How long can a TikTok be?

How long a TikTok can be, three ways

TikTok publishes a different maximum for each route a video takes into the app:

The gap between the two upload routes is the one that trips people up. A one hour video that uploads fine in the app will not go up through the browser, and a video uploaded in the browser goes up in full: to trim its length, TikTok says to upload it in the app instead.

Recording a TikTok in the app

1. Tap the Add post button at the bottom of the app.
2. Select a length for the video.
3. Tap Record to start and stop. The recording stops by itself when it reaches the length you chose.
4. Tap Continue to edit the video.

With the timer, you choose the maximum length by sliding the bar after setting the countdown, which is the way to film a set length without holding the button. Whatever you choose, a video recorded with the TikTok camera tops out at 10 minutes.

Uploading a longer TikTok

Anything longer than 10 minutes has to be filmed elsewhere and uploaded. In the app that allows up to 60 minutes; on the web, up to 30. The web route has file rules as well: MP4 or WebM, at least 720x1280, and under 10 GB, which is also the route TikTok's scheduling uses, as how to schedule TikTok posts explains.

Every platform's video and photo limits side by side are in social media post sizes.

When the sound sets the length

One rule overrides the others: if you pick a sound before you record or upload, the video's length is set by the length of the sound. A 15 second clip of a song makes a 15 second video, whatever limit you selected.

So choose the sound after the edit when the length matters, and check which sounds a business account may use at all: finding popular TikTok songs covers the Commercial Music Library rule.

The one minute rule, for the Creator Rewards Program

The only place TikTok sets a minimum length is its Creator Rewards Program, which pays eligible creators for views. There, a video has to be at least one minute long to earn anything. The other requirements matter just as much:

• Who can join. A Personal Account, aged at least 18 (19 in South Korea), with at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days, in a country where the program runs.
• What counts as a view. Only views longer than 5 seconds, from the For You feed, once per account. A video starts earning at 1,000 qualified views.
• What does not count. Duets and Stitches, looping videos, photo posts, text only videos, and copied content. Copyrighted music playing for more than a minute risks the video being muted.
• Business Accounts are not eligible. For a brand, the one minute rule does not apply at all.

So a creator being paid for views has a reason to make every video at least a minute long, and a business does not. For a brand, that length would be set by a payment rule it cannot use, not by what keeps a viewer watching.

How long a TikTok Story lasts

A TikTok Story stays visible for 24 hours. To keep it longer, add it to a Highlight on your profile, where it stays until you remove it, with the same visibility as the original Story. The Story camera offers photo, text or a video time limit, and the help page does not publish a separate maximum length for Story videos.

Instagram works on the same 24 hour clock, covered in how long Instagram stories last.

TikTok against Instagram Reels

The Instagram side is in how long Instagram Reels can be. If you post the same video to both, edit a separate cut for each rather than reposting one file.

How long a TikTok should be

TikTok does not publish an ideal length, and no study read for this page settles one. What decides it is how long the idea takes to deliver:

• One idea per video. If it needs "and also", it is two videos.
• The payoff early. The first seconds decide whether anyone stays for the rest; nine ways to open a Reel works the same on TikTok.
• Cut by retention. TikTok's analytics show where viewers leave, and that second is the next edit.
• Longer when it teaches. A tutorial, a demo or a walkthrough can earn its minutes. A product shot cannot.

For a business account

Two of the four numbers on this page do not apply to a brand. The Creator Rewards minimum is for Personal Accounts only, and a 60 minute upload is rarely what a product needs. What does apply is the opening, the clarity of the idea, and a length that stops when the point is made.

Search is the other reason to keep a video focused: a short video built around one question is easier for TikTok to match to that question, as SEO for TikTok explains. Choosing the length and format per video is part of our TikTok marketing.

How we will test this

Not run yetEverything above comes from the published sources listed below, and nothing here is presented as something we measured. Our own test on live accounts has not been run yet.

This is the test we will run: we record a video at each length the TikTok camera offers, upload a 45 minute file in the app and in a desktop browser, and pick a sound before recording, then note what each route accepts, what it cuts, and what the final video's length is.

Platforms change behavior without announcing it, so once the first test is run we repeat it every quarter, and this section will say when it was run and on which devices and app versions.

Sources

Read on October 1, 2026.

• TikTok Help Center, Camera tools: video length
• TikTok Help Center, Creator Rewards Program
• TikTok Help Center, TikTok Stories
• TikTok Help Center, read September 23, 2026, Tools for creators: TikTok Studio web upload requirements

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