Live character count for YouTube titles (100 char limit) and descriptions (5000 limit). See mobile/desktop/search truncation. Best-practice checklist included.
YouTube Title & Description Character Counter Features
- Live Character Counts — Real-time count vs YouTube's 100-character title and 5000-character description limits with color-coded warnings.
- Mobile & Desktop Preview — See how your title truncates in mobile feed (~40 chars), desktop home (~60 chars), and search results (~70 chars).
- Above-the-fold Highlight — First 100 characters of your description are highlighted — that's what shows before the Show More fold.
- Hashtag Counter — Counts hashtags and warns when you exceed YouTube's 15-tag indexing limit. Excess tags are ignored.
- Best-practice Checklist — Auto-checks for SEO-friendly length, chapters, links, and hashtag use against current YouTube best practices.
- Save Drafts as Presets — Store frequently used titles/descriptions locally and reload them with one click.
How to Use YouTube Title & Description Character Counter
Optimize YouTube titles and descriptions in three steps with live previews
- Paste Your Title & Description — Drop your draft into the inputs — counts and warnings update instantly.
- Check the Truncation Previews — See exactly how the title appears in mobile feed, desktop, and search results.
- Tighten with the Checklist — Hit each best-practice item, then copy the polished title and description.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the maximum YouTube title length?
100 characters is the hard limit. But for SEO and full visibility on mobile, aim for 30-70 characters — anything longer truncates with an ellipsis on most surfaces.
What's the maximum YouTube description length?
5000 characters. The first 100 characters appear above the Show More fold — front-load the most important info there.
How many hashtags can I use in a YouTube description?
You can write as many as you want, but YouTube only indexes the first 15 hashtags in a description. Adding more than 15 is treated as spam and ignored.
How does YouTube truncate titles on mobile vs desktop?
Mobile truncates around 36-40 characters in feed, desktop home truncates around 60 characters in cards, and search results show ~70 characters before adding an ellipsis.
Why is the first 100 characters of the description so important?
That's the only part of the description visible above the Show More fold — and it's also what YouTube's algorithm weighs most heavily for search/recommendation matching.
Does YouTube count emojis as characters?
Yes — and many emojis count as 2 characters because they're encoded as surrogate pairs. Our counter uses the same code-unit count YouTube does.
Are my drafts uploaded anywhere?
No. Counts run entirely in your browser, and saved presets are stored only in your local browser cache.
What's the ideal title length for YouTube SEO?
30-70 characters strikes the balance between keyword coverage and full visibility. Most successful videos in 2026 sit at 50-60 characters, with the primary keyword in the first 30.
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