What is the YouTube description character limit?

YouTube allows up to 5,000 characters in video descriptions.

How many characters can a YouTube title have?

YouTube titles allow up to 100 characters, but only about 60–70 characters display fully.

YouTube Description Character Limit in 2026

Quick Answer: YouTube video descriptions allow up to 5,000 characters. Only the first 100–150 characters are visible before clicking “Show more.”

YouTube Video Description Limit

YouTube allows up to 5,000 characters in the video description. However, only the first 2–3 lines (about 100–150 characters) appear before users click “Show more.” This makes the opening line extremely important for engagement.

YouTube Title Character Limit

YouTube video titles allow up to 100 characters. However, only around 60–70 characters typically display fully in search results.

YouTube Comment Character Limit

YouTube comments can contain up to 10,000 characters per comment.

YouTube Channel Description Limit

Channel description: 1,000 characters
Channel name: 100 characters

Best Practices for YouTube Descriptions

Place important keywords in the first 150 characters
Add links early in description
Use timestamps for longer videos
Include relevant hashtags
Add call-to-action (subscribe, watch next)

Does Description Length Affect SEO?

Longer descriptions allow you to include more keywords and context, which can improve YouTube SEO. However, clarity and relevance matter more than length alone.