Video length limits: how long can your video be?
YouTube Shorts: up to three minutes. Instagram Reels: record and edit up to 20 minutes, though Instagram says Reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. TikTok: record up to 10 minutes, upload up to 60. Instagram Stories: 60 seconds as one clip. Facebook Reels: any length. LinkedIn: 15 minutes. X: 140 seconds, longer with Premium. WhatsApp Status: 90 seconds. Each is from the platform’s own help page, read on 3 November 2026. Drop your video to see which take its length; it opens on this device and is never uploaded.
Minutes and seconds like 1:30, or 90s, 2m or 1:02:03. A bare number is seconds.
| Platform and format | Longest | Your video |
|---|
Longer than the limit? Cut it into clips
Burncaps cuts a long recording into captioned 9:16 clips, each up to three minutes, with ums and dead air taken out. Hand this video to the editor and choose Clips. The video never leaves your browser.
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Video length limits, platform by platform
What each platform’s own help pages say, read on 3 November 2026. Where a platform’s pages disagree, both figures are here.
| Platform and format | The longest it takes | What its own page says | Source, read 3 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Shorts | 3 minutes | A square or vertical video up to three minutes, uploaded on or after 15 October 2024, is categorised as a Short. A wider video, such as 16:9, stays a long-form video. | YouTube Help: Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Instagram Reels, record and edit | 20 minutes | You can record and edit videos up to 20 minutes with Instagram Reels, as one clip or several clips that add up to 20 minutes. | Instagram Help Center: record a reel read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Instagram Reels, shown to new audiences | 3 minutes | The same page says Reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. Instagram’s Reels feature page says you can create multi-clip videos up to 3 minutes. Instagram’s two pages differ on length. | Instagram Help Center: record a reel About Instagram: Reels read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Instagram Stories, as one clip | 60 seconds | A video up to 60 seconds long appears as one clip. A longer video is broken up into several clips. | About Instagram: Stories (FAQ) read 3 Nov 2026 |
| TikTok, uploaded | 60 minutes | Videos you upload in TikTok can be up to 60 minutes long. | TikTok Support: Camera tools, Video length read 3 Nov 2026 |
| TikTok, recorded in the app | 10 minutes | Videos you record in TikTok can be up to 10 minutes long. | TikTok Support: Camera tools, Video length read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Facebook Reels, in the app and on the website | any length | Reels can be any length, and any orientation. Facebook’s Help Center says that since September 2025 every video posted to Facebook is shared as a reel, whatever its length or orientation. | Meta Business Help Center: creative tools in Facebook Reels Facebook Help Center: Photos & Videos read 3 Nov 2026 |
| Facebook Reels, published through Meta’s API | 3 to 90 seconds | Meta’s Reels Publishing API, written for apps that publish to Facebook, lists a duration of 3 to 90 seconds, and says a reel published as a story on a Facebook Page can not exceed 60 seconds. That is stricter than the help pages above. | Meta for Developers: Reels Publishing API read 3 Nov 2026 |
| LinkedIn, a video post | 15 minutes | Maximum video duration 15 minutes; minimum 3 seconds from a computer and 2 seconds from the LinkedIn mobile app; at most 5 GB. | LinkedIn Help: Video sharing troubleshooting read 3 Nov 2026 |
| LinkedIn, a Page or Career Page video | 10 minutes | Max video duration 10 minutes and at least 3 seconds. This page shows “Last updated: 4 years ago”, and it differs from the 15 minutes on LinkedIn’s video requirements page. | LinkedIn Help: Video specifications for Pages and Career Pages read 3 Nov 2026 |
| X, without Premium | 140 seconds | If you are not subscribed to X Premium, you can still upload videos up to 140 seconds long, at most 512 MB. | X Help: About longer videos for X Premium subscribers X Help: How to share and watch videos on X read 3 Nov 2026 |
| X, with Premium, on x.com and iOS | 3 to 4 hours | Subscribers can upload videos up to 4 hours long at 1080p on x.com and on iOS, at most 16 GB. X’s page About X Premium says about 3 hours and 8 GB. X’s two pages differ, so the checker uses the shorter, 3 hours. | X Help: About longer videos for X Premium subscribers X Help: About X Premium read 3 Nov 2026 |
| X, with Premium, on Android | 10 minutes | Subscribers can upload videos up to 10 minutes long on Android. | X Help: About longer videos for X Premium subscribers read 3 Nov 2026 |
| WhatsApp Status | 90 seconds | The maximum duration for status is 90 seconds. | WhatsApp Help Center: About status read 3 Nov 2026 |
The platforms change these. YouTube moved its Shorts limit on 15 October 2024. We read every page again each month and change the dates together. Snapchat, Pinterest and Threads are not here: we have not read their pages.
Where the platforms’ own pages disagree
Instagram Reels: the help centre says up to 20 minutes can be recorded and edited, while the Reels feature page says multi-clip videos up to 3 minutes. The help centre adds that Reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences, which is the line that matters for reach.
LinkedIn: the video requirements page says 15 minutes; the page for Pages and Career Pages says 10 minutes and shows that it was last updated 4 years ago.
X Premium: one X page says up to 4 hours at 1080p on x.com and iOS, another says about 3 hours. The first adds that Android is limited to 10 minutes.
Facebook: the Meta Business Help Center and the Facebook Help Center say Reels can be any length. Meta’s developer page for the Reels Publishing API lists 3 to 90 seconds, so a tool that posts through the API may refuse a longer video.
How the checker works
It reads the length, nothing else
Your browser reports how long the video file is, from the file’s own index, without playing it. The file is not uploaded and nothing from it is sent. You can check that in your browser’s network tab on a computer.
Each row is the table above
The checker compares the length with each limit in the table. A platform measures a file in its own way, so within a second of a limit it says “right at the limit” and suggests trimming a second or two.
Length is one rule of several
The same help pages give file size, shape and frame rate where a platform sets them. This page does not check those. Open the page in the table’s last column for the full list.
Over the limit? Cut a long recording into clips
A talk, a podcast or an interview is far longer than any Short or Reel. Burncaps finds the clips in it and cuts each into a captioned 9:16 clip. The clips it finds are 30 seconds to two minutes of speech; Trim makes one up to three minutes, with 30, 45 or 60 second lengths in one tap, and reads the finished length as you drag: keep it at 3:00 or under for a Short. A whole captioned video is for up to ten minutes. Each free video exports up to 3 clips, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
How long can a YouTube Short be?
Up to three minutes. YouTube Help says a square or vertical video up to three minutes long, uploaded on or after 15 October 2024, is categorised as a Short, and a wider video, such as 16:9, stays a long-form video. Read on YouTube Help on 3 November 2026.
How long can an Instagram Reel be?
Instagram’s help says you can record and edit a reel up to 20 minutes, and that reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. Its Reels feature page says multi-clip videos up to 3 minutes. Instagram’s two pages differ, so we give both. Read on 3 November 2026.
How long can a TikTok video be?
TikTok’s help says videos you record in TikTok can be up to 10 minutes long and videos you upload can be up to 60 minutes long. Read on TikTok Support on 3 November 2026.
How long can an Instagram Story or a WhatsApp Status be?
Instagram says a story video up to 60 seconds long appears as one clip and a longer video is broken up into several clips. WhatsApp’s help says the maximum duration for status is 90 seconds. Both read on 3 November 2026.
How long can a Facebook Reel, a LinkedIn video or a video on X be?
Meta’s help says Facebook Reels can be any length, though its Reels Publishing API for apps lists 3 to 90 seconds. LinkedIn Help says 15 minutes for a video post, and 10 minutes on its page for Pages. X says 140 seconds without X Premium, and longer with it. All read on 3 November 2026.
Is my video uploaded to check its length?
No. The page reads the length from the video file in your browser, on your own device, and the file is never sent anywhere, which you can see in your browser’s network tab on a computer. The page sends only anonymous step counts, such as that the page was opened, never anything from the file or the length you type (see the privacy policy).
My video is longer than the limit. What can I do?
Cut it. Burncaps finds the clips in a long recording and cuts each into a captioned 9:16 clip: the clips it finds are 30 seconds to two minutes of speech, and Trim makes one up to three minutes, which fits the three-minute limits above. Each free video exports up to 3 clips, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited.
How do you keep these limits up to date?
Every row is taken from the platform’s own help page and linked, with the date we read it. The platforms change them, as YouTube did on 15 October 2024, so we read the pages again each month and change the dates together.
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.