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How to Watch YouTube Shorts as Normal Videos

A Shorts link does not have to be watched inside the vertical feed. The same video can usually open in YouTube's standard watch player, where the interface is calmer and the next swipe is not the main action.

Change the Shorts URL manually

A Shorts URL contains the video ID after /shorts/. Copy that ID and place it after /watch?v=. The video itself does not change; only the YouTube player does.

youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_IDyoutube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

Change the Shorts URL manually

  1. Copy the Shorts URL from the address bar.
  2. Replace /shorts/ with /watch?v= and keep the video ID.
  3. Press Enter to load the regular watch page.

Why use the regular player?

The standard player gives you a normal timeline, playback controls, description, comments, and familiar navigation. More importantly, finishing the clip does not leave you inside a swipe-first Shorts feed.

Make the conversion automatic

Unshort watches for Shorts navigation on desktop YouTube and changes the route to the standard watch page. This also works when YouTube navigates without a full page reload, so you do not have to edit every URL by hand.

What to expect

YouTube can change its markup and routes over time. If a link is not converted, reload the tab and check that the redirect switch is enabled. The manual URL method remains a useful fallback.

FAQ

Does changing the URL change the video?

No. It opens the same video ID in a different YouTube player.

Does this work in the YouTube mobile app?

The URL pattern may open in a browser, but Unshort itself is designed for desktop Chrome, not the mobile app.

Remove Shorts automatically

Unshort hides Shorts surfaces and opens Shorts links as regular videos without changing the rest of YouTube.

Add Unshort to Chrome