What counts toward the YouTube limit
Two limits matter on every upload: 100 characters for the title and 5,000 for the description. The YouTube Data API, which scheduling tools use, measures the description in bytes. Plain English letters take one byte each, but emoji, accented letters and styled Unicode text take two to four, so a description full of emoji fits fewer than 5,000 characters. Angle brackets (< and >) aren’t allowed in descriptions.
Tags share a budget of 500 characters, and the commas between tags count toward it. Hashtags can go in the title or the description: up to three from the description can appear near the title, and if a video has more than 60, YouTube ignores all of them.
Links in descriptions are only clickable when the channel meets YouTube’s requirements, such as verification or access to advanced features.
YouTube character limits
| Field | Limit (characters) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Video description | 5,000 | The Data API counts 5,000 bytes, and < and > are not allowed. |
| Video title | 100 | |
| Tags, combined | 500 | The commas between tags count. |
| Channel description | 1,000 | |
| Comment | 10,000 | |
| Handle | 30 |
Hashtags on YouTube
Hashtags can go in the title or the description. Up to three of the most engaging description hashtags show near the title. If a video has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores all of them.
Tips for YouTube posts
- Keep titles well under 100 characters and put the main keyword near the start.
- Write the opening lines of the description for people who only see a preview, then add links and credits below.
- Use one to three focused hashtags, and never more than 60.
- Leave angle brackets out of descriptions; the API doesn’t accept them.
- Verify the channel before you schedule videos longer than 15 minutes.
Publish YouTube posts that fit, on schedule
Postocial publishes YouTube videos and Shorts. Write the title and description in the composer, upload a custom thumbnail and schedule the video with the rest of your week. A pre-recorded video can also go out as a scheduled livestream.
On Premium and higher plans, comments from YouTube come into the unified inbox. See how Postocial works with YouTube.
Sources
The YouTube limits on this page come from these pages. Researched on . Networks change their limits without notice, so check the official pages before a big launch.
- YouTube Help: edit video settings
- YouTube Help: find videos using hashtags
- YouTube Help: upload videos longer than 15 minutes
- YouTube Help: get started creating YouTube Shorts
- YouTube Help: upload YouTube Shorts
- YouTube Help: add custom thumbnails
- YouTube Help: manage your channel branding
- YouTube Help: learn about YouTube handles
- YouTube Help: video and audio formatting specifications
- YouTube Data API: channels
- YouTube Data API: videos
- Influencer Marketing Hub: YouTube character limits
- Hootsuite: social media image sizes guide