How long and how big can a video be on each network?

Short answer

It depends on the network and on whether you post from its own app or through its API, which is how scheduling tools publish. In the apps, Instagram takes a reel of up to 20 minutes, TikTok an upload of up to 60 minutes, YouTube 15 minutes (12 hours once verified) and X 140 seconds without Premium. The APIs stop sooner: Instagram’s at 15 minutes and 300 MB, Facebook’s Reels API at 90 seconds.

Written by the Mellow team · Updated October 31, 2026, sources read October 11, 2026

The limits, network by network

Each page was read on 11 October 2026, Telegram’s on 13 October. “Not published” means the network’s own page gives no figure, and we do not borrow one from elsewhere.

Network	In its app or on its website	Through its API (what schedulers use)
Instagram Reels	up to 20 minutes · size not published · 1.91:1 to 9:16 · at least 720 pixels	3 seconds to 15 minutes · up to 300 MB · 0.01:1 to 10:1 · up to 1920 pixels wide · MP4 or MOV
TikTok	Uploaded in the app: 60 minutes, no size published. Recorded in the app, a video stops at 10 minutes. On TikTok’s website: up to 30 minutes and under 10 GB, as MP4 or WebM of at least 720 × 1280.	up to 3 minutes, or 10 minutes for some accounts · up to 4 GB · 360 to 4096 pixels each way · MP4, WebM or MOV
YouTube Shorts	up to 15 minutes, or 12 hours for some accounts · up to 256 GB	length not published · up to 256 GB
Facebook Reels	any length · size not published · any shape	3 to 90 seconds · size not published · at least 540 × 960
X	up to 140 seconds, or 4 hours for some accounts · up to 512 MB, or 16 GB for some accounts	0.5 seconds to 20 minutes, or 125 minutes for some accounts · up to 8 GB, or 16 GB for some accounts · 1:3 to 3:1
LinkedIn	3 seconds to 15 minutes · up to 5 GB · at least 75 KB · 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 · 256 × 144 to 4096 × 2304 · MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI, MKV, WMV, MPEG and a few others	3 seconds to 30 minutes · up to 500 MB · at least 75 KB · MP4
Threads	length not published · size not published	up to 5 minutes · up to 1 GB · 0.01:1 to 10:1 · up to 1920 pixels wide · MOV or MP4
Bluesky	up to 10 minutes · up to 300 MB	length not published · size not published
Pinterest	4 seconds to 5 minutes · size not published · MP4 or M4V, and MOV from the phone apps	4 seconds to 5 minutes · size not published · MP4, MOV or M4V (its Pin specs do not separate the app from the API)
Telegram	length not published · size not published	length not published · up to 50 MB · MP4; another format may arrive as a file

Three things to know about how to read it:

YouTube. A square or vertical video of up to 3 minutes is a Short. The default limit of 15 minutes lifts after verification, to 12 hours or 256 GB, whichever is less.
X. Its Help Center gives 140 seconds and 512 MB without Premium for a video uploaded on the web, while its developer page gives 20 minutes and 8 GB and says its caps match the app. We show both and do not know which an account gets.
Instagram. The app takes 20 minutes, and its page adds that reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. The API takes 3 seconds to 15 minutes and 300 MB.

Why the API takes less than the app

A scheduling app publishes through the network’s API, as Mellow Hub does, and the APIs are narrower than the apps: Instagram’s stops at 15 minutes where its app takes 20 minutes, Facebook’s Reels API at 90 seconds where Facebook takes a reel of any length, and TikTok’s says every creator can post 3 minutes, with 10 minutes for some. A video past the API’s limit has to be posted from the app.

One video for every network

A vertical 9:16 MP4 of 1080 × 1920 pixels, between 4 seconds and 90 seconds long and under 50 MB, is inside every API limit above that publishes a figure, and inside every app limit. It is also a Short. The 90 seconds comes from Facebook’s Reels API and the 50 MB from Instagram’s. A longer video still goes to most networks, just not to all of them through an API.

A worked example, with invented values: a four-minute, 400 MB 1080 × 1920 MP4. Instagram’s API refuses it for size and Facebook’s Reels API for length; TikTok’s API takes it only for creators allowed more than 3 minutes; X’s app needs Premium; Bluesky’s app is over 300 MB; YouTube treats it as an ordinary video, not a Short. LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest and X through its API take it.

What the free video checker does

The video checker opens a video file in your browser, reads its length, pixels, size and type, and sets them against the limits above for every network, in the app and through the API. Nothing is uploaded. It cannot read a video’s codec or frame rate, so check those in your editor, and where a network gives no figure it says “not published” instead of passing the video. It does not post.

Posting with Mellow Hub

Mellow Hub sends one video to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, Facebook and Telegram in one post, with a caption of its own for any network. It checks that each network takes a video, the title YouTube requires (up to 100 characters) and the text some networks need. It does not download the video: it reads an MP4’s or MOV’s length, frame and weight from the file’s header and says when one is outside an API limit above; each network’s API still judges the file when it fetches it. That is why the limits above are the API ones.

The first 3 posts are free, however many networks each one goes to, and need no card. After that Hub is paid: plans start at $19 a month (Solo), after a 7-day trial with a card on file that costs nothing if you cancel before it ends, and a monthly plan's first month is 20% off. Publishing is unlimited on every plan, under a fair-use ceiling that stops automated floods (900 publications a month on Solo), where one publication is one post on one account, so a post sent to five networks counts as five toward it. There are no automatic overage charges.

What we have verified, as of 10 October 2026: Hub’s production record holds more than 300 publications, each with a link to the live post, on all nine networks it supported then (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and Facebook). Posts scheduled ahead go out at their set time: the first clean proof, on 1 October 2026, was a post created about 20 hours earlier that went out on six networks within three minutes with nothing changed in between, and scheduled posts have gone out every day since. TikTok needs one caveat: an upload through its API from an account registered in Russia is blocked by TikTok for everyone but the owner (a region block TikTok has not explained to us), while an account registered elsewhere posts publicly through Hub. Telegram became Hub’s tenth network on 20 October 2026: Hub posts to a Telegram channel through its own bot, which the channel’s owner adds with one right, to post messages, and our first posts went to our own test channel.

Where each figure comes from

Instagram: recording a reel, reel size and aspect ratios, IG User media.
TikTok: camera tools, TikTok Studio on the web, the Content Posting API.
YouTube: three-minute Shorts, videos longer than 15 minutes, videos.insert.
Facebook: creating a reel, the Reels Publishing API.
X: sharing videos, media upload best practices.
LinkedIn: video requirements, the Videos API.
Threads: your Threads posts, the API overview.
Bluesky: the video update, uploading video.
Pinterest: Pin specs.

Questions people also ask

How long can a Reel, a TikTok and a YouTube Short be?

In the apps, Instagram takes up to 20 minutes, TikTok an upload of up to 60 minutes (recorded in the app, a video stops at 10 minutes), and YouTube counts a square or vertical video of up to 3 minutes as a Short. Through the APIs, Instagram takes up to 15 minutes and TikTok 3 minutes for every creator.

Why would a scheduler refuse a video the app takes?

Because a scheduler publishes through the network’s API, and the APIs are narrower than the apps. Instagram’s app takes 20 minutes, its API 15 minutes and 300 MB; Facebook takes a reel of any length, its Reels API 3 to 90 seconds. Post a longer video from the app.

What is the largest video file each network takes?

Through the APIs: Instagram 300 MB, LinkedIn 500 MB, Threads 1 GB, TikTok 4 GB, X 8 GB (16 GB for some accounts) and YouTube 256 GB. Facebook, Bluesky and Pinterest give no figure for theirs.

What size should a vertical video be?

9:16, 1080 × 1920 pixels. Facebook’s Reels API names it as its recommended size and takes no less than 540 × 960, and Pinterest recommends 1080 × 1920 for a video that fills the screen. Instagram asks for at least 720 pixels, and TikTok’s API takes 360 to 4096 pixels each way.

Does the video checker upload my video?

No. Your browser opens the file and reads its length, pixels, size and type; the video is not sent to Mellow or anyone else. If you press the button to schedule it, it is kept in this browser until you are signed in to Mellow Hub.

Why does a network say “not published” in the table?

Because its own pages, read on 11 October 2026, give no figure: Threads’ help names no length or size for a video, and Bluesky’s developer documentation names none for an upload. We leave the cell as it is rather than fill it with an estimate from somebody else.

Sources

Other companies’ features change. Every statement about them rests on these pages, as they read on the date above.