Narrate a 3-minute Short: Sume TTS, word timings and 60 s caption cuts
YouTube allows three-minute Shorts. A plan with Sume: one TTS request under 20,000 characters, word timings, and caption jobs in pieces of 60 seconds or less.
YouTube Help says Shorts can be up to three minutes (read 2026-10-03). On Sume, narrate one with a single tts_create request (the transcript limit is 20,000 characters, far above what three minutes of speech needs), ask for timestamps.words, and cut the captions into pieces of 60 seconds or less, because Sume's caption job covers videos up to 60 seconds. At $0.0475 per 1,000 characters, a 3,000-character script costs $0.1425 before the minimum applies.
The plan
The listed rates are in the Sume catalog, and you should confirm them live with GET /v1/catalog.
| Step | Surface | Limit or price |
|---|---|---|
| Voiceover | tts_create | Up to 20,000 characters; $0.0475 per 1,000 characters |
| Word timings | timestamps.words true | Returns words[] with start and end |
| Captions | POST /v1/video-captions | Up to 60 seconds per video, $0.20 each |
| Join | Timeline 1.0 | $0.10 per output minute, rounded up |
Cutting at 60 seconds
Split the words[] list at a sentence end near each 60-second mark, subtract the piece's start time from every start and end, and send each piece as words. Three pieces make three caption jobs. Then join the captioned pieces in Timeline. See the captions guide for the word limits.
Sources
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Written by Sume