YouTube has just released a new video editor that lets you create video mashups and edit down clips from your library of existing video uploads. The feature should be rolled out to all YouTube users by the end of the day.

The new service enables you to edit together separate clips, as well as add or change the background music using YouTube’s commercial AudioSwap library of licensed songs. As of right now, the service and its features are pretty basic, but could prove valuable for users that either want to create longer montages or playlists, or do basic editing jobs.

As CNET notes, services like the YouTube editor showcase Google’s commitment to creating a suite of web-based creative tools. While limited in scope right now, we could actually see a more advanced version of the YouTube video editor being integrated into Chrome OS as a purely-web based video solution.

Simplicity for the Smartphone/Flip Sector

---

As we said, the features of the YouTube video editor are pretty basic. You can trim individual clips and then arrange them in a timeline. You can also adjust the audio as a separate track. When you are finished creating your new clip, you can publish the new file directly to YouTube.

We spoke with Rushabh Doshi and Josh Siegel from YouTube about the new editor to get a sense of why it was created and who it is intended to serve. As Doshi, a Google and YouTube engineer said, “we wanted something really, really easy for our users to use.” To that end, the simple featureset is intentional. YouTube has found that users often just want to trim their videos or create longer montages from a number of clips.

The new YouTube video editor is really geared towards individuals who are taking video on a Flip camera or on their smartphones. If you’ve ever edited footage from one of these devices — even in something like Apple’s iMovie — you know that depending on the type of camera and the version of your software, it can be a time-consuming process to make even just a few simple edits. Oftentimes it’s just easier to upload the video directly to YouTube.

Editing the footage directly in the browser makes the process a lot faster and can fit in with workflows that might not always include a computer that is capable of running and has access to desktop software. The YouTube video editor won’t replace desktop video editors for bigger jobs or for users who want more control, but if you just want to loop a few movie clips together and trim the intro or outro of a movie, it’s perfect.

---

Cloud-Based For Future Iterations and Improvements

---

On a technical level, the user-facing portion of the YouTube video editor is mostly built in JavaScript. The player itself is Flash but the controls and the other elements are all JavaScript. The real magic, however, happens on the backend. Google and YouTube engineers have set up the system so that all of the actual edits and trim points are happening on the server.

This is important for a number of reasons. First, it cuts down on cross-browser dependency issues. If most of the heavy-lifting is taking place on the backend, there are fewer issues to worry about from a design and usability point-of-view. Second, the cloud-based nature of the software means that YouTube can push out updates and iterations on the fly. Siegel, a product manager at YouTube, told me that the company will be listening to its users for feedback on what needs improvement and what features are most requested.

Another key benefit of being cloud-based is that because all of the footage is already on YouTube’s servers, all of the encoding and transcoding can take place on the backend without ever having to tax the user’s system. When you look at platforms beyond the desktop — like tablets and smartphones — this becomes really important.While YouTube wouldn’t disclose an official timetable or roadmap about its mobile plans for the video editor, the technology solution seems to be in place and having a mobile solution for users is something we can expect to see more of in the coming weeks and months ahead. One of the most exciting parts of the iPhone 4 announcement last week at WWDC, at least for me, was iMovie for iPhone. This might just be Google’s cloud-based response for Android users.

We expect that this is an early indication of future plans to bring more robust editing tools to YouTube — something that could really enhance the service.