Max video length per social platform
The maximum video duration accepted by each major social platform's publishing API.
By André LugMaximum video length by publishing API: Instagram Reels 15 minutes, Threads 5 minutes, LinkedIn 30 minutes, TikTok 10 minutes as the hard developer ceiling, Pinterest 15 minutes, and X 140 seconds. YouTube's API sets no duration limit — the real ceiling is channel policy: 15 minutes unverified, up to 12 hours phone-verified. Telegram constrains video by file size, not duration.
"Max video length" sounds like a single number, but it comes from two genuinely different sources depending on the platform. Some publishing APIs enforce a hard duration ceiling directly in the upload endpoint — reject the request outright if you go over. Others set no duration limit in the API schema at all; the real ceiling lives at the account or channel-policy level instead, and the API itself will accept a request that a separate policy layer later blocks or restricts. Both are marked below, because they call for different handling in a publishing integration.
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Max video duration reference table
| Platform | Max duration | Min duration | Source of the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook Pages | 4 hours (14,400s) — PostGate's own enforced ceiling | None documented | Unconfirmed against Meta's current docs — no page currently states this figure. Treat as PostGate's own conservative default, not a Meta-published number. |
| Instagram (Reels) | 15 minutes (900s) | 3 seconds | Meta's Content Publishing API for Reels. |
| Threads | 5 minutes (300s) | None documented | Meta's Threads posts API. |
| 30 minutes (1,800s) per LinkedIn's own Video API | None documented | LinkedIn's Video API reference. PostGate currently enforces a stricter 15-minute (900s) ceiling — more conservative than what LinkedIn's API itself allows. | |
| TikTok | 10 minutes (600s) hard developer ceiling | Unconfirmed (PostGate enforces a 3s floor as an operational default) | TikTok's Content Posting API (Upload endpoint). Some creator accounts get a dynamically higher ceiling — check the creator_info endpoint's max_video_post_duration_sec field rather than assuming 600s is universal. |
| YouTube | No limit in the API itself — see notes | None documented | Account-policy, not the API. See the dedicated section below — this is the platform where the API-vs-policy distinction matters most. |
| 15 minutes (900s) | 4 seconds | Pinterest's Pins Create API reference. | |
| X (Twitter) | 140 seconds (2:20) | None documented | X's chunked media upload API — reliable across every access tier. A longer, Premium-only ceiling is sometimes claimed online but is not a currently reliable, documented API capability (see the video specs post for why). |
| Telegram | No documented limit | None documented | Telegram's Bot API constrains video by file size, not duration — see the media requirements post for the size ceilings, which differ by delivery method. |
| Mastodon | Instance-configurable | Instance-configurable | Each instance's own configuration; no network-wide value. |
| Google Business Profile | Not supported via API | Not supported via API | No video-upload endpoint exists in the Business Profile API. A 30-second figure circulates, but it describes the mobile app and Google Maps, not anything an API integration can reach. |
Why is YouTube's real ceiling a channel policy, not an API parameter?
YouTube's videos.insert API reference sets no duration limit at all in its schema or error responses — you can technically request an upload of any length. What actually caps how long a video can be is a channel-verification policy documented in YouTube's Help Center, entirely separate from the API reference: channels without phone verification are limited to 15-minute uploads, while phone-verified channels can upload video up to 12 hours long (in practice bounded by the platform's 256GB file-size ceiling well before the 12-hour mark for most content).
A publishing integration built only against the API reference would miss this entirely — the request would look valid and only fail (or get silently capped) based on the connected channel's verification state, which the Data API doesn't expose as a duration parameter. PostGate enforces 15 minutes (900s) as a safe default that matches the unverified-channel ceiling; a phone-verified channel can go longer through the same API path.
How does PostGate handle this?
PostGate's media validation checks a video's probed duration against each target's enforced ceiling before it's attached to a post, and the platform capability matrix documents which of those ceilings come from a platform's own published API spec versus PostGate's own conservative default where no authoritative number exists.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a YouTube video uploaded via the API be?
The videos.insert API reference sets no duration limit at all. The real ceiling is a channel-verification policy documented in YouTube's Help Center: channels without phone verification are limited to 15-minute uploads, while phone-verified channels can upload video up to 12 hours long — in practice bounded by the platform's 256GB file-size ceiling well before 12 hours for most content.
What is TikTok's maximum video length through the API?
TikTok's Content Posting API enforces a hard developer ceiling of 10 minutes (600 seconds) at the upload endpoint. Some creator accounts get a dynamically higher ceiling, so check the creator_info endpoint's max_video_post_duration_sec field for the connected account rather than assuming 600 seconds is universal.
What is the maximum video length for X (Twitter) via the API?
140 seconds (2:20) through X's chunked media upload API — a figure reliable across every access tier. A longer, Premium-only ceiling is sometimes claimed online, but it is not a currently reliable, documented API capability.
Does Telegram limit video duration for bots?
No documented duration limit exists. Telegram's Bot API constrains video by file size rather than length, and the size ceilings differ by delivery method. If a video fails to send, check its file size against the limit for the method you are using, not its duration.
Can I upload videos to Google Business Profile via the API?
No. No video-upload endpoint exists in the Business Profile API. A 30-second maximum figure circulates online, but it describes video added through the mobile app and Google Maps — not anything an API integration can reach.
