YouTube Character Limit: Every Field
The current limits, where your text actually gets cut off, and a free tool to check your draft.
The short answer
YouTube titles are capped at 100 characters, but the number that actually matters is about 70 — that's where search results and suggested-video cards start truncating. Descriptions allow a roomy 5,000 characters, and tags get 500 characters in total.
The description's first 100–150 characters double as your search snippet and appear above the fold under the player, so treat them like a meta description: state what the video delivers and include your main keyword naturally. The remaining thousands of characters are prime real estate for chapters, links, and context that helps YouTube understand the video.
YouTube character limits by field
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| Video title | 100 characters |
| Video description | 5,000 characters |
| Comment | 10,000 characters |
| Tags (total) | 500 characters |
| Channel description | 1,000 characters |
| Playlist title | 150 characters |
Limits are set by the platform and occasionally change; figures reflect the current publicly documented caps.
Drafting a post? Paste it into our free character counter to see the exact character count as you type - including emoji and spaces - with platform limit presets built in.
Open Character Counter →Frequently Asked Questions
Writing effectively within the limit
Write titles at two lengths: a punchy sub-60-character version that survives truncation everywhere, and only go longer when the extra words add click-worthy specificity (a number, an outcome, a constraint). Draft in a character counter so you can see the 60- and 100-character marks - the difference between a clicked title and an ignored one is usually the five words you cut.
Checking limits for another platform? See our guides for Twitter (X), Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook.