How long can a YouTube title be?
YouTube titles can be up to 100 characters, and they can't include the < or > characters. YouTube Studio won't save a title that breaks either rule.
The limit and the visible length are different things. Most placements show a title on two lines (three in the suggested videos sidebar), so a long title usually gets cut short somewhere. YouTube's own advice is to keep titles succinct, put the most important words near the beginning, and save episode numbers and branding for the end.
Where do YouTube titles get cut off?
YouTube doesn't publish its truncation points, so we measured them. In September 2026 we read the fonts, sizes and widths YouTube's own pages use:
- Desktop search results: 18px Roboto, two lines, about 686 pixels wide on a 1920px screen
- Desktop home feed: 16px Roboto Medium, two lines, about 342 pixels wide
- Mobile home feed: 14px Roboto, two lines, about 292 pixels wide on a 390px phone
- Suggested videos sidebar: 14px Roboto Medium, three lines, about 186 pixels wide
Why pixel width matters more than character count
YouTube cuts a title where the line runs out of room, not at a fixed number of characters. Wide letters like W and M, capitals and emoji fill a line faster than i, l and t, so an all-caps title loses about a dozen more characters than the same title in normal case. That's why the checker measures your actual title in Roboto instead of counting.
A smaller browser window, zoom or a YouTube redesign can cut a title earlier than these previews show. Front-loading your keyword keeps it safe either way.