How long can a YouTube title be before it gets cut off? (Measured, October 2026)
YouTube allows 100 characters, but most places show two lines. We measured where 20 real-style titles get cut off on each surface. The answer depends on width, not a single character count.
Updated 2026-10-14
Short answer: YouTube lets you write up to 100 characters, but most surfaces clamp the title to two lines. In our measurements, long titles were cut off after a median of about 79 characters in a busy desktop home feed, about 62 in the up next sidebar, and about 86 in a phone feed. In desktop search results, none of our 20 test titles were cut off at all. Write the title so the first 50 or so characters carry the promise, because that part survives everywhere.
You can check any title on every surface with the free Title Checker.
Why there isn't one magic number
You'll find guides that say 55 characters, others that say 70. Both are guesses, because YouTube doesn't cut titles at a character count. It clamps them to two lines of a fixed width, so how much fits depends on:
- The surface. The sidebar is much narrower than search results.
- The letters. In YouTube's font (Roboto), a capital W takes up several times the width of a lowercase i.
- Capital letters. An ALL CAPS title is cut off far sooner.
- Where words break. A long word that doesn't fit at the end of line one moves down a line and pushes everything after it.
What we measured
We set 20 realistic titles of 91 to 99 characters in Roboto at the sizes YouTube uses, wrapped them into each surface's title box, and recorded how many characters were visible before the cut.
| Surface | Title box width | Font | Titles cut off | Visible characters (median, range) | Same titles in ALL CAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop search results | 690px (measured) | 18px regular | 0 of 20 | Full title shown | Full title shown |
| Desktop home feed, 3 columns | 480px (measured) | 16px medium | 0 of 20 | Full title shown | Full title shown |
| Desktop home feed, denser grid | about 312px (estimated) | 16px medium | 20 of 20 | 79 (71 to 85) | 67 |
| Up next sidebar | 217px (measured) | 14px medium | 20 of 20 | 62 (53 to 67) | 52 |
| Phone feed | about 318px (estimated) | 15px regular | 19 of 20 | 86 (84 to 90) | 73 |
The worst case shows how much letters matter. A title made only of wide capitals (W and M) was cut after 39 characters in the sidebar and 49 in the dense home grid.
How we measured it
- Widths. We measured the title box in YouTube's desktop layout at a 1920px-wide browser window in October 2026: search results (690px), the 3-column home grid (480px), and the up next sidebar (217px). The denser home grid (312px) and the phone feed (318px) are estimates based on typical card sizes. We'll replace them with measurements when we can.
- Fonts. Font sizes and weights were read from YouTube's own styles: 18px regular in search, 16px medium in the home feed, 14px medium in the sidebar.
- Wrapping. Titles were wrapped word by word with real text-width measurement in a browser, the same way a browser applies a two-line clamp with an ellipsis.
Your own feed can differ. Browser window width, zoom level, the number of grid columns, and YouTube's frequent layout tests all change the box width. Treat these as typical numbers, not guarantees.
What to do with this
- Put the promise first. The first 50 or so characters show on every surface we measured. That's where the reason to click belongs.
- Move labels to the end. "Episode 14:", "[2026 Update]", or your series name burn your most visible words. Put them after the hook, or in the description.
- Go easy on capitals. One capitalised word adds emphasis. A fully capitalised title loses 10 to 15 characters of visible space.
- Use the full 100 if you like, but on purpose. Words past the cut can still help search and show in full on the watch page. Just don't put anything essential there.
- Check, don't guess. Paste your title into the Title Checker to see exactly what's visible on each surface, or preview it with your thumbnail in the Thumbnail Preview.