upright upload is recognised.
- Press Scan now once to turn existing upright videos into Shorts.
- Check that the Shorts block sits where you want it on the home page.
- With Advertising & Monetization on, make a campaign in Between Shorts or Before the video and set how often they come.
Honest limits
- Without FFmpeg only MP4 uploads are recognised as upright; set the choice to Short by hand for other files.
- Scan now only looks at files stored on this server.
- Mid-roll breaks do not happen in Shorts; Shorts only get the pre-roll set above.