YouTube Description Character Counter
Count characters in a YouTube description live against the 5,000 limit.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.
What this tool does
Counts the characters in a pasted YouTube video description live and warns you as soon as you pass YouTube's 5,000-character limit.
How to use it
Select the YouTube tab, then paste your full description — timestamps, links, and all — into the box. The character count and limit update immediately below it.
Worked example
A short description like "New drop 🔥🔥 link in bio! #newarrivals #shoplocal" counts as 48 characters here, far under the 5,000 limit — real YouTube descriptions with timestamps and multiple links typically run into the hundreds or low thousands.
What counts toward the 5,000-character limit
Every character in the description counts toward the limit, including line breaks, timestamps, hashtags, and full URLs — YouTube doesn't shorten or discount links the way some social platforms do.
Why staying under the limit matters
A description over 5,000 characters won't save as typed — YouTube either truncates or rejects the excess when you try to publish, so it's worth trimming here first rather than finding out at upload time.
Checking the same text against other platforms
The same tool includes tabs for Instagram, TikTok, and X/Twitter, each with its own limit, useful if you're reusing part of a video description as a caption elsewhere.
Privacy
Counting happens entirely in your browser as you type — your description is never uploaded anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's YouTube's description character limit?
- 5,000 characters, including every space, line break, timestamp, and link you type.
- Does this count links and hashtags?
- Yes — full URLs and hashtags count character-for-character toward the total, since YouTube doesn't shorten links in descriptions.
- Can I check the same description against other platforms?
- Yes, the same tool has tabs for Instagram, TikTok, and X/Twitter, so you can see how the same text measures up elsewhere.
- Why keep my description under the limit?
- YouTube truncates or rejects the excess text when you try to publish a description over 5,000 characters, so it won't save exactly as typed.