Key takeaways
- The maximum length of a YouTube Short is 3 minutes; the old 60-second limit no longer applies.
- Shorts are vertical: a 9:16 frame, 1080 × 1920 pixels, is the standard size (1080p is the most YouTube takes for a Short).
- At 150 words a minute, a 30-second Short is about 75 words and a full minute about 150.
- Verified channels can add a custom Shorts thumbnail; YouTube recommends 2160 × 3840.
The maximum length of a YouTube Short
A Short can run for up to 3 minutes. YouTube's own help page on uploading Shorts describes its Shorts tools as making "short-form videos that are up to 3 minutes long", and that limit covers videos you upload as well as ones you record in the app.
If you have read that a Short must be under 60 seconds, that was the rule for the format's first years. Plenty of articles and tutorials still repeat it, and plenty of creators still treat a minute as the natural ceiling — not because YouTube requires it, but because a Short competes for attention one swipe at a time.
Length is a ceiling, not a target. The Shorts feed rewards videos people watch to the end and watch again, and that is easier at 30 seconds than at 3 minutes. Use the extra time when the idea genuinely needs it — a story with a payoff, a tutorial with several steps — rather than to stretch an idea that lands in 20 seconds.
YouTube Shorts size, dimensions and aspect ratio
Make every Short vertical, in a 9:16 frame. The standard size is 1080 × 1920 pixels, which is 1080p turned on its side and the most YouTube accepts for a Short. A larger file is not sharper on a phone; it is just slower to upload. If you are resizing footage from another format, the aspect ratio calculator gives the exact 9:16 size for any width.
| Setting | What to use |
|---|---|
| Length | Up to 3 minutes |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 (vertical) |
| Frame size | 1080 × 1920 pixels |
| Maximum resolution | 1080p |
| Custom thumbnail | 2160 × 3840, verified channels only |
| Title | Up to 100 characters |
Keep the important part of the picture away from the edges. The title, the channel name and the buttons sit over the bottom and the right-hand side of a Short while it plays, so text placed there is covered on most phones. A safe habit is to keep captions and faces in the middle two-thirds of the frame.
How to upload a YouTube Short
Upload a vertical video of 3 minutes or less and YouTube publishes it as a Short — there is no separate Shorts switch to find. The help page puts it simply: "You can upload vertical videos saved to your computer or smartphone as Shorts."
From a computer
- Open YouTube Studio and choose to upload a video.
- Pick a vertical file of 3 minutes or less.
- Add the title, description and any hashtags, then choose the audience setting as you would for any upload.
- Publish, or schedule it for later.
From your phone
- In the YouTube app, tap the create button and choose Short.
- Record in the app or pick a vertical video from your phone.
- Trim, add text or sound, then tap Next.
- Add a title and tap Upload Short — or save it as a draft.
How long should a Short be?
There is no official best length. YouTube does not publish one, and anyone who quotes an exact number of seconds is quoting their own channel. What holds across niches is simpler: a Short should end the moment its payoff lands, because the viewer decides within the first seconds whether to stay and again at every beat after that.
The quickest way to control length is to control the script. At a natural narration pace of 150 words a minute, a 15-second Short is about 38 words, a 30-second Short about 75, and a one-minute Short about 150. Paste a draft into the script timer to see how long it will run before you record anything.
| Short length | Words, at 150 a minute | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | 38 | One fact, one punchline, one before-and-after |
| 30 seconds | 75 | A quick tip or a single surprising idea |
| 60 seconds | 150 | A short story or a two- or three-step how-to |
| 3 minutes | 450 | A tutorial or a story that needs room |
Open on the most interesting line, not on an introduction. Cut any sentence that repeats the one before it. If the video can loop — the last line leading naturally back into the first — viewers who watch it twice can push the average percentage viewed past 100% in YouTube Analytics, a good sign the Short is working.
Making Shorts from a script
If you write Shorts rather than film them, the script is the whole job. VidMyth turns a script into a finished vertical video: paste up to 1,000 characters, pick a look, and 6 AI agents plan the scenes, draw them, voice the narration, add captions and music, and cut a 9:16 Short of up to 60 seconds — well inside YouTube's limit, and the length that also suits Reels and TikTok.
- Stick figure animation — a hand-drawn presenter and quick punchlines, made for explainers and comedy.
- Cartoon explainer — bright illustrated scenes and an original presenter for facts and how-tos.
- Whiteboard animation — diagrams that draw themselves while the voice explains.
Want the same idea on other platforms? How long TikTok and Instagram Reels can be covers their limits, and the YouTube Shorts maker page shows how one script becomes a Short for all three.
Questions
Can a YouTube Short be longer than 60 seconds?
Yes. A Short can be up to 3 minutes long. The 60-second limit was the rule when Shorts launched and is still repeated in older guides, but YouTube's help page now describes Shorts as up to 3 minutes.
What size should a YouTube Short be?
Use a vertical 9:16 frame at 1080 × 1920 pixels. YouTube accepts Shorts at up to 1080p, so a larger file adds upload time without adding sharpness on a phone.
Do Shorts have to be vertical?
Yes — a Short is a vertical video. YouTube's upload help describes Shorts as vertical videos of up to 3 minutes, and a 9:16 frame is what fills a phone screen in the Shorts feed.
How many words is a 60-second YouTube Short?
About 150 words at a natural narration pace of 150 words a minute. A 30-second Short is about 75. The script timer shows the length of any draft.
Can I add a custom thumbnail to a YouTube Short?
Verified channels can. YouTube recommends 2160 × 3840 pixels in 9:16, at least 640 pixels tall, saved as a JPG or PNG.
How long can a Short made with VidMyth be?
Up to 60 seconds, in 9:16, from a script of up to 1,000 characters (about 150 words). That length works on YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok alike.