# How Long Can a YouTube Shorts Title and Description Be? URL: https://fulinlabs.com/blog/youtube-shorts-title-description-length-2026/ Published: 2026-11-11 Product: schedulepost Summary: A Shorts title can be 100 characters and a description 5,000 bytes, not characters. Here is what counts, what breaks the limit, and how to check before you publish. **A YouTube Shorts title can be up to 100 characters, and the description up to 5,000 bytes.** The description limit is in bytes, so emoji and non-Latin text such as Chinese use it up faster than plain English. Neither field accepts the characters `<` or `>`. These figures come from the YouTube Data API reference, checked on November 11, 2026. A Short is an ordinary YouTube video that YouTube classifies as a Short, so it has the same fields and the same limits as any other upload. There is no separate "Shorts title" limit. I build [SchedulePost](https://schedulepost.fulinlabs.com), which publishes to YouTube, so I check these numbers often; the checker linked below is mine. ## What are the exact limits? | Field | Limit | Counted in | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Title | 100 | characters | YouTube Data API, `snippet.title` | | Description | 5,000 | bytes (UTF-8) | YouTube Data API, `snippet.description` | | Tags (API field) | 500 | characters for the whole list | YouTube Data API, `snippet.tags` | | Hashtags | Ignored above 60 | hashtags on the video | YouTube Help, "Add hashtags to videos" | | Hashtags shown | 3 | above the title | YouTube Help | Two things the documentation does not give: a number for where a title is cut off in the Shorts feed, and a minimum title or description length. Anyone quoting a feed cut-off is estimating, so treat it as a guide and look at the result on a phone. ## Why does my description say it is too long when it is under 5,000 characters? Because the limit is 5,000 bytes. UTF-8 stores a plain English letter in one byte, but most Chinese characters take three bytes and many emoji take four. A description written entirely in Chinese therefore holds roughly 1,666 characters before it hits the limit, and a description with many emoji holds fewer than 5,000 characters too. If YouTube rejects a description you thought was short, the byte count is the first thing to check. The [YouTube Shorts title and description checker](https://schedulepost.fulinlabs.com/tools/youtube-shorts-title-description-length) shows both the character count for the title and the byte count for the description, flags `<` and `>`, and counts hashtags. It runs in the browser and nothing you type is uploaded. ## What counts as a YouTube Short? YouTube's help page says a video uploaded on or after October 15, 2024 is classified as a Short if it is square or vertical and up to three minutes long. Videos uploaded before that date stay long-form. A wider aspect ratio such as 16:9 keeps the video long-form at any length. Classification is automatic, so there is no switch to flip. If a vertical clip lands in the normal feed, check its length first, then its aspect ratio with the [video aspect ratio checker](https://schedulepost.fulinlabs.com/tools/aspect-ratio). ## How do hashtags and tags differ for Shorts? Hashtags are words that begin with `#` in the title or description. YouTube Help says it shows up to three of them above the title and ignores every hashtag on a video that has more than 60. The `tags` field is a separate, mostly hidden list in the API with its own 500-character limit. Writing 20 hashtags is not useful; the three that show above the title are the ones viewers see. ## How do I set a different title for YouTube when I post to several platforms? If you cross-post one clip, a TikTok caption is usually too long and too informal for a YouTube title. In the SchedulePost API you can pass `youtubeTitle` (maximum 100 characters) and `youtubeDescription` as YouTube-only overrides, while the shared `caption` goes to the other platforms. In the dashboard, the same idea applies: write the YouTube title separately instead of reusing the caption. The [API guide](/blog/schedule-tiktok-reels-shorts-api-2026/) shows the request. ## When is this not the right tool? If you only publish to YouTube and do it by hand, YouTube Studio already tells you when a field is too long and has its own scheduler; a separate checker adds little. The checker earns its place when you write titles and descriptions elsewhere first, for example in a script, a spreadsheet or an AI assistant, and want to know they fit before they are sent. For scheduling Shorts without a paid tool, see [how to schedule YouTube Shorts for free](/blog/how-to-schedule-youtube-shorts-free-2026/). ## Quick checklist - Title: 100 characters or fewer, no `<` or `>`. - Description: 5,000 bytes or fewer, no `<` or `>`; count bytes if the text has emoji or Chinese. - Hashtags: three show above the title; more than 60 and all are ignored. - Video: square or vertical, three minutes or less, uploaded on or after October 15, 2024. - Compare the other platforms in [caption length limits for TikTok, Reels, Shorts and Threads](/blog/short-video-caption-length-limits-2026/). ## FAQ ### What is the character limit for a YouTube Shorts title? 100 characters. A Short uses the same title field as any other YouTube video, and the YouTube Data API documents a 100-character maximum. The characters < and > are not allowed in a title. ### What is the limit for a YouTube Shorts description? 5,000 bytes, not 5,000 characters. Plain English text uses one byte per character, so the two numbers match. Emoji and many non-Latin scripts use several bytes per character, so a description in Chinese or full of emoji reaches the limit much sooner. ### How many hashtags can a YouTube Short have? YouTube Help says that if a video has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores every hashtag on it. It also says up to three hashtags from the description are shown above the video title. ### How long can a YouTube Short be? Up to three minutes, if the video is square or vertical and was uploaded on or after October 15, 2024. A wider aspect ratio such as 16:9 keeps the video long-form. ### Do the tags field and the hashtags work the same way? No. The Data API's tags field has its own limit of 500 characters for the whole list, with commas and the quotation marks around tags that contain spaces counting toward it. Hashtags are words starting with # inside the title or description.