How long should a Reel, YouTube Short or TikTok be?

The short answer

Make it as long as it takes to deliver one idea well. Every app pays close attention to how much of a video people watch: Instagram calls watch time one of its most important signals, TikTok weighs whether people finish a video, and YouTube shows how many people swipe away from each Short. A video people finish usually does better than a longer one they leave halfway.

So most of the time, finding the right length means cutting, not adding.

Length limits on each app

• Instagram Reels: you can record Reels of up to 20 minutes, but Instagram says Reels over 3 minutes won't be recommended to new audiences. So for reach beyond your followers, 3 minutes is the real limit. (Instagram first raised Reels from 90 seconds to 3 minutes in January 2025, when Adam Mosseri said creators had found 90 seconds too restrictive.)
• YouTube Shorts: up to 3 minutes for square and vertical videos uploaded since 15 October 2024. Longer uploads are regular YouTube videos.
• TikTok: videos of 10 minutes and more are allowed, and its Creator Rewards Program only counts videos that are at least one minute long.

Longer isn't better. Finished is.

The extra room is useful when an idea genuinely needs it: a full recipe, a story with a real ending, a tutorial with several steps. It isn't a reason to pad. A tight 25-second video that most people watch to the end usually does better than a 70-second one they leave at second 20.

Ask of every section: if I cut this, would anyone miss it? If the answer is no, cut it.

How to find the right length for your video

1. Write the one sentence your video delivers. If you can't, it's probably two videos.
2. Get to that point as early as you can. The setup should take seconds, not half the video.
3. Watch it on your phone at normal speed and note the first moment you'd get bored. Cut there, or tighten what comes before it.
4. Cut pauses longer than about half a second, and filler words like "um" and "so basically".
5. End when the payoff lands. A long outro or sign-off is where people leave.
6. Check the hold estimate before you post, and cut the stretches where viewers are likely to drift.

When a longer video makes sense

• Tutorials and recipes where every step matters.
• Stories with an ending worth waiting for.
• Explainers where cutting would leave out the point.
• TikToks aimed at the Creator Rewards Program, which needs videos of at least one minute, as long as you can hold people for it.

When shorter wins

• Jokes, reactions and visual moments, where the payoff is the whole video.
• Loops. Since 31 March 2025, YouTube counts a Shorts view each time a Short starts or replays, so a short video that runs cleanly back into its start can earn more views.
• Trends and sounds built around a short clip.

Check the length before you post

ViralGrader estimates how many viewers will stay to the end and marks the stretches where they're likely to drift, so you can see which seconds earn their place. Upload your video to the viral score checker, or read how to write a hook to make the first seconds count.