RipGuide
How long can a YouTube Short be, and what size should it be?
Updated
In short: up to three minutes, in a square or vertical frame. YouTube's help page says a video of that length with a square or vertical aspect ratio counts as a Short, and a 16:9 video stays long-form (YouTube Help, read 18 October 2026). Export 1080 x 1920, 9:16, H.264 MP4. One catch: a Short over one minute with an active copyright claim is blocked.
YouTube Shorts specs, from YouTube's own pages
Read on 18 October 2026. The title, description and hashtag rows apply to Shorts because a Short is an ordinary YouTube video.
| Spec | What YouTube states | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum length | Three minutes, for videos uploaded after 15 October 2024. | YouTube Help: Shorts |
| Shape | Square or vertical counts as a Short. A wider format such as 16:9 stays long-form. | YouTube Help: Shorts |
| Copyright | A Short over one minute with an active copyright claim of any type is blocked: it can't be played or recommended and isn't eligible for monetization. | YouTube Help: Shorts |
| Container and codec | MP4 with the moov atom at the start of the file; H.264 High Profile; AAC-LC or Opus audio at 48 kHz. | YouTube Help: encoding |
| Frame rate | Keep the frame rate you recorded at. Common rates run from 24 to 60 fps. | YouTube Help: encoding |
| Bitrate, 1080p SDR | 8 Mbps at 24, 25 or 30 fps. 12 Mbps at 48, 50 or 60 fps. | YouTube Help: encoding |
| Custom thumbnail | 9:16, 2160 x 3840 recommended, at least 640 pixels high. Needs a verified account, and for Shorts it can only be added in YouTube Studio on a computer. | YouTube Help: thumbnails |
| Title | 100 characters. The characters < and > are not allowed. | YouTube Data API: videos |
| Description | 5,000 bytes, not characters. Non-Latin text and emoji use more than one byte each. | YouTube Data API: videos |
| Tags | 500 characters in total, commas included. | YouTube Data API: videos |
| Hashtags | Up to three show above the title. If a video has more than 60, YouTube ignores all of them. | YouTube Help: hashtags |
What makes a video a Short
Two things: length and shape. A video of three minutes or less with a square or vertical frame is a Short. Make it wider than that, 16:9 for example, and it is a normal video. YouTube's help says videos uploaded before the cutoff dates stay long-form, so an old upload will not turn into a Short later. The three-minute limit applies to uploads after 15 October 2024, so a guide that still says 60 seconds is out of date.
A common surprise: a 9:16 clip over three minutes uploads fine, but it is a regular video, and it will not show up as a Short. Trim it to three minutes or less. If you are choosing how long to cut a moment, see how long a clip should be.
The copyright rule over one minute
YouTube's help says a Short longer than one minute with an active copyright claim of any type is blocked worldwide. It can't be played or recommended, and it isn't eligible for monetization. The page also says there is no penalty to your channel, and that you can remove the claimed content or file a dispute. When the claim is resolved, the Short can be watched and monetized again. A Short under one minute isn't subject to this restriction.
This matters for stream clips. A claim can come from any music in the clip, including a song playing in the background of a stream. If a clip has music you don't control and it runs longer than a minute, expect it to be blocked until the claim is dealt with.
Titles, descriptions and hashtags
The title limit is 100 characters and can't contain < or >. The description limit is 5,000 bytes. English text is mostly one byte per character, so you rarely notice. Text in other scripts, and emoji, take several bytes each, so a description full of emoji hits the limit well before 5,000 characters. For all networks side by side, see the caption limits guide.
Hashtags: only three of them are shown above the title, picked by YouTube. Stay far below 60, because above that YouTube ignores every hashtag on the video.
What schedulers and tools can do
Tools upload through the YouTube Data API. YouTube's reference for videos.insert says a project gets 100 calls a day in a separate upload quota, apart from the 10,000 units a day shared by other calls (YouTube Data API, quota costs, read 18 October 2026). That is a limit on the tool's API project, not on your channel. The same reference says videos from unverified API projects are not restricted to private viewing. Older guides say the opposite, so confirm how a tool is approved before you rely on either.
The export that works
- Frame it 9:16, 1080 x 1920. Square works too, but vertical fills the phone screen.
- Export an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. That matches YouTube's recommended encoding.
- Choose 30 or 60 fps and keep your recorded rate. YouTube asks you not to convert the frame rate.
- Aim for 8 Mbps at 30 fps and 12 Mbps at 60 fps. These are YouTube's figures for 1080p SDR uploads.
- Keep it to three minutes or less. Under one minute if the clip has music you can't clear.
- Keep captions inside the frame, clear of the buttons. Shorts puts its buttons and the title over the video. YouTube's pages give no pixel numbers, so preview on a phone.
How to do it in RipClip
RipClip reads a long video, cuts the moments that stand on their own into vertical 9:16 clips framed on the speaker, and captions them word by word. Clip length "Auto" is 20 to 45 seconds, or you pick, so clips stay well under three minutes. Export is up to 4K at 60 fps (4K on Pro and Studio, 1080p on Free and Creator). Paid plans add an AI title, post caption and hashtags per clip, and you can edit all of them. Free exports carry a small RipClip watermark.
RipClip does not take YouTube links yet: upload the file instead. It works from Twitch and Kick links, uploads and cloud share links (Twitch VOD to YouTube Shorts). Posting switches on platform by platform as each platform approves RipClip; until then, download your clips and post them yourself. For a single moment you already have, YouTube's own Shorts editor is quicker.
Other networks: TikTok, Instagram Reels, or all of them on one page.