A YouTube Short is not a separate upload type. It is a regular video that YouTube classifies as a Short because of its shape and length, and the rules that matter are those two plus the title, description and hashtag rules every video has.
What makes a Short
| Rule | |
|---|---|
| Length | Up to 3 minutes (raised from 60 seconds in October 2024) |
| Shape | Vertical or square: height at least equal to width |
| Anything longer or wider | Published as a regular video, even with #Shorts in the description |
The #Shorts hashtag in the title or description does not make a video a Short and its absence does not prevent it. It helps YouTube's systems and the search box; the classification is from the file.
Title and description
| Rule | |
|---|---|
| Title | 100 characters; the API cuts the rest, it does not refuse |
| Description | 5,000 bytes, not characters: accented letters cost two, emoji four |
| Characters | < and > are refused in both |
| Hashtags | Up to 15 in the title and description; 16 or more and YouTube ignores every hashtag on the video |
| Tags | 500 characters in total, including the quotes YouTube adds around tags with spaces |
| Chapters | Timestamps in the description, starting at 0:00, at least three |
The byte rule surprises anyone writing in Czech, Polish, German or any language with accents: a 4,800-character description with diacritics is over 5,000 bytes and refused.
Upload and publishing
| Rule | |
|---|---|
| Size | 256 GB |
| Length (regular videos) | 12 hours; 15 minutes on a channel that has not verified a phone number |
| Formats | MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, WebM and more |
| Scheduling | YouTube can hold a private video and publish it at a time; a tool can upload early and set that time |
| Thumbnail | JPEG or PNG, 2 MB, on verified channels |
| Subtitles | SRT, VTT or SBV, per language, through the captions endpoint |
| Playlist | The video can be added to one on upload |
| Made for kids, synthetic media, audience language | Required or expected fields on every upload |
Quotas
Each app has a quota of 100 uploads a day across all its users, separate from the general API quota. A scheduler with many YouTube users shares it, and uploads past the limit wait until midnight Pacific. Ask your tool what happens on the 101st.
What Preflight checks before upload
Title length (a warning: YouTube cuts, it does not refuse), 5,000 bytes on the description actually sent, < and >, the 15-hashtag cliff, the 500-character tag budget, the 3-minute Short length when the post is marked as a Short, subtitle files, playlist and thumbnail sizes. Public videos scheduled for later are uploaded up to three hours early as private with the publish time set, so YouTube publishes at the minute even if the upload is slow; the tool shows "waiting on YouTube" until then.
Rules from the YouTube Data API and YouTube Help, checked 5 October 2026. All networks: the limits page.
Questions people ask
- How long can a YouTube Short be in 2026?
- Up to 3 minutes, vertical or square. A video that is longer or wider is published as a regular video.
- What is the YouTube title limit?
- 100 characters. The API cuts a longer title rather than refusing it. < and > are refused outright.
- Why were all my hashtags removed on YouTube?
- There were more than 15. Past 15, YouTube ignores every hashtag on the video. Keep the few that matter.
- Is the description limit 5,000 characters?
- 5,000 bytes. In English that is roughly 5,000 characters; with accented letters or emoji it is fewer.