How long can a TikTok video be, and what format should clips use?

How long a TikTok video can be, by upload path

TikTok gives different limits on different pages. The English Camera tools article in the Help Center says videos you record in the TikTok app can be up to 10 minutes long. It says videos you upload can be up to 60 minutes long. The US, GB and FR English versions returned the same text.

The Tools for creators article gives a different cap for TikTok Studio on the web: up to 30 minutes, in MP4 or WebM, 720x1280 or higher, and under 10 GB. Two TikTok Creator Academy articles disagree with it. The Creator Rewards Program article, last updated September 10, 2026 (UTC), and 'How to repurpose long videos?', last updated August 18, 2026, both say you can upload videos of up to 60 minutes on the web. TikTok's own pages conflict, so there is no single web maximum to quote. Help Center pages show no date. The Help Center limits here are as of our check on September 22, 2026.

The French, German and Spanish versions of the same Camera tools article still say 60 seconds for videos created in TikTok and 3 minutes for uploads. Next to the English page, they look out of date. For context, TikTok announced on July 1, 2021 that over the following weeks it would roll out, to everyone, the option to film, upload and edit videos of up to three minutes, up from 60 seconds.

What changes a clip's length when you post it

A sound can set the length. If you pick a TikTok sound before you record or upload, the sound's length decides the video's length. For example, picking a 30-second sound before you upload a 75-second clip would, by that rule, set the video's length to 30 seconds.

TikTok's Making a post article says that a video you upload from a web browser is uploaded in full. It also says that to change the video's length you should upload it in the TikTok app. TikTok's Creator Academy separately describes a web editor that splits long videos into 1 minute+ clips you can trim. If you post from a computer, cut the clip to its final length before you upload it.

Desktop web also lets some creators schedule a post from 15 minutes to 10 days ahead, according to TikTok's undated Schedule video article. A Creator Academy article last updated August 18, 2026 says creators with more than 10,000 followers can schedule posts, with single or bulk uploads. Scheduling is not available on mobile web.

Format: what TikTok documents for vertical video

Apart from a 720x1280 minimum for uploads through TikTok Studio on the web, which TikTok's Tools for creators Help Center article lists, we did not find an official TikTok page that sets a required resolution or aspect ratio for organic feed videos. TikTok's Creator Academy does give format advice. An article on filling the screen, last updated August 18, 2026, says vertical and horizontal both work, and that blurred or black bars are the problem. For clips cut from long videos, it advises cropping to a full-screen 9:16 vertical frame. The Creator Rewards article also asks for videos of 1080p or higher for its Additional Reward. An article on video covers, last updated August 18, 2026, recommends a 9x16 aspect ratio at 1080x1920 pixels for the cover image. It does not give this as a requirement for the video itself.

The 9:16 at 540x960 minimum you may see quoted comes from TikTok Ads Manager. It applies to Non-Spark in-feed ads, not to organic posts. For web uploads, TikTok lists MP4 and WebM only. MOV is not listed, so upload an MP4 or WebM file from the browser.

The Creator Academy article on video covers describes a safety zone: the part of the frame that For You feed buttons, your username and your caption do not cover. Its advice is to keep elements away from the frame edges. It also says regular on-video text usually fits at 40 to 50 px, and a title should be larger.

Captions: burned in, or TikTok's own

TikTok generates captions automatically for uploaded videos. Creators can edit or remove them. If your clip already has captions burned into the picture, you can end up with two caption layers on screen.

Pick one layer. Keep your burned-in captions and remove TikTok's, or upload a copy without captions and edit TikTok's auto captions instead.

Length rules for Creator Rewards

Length also matters for payouts. A TikTok Creator Academy article last updated September 10, 2026 (UTC) says only videos over 1 minute qualify for the Creator Rewards Program. Each video also needs at least 1,000 For You feed views and cannot be a Duet or Stitch.

The account must belong to someone 18 or older and be a Personal account. Business accounts do not qualify. It needs at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days. The program is open only in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico and Brazil.

For clips cut from a long recording, a clip of exactly 60 seconds is not over 1 minute. If Creator Rewards matters to you, cut clips that run past the one-minute mark. TikTok's Creator Academy gives similar advice: for a video longer than 10 minutes, it suggests dividing it into several shorter '1 minute+' videos.

TikTok's own tool: Smart Split

TikTok has a native tool for this job. Smart Split was announced on October 28, 2025 for TikTok Studio Web. It clips, reframes, captions and transcribes longer videos into several short videos. TikTok's Creator Academy article on it, last updated August 18, 2026, says it is available to creators with 1k+ followers. It takes files of up to 60 minutes and 30 GB, and converts up to 150 minutes of video a month.

It needs a source over one minute long. It can choose the clip length itself, or you can set a specific length. If you post only to TikTok and have at least 1,000 followers, it is worth trying first.

With shortshort

shortshort takes one long video you own: a file in MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 3 hours and 2 GB, or the link of your own public or unlisted YouTube video, downloaded on our servers at up to 720p with its audio. You set a target clip length from 15 to 90 seconds. A clip may run up to 25% shorter or longer so it starts and ends on a full sentence, so an 85 or 90 s target gives clips over one minute unless you trim them. Shots with a face are reframed to 9:16 by face tracking. Slides and wide shots are kept whole over a blurred background. Every short is exported as MP4, H.264, 1080 x 1920 at 30 fps. With captions on, 'Download all' gives a ZIP with each short twice, with and without captions. You upload each MP4 to TikTok yourself; scheduled publishing to YouTube and TikTok is in early access.

Sources

The official pages this guide relies on, with the day each one was read.

• Camera tools | TikTok Help Center (English), checked 22 September 2026.
• Outils de l'appareil photo | Centre d'aide TikTok (French version of Camera tools), checked 23 September 2026.
• Tools for creators | TikTok Help Center, checked 22 September 2026.
• Making a post | TikTok Help Center, checked 22 September 2026.
• Accessibility for your videos | TikTok Help Center, checked 22 September 2026.
• Schedule video | TikTok Help Center, checked 22 September 2026.
• Leveraging high-quality video covers to attract viewers | TikTok Creator Academy (last updated August 18, 2026), checked 22 September 2026.
• Creator Rewards Program | TikTok Creator Academy (last updated September 10, 2026, UTC), checked 23 September 2026.
• How to repurpose long videos? | TikTok Creator Academy (last updated August 18, 2026), checked 23 September 2026.
• Create videos that fill the screen and look made for TikTok | TikTok Creator Academy (last updated August 18, 2026), checked 23 September 2026.
• Repurposing longer content easily with Smart Split | TikTok Creator Academy (last updated August 18, 2026), checked 23 September 2026.
• New AI-powered tools to make it easier to create and share on TikTok | TikTok Newsroom (October 28, 2025), checked 22 September 2026.
• More Tok on the Clock: Introducing longer videos on TikTok | TikTok Newsroom (July 1, 2021), checked 22 September 2026.
• TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads | TikTok Ads Manager Business Help Center (last updated June 2026), checked 22 September 2026.

Related

• How long can a YouTube Short be in 2026, and what length suits a clip from a long video?YouTube Shorts can run up to three minutes if square or vertical. The official rules, checked September 2026, and how long to make a clip from a long video.
• How long can an Instagram Reel be, and what size should it be?Instagram Reels can run 20 minutes, but past 3 minutes they aren't recommended to non-followers. Ratio, fps, resolution, cover, file size: checked Sept 2026.
• How are word-by-word captions timed, and which caption style should I use?How word-by-word captions are timed from a transcript, how words are grouped on screen, and how to choose between four caption styles for vertical shorts.
• Make TikTok clips from a long videoA TikTok clip maker that takes one long video and returns 9:16 MP4 clips aimed at 15 to 90 seconds, each a complete quote with captions, to upload yourself.
• Clips that end where the sentence doesshortshort picks passages that open and close on complete sentences, within 25% of your target so the last one can finish. 3 on Free, 20 on the Studio plan.

All 7 guides