How long can a YouTube description be?
Up to 5,000 characters. YouTube Studio lists that limit in its video settings, and descriptions can't include invalid characters. Google's YouTube Data API documentation names the angle brackets < and > as the characters that aren't allowed.
You rarely need all 5,000. The counter on this page turns red past the limit and disables the copy button, so a description you copy from here always fits.
What to put in a YouTube description
YouTube's own tips treat a description as two parts: what viewers see before they click Show more (or more on mobile), and everything after. Use the first few lines to describe the video, because that is what people read first. Channel information, extra links and credits can go further down.
YouTube also recommends a unique description for every video, with your one or two main keywords featured in both the description and the title. Its search matches search terms against the text of your description, so plainly describing what the video covers helps the right viewers find it.
How this generator lays out a description
It's a fill-in template, not an AI writer. Your words go in, and the layout is always the same:
- An opening line built from your title, so the top of the description says what the video is
- An 'In this video' list made from your key points
- A CHAPTERS section, only when you add chapters, with the times tidied into one format
- A LINKS & RESOURCES section, if you added links
- The call to action you picked
- Up to three hashtags made from the first meaningful words of your title
Edit before you publish
The opening line is a generic sentence, so rewrite it in your own voice if you can. Chapters only switch on once there are at least three timestamps, starting at 00:00 and each at least 10 seconds apart. The generator warns you when a list you paste breaks one of those rules, and leaves the chapters section out entirely when you don't add any.